Hillsboro City Schools reported its first COVID-19 case over the weekend, Highland County Health Commissioner Jared Warner stated in a Monday post to the Highland County Health Department’s Facebook page.
According to Warner, Bright Local remains the only Highland County public school district without a confirmed COVID-19 case, though Bright Local Superintendent Mike Bick did report that four Bright Local students and two staff members were in quarantine and awaiting test results as of the district’s board meeting last Wednesday.
Warner added that the health department has placed a large number of local students in quarantine due to their contact with staff members and other students who tested positive for COVID-19.
“In some of our cases, a student has been in the classroom, ridden the bus, and participated in a sports practice,” Warner wrote. “All local health departments in Southwest Ohio continue to follow the CDC and Ohio Department of Health definition for close contacts. Close contacts are people who have been within 6 feet of a positive COVID-19 case for at least 15 minutes (cumulative time throughout the day). People who have had this close contact with a person sick with COVID-19 are placed into quarantine for 14 days since their last contact. This 14-day quarantine period is used to watch and see if a person becomes sick. The best available research shows us that people can become sick with COVID-19 any time during that 14-day period, though most will show symptoms between day 2 and 5.
“These long quarantines can place a heavy burden on families and on the school system, but right now it is one of the most effective strategies we have to slow down the rate of disease transmission in our community. If a better strategy is identified and is backed up by science, this process could see some adjustment in the future. For now, as difficult as it is, we need to stick with the established CDC and ODH process for our school quarantines.”
Warner encouraged community members to thank local schools’ nurses as “They have been such important and valuable partners in working with our schools. School nurses are a treasure, and our county is blessed to have them keeping our kids healthy.”
Warner also reported that outbreaks in local nursing homes account for many local COVID-19 cases but added that “many” cases that involve Crestwood Ridge Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation, located in Hillsboro, residents and staff members “are nearly at the point where they will meet the CDC definition for recovery.”
As of Monday, Warner reported the following numbers for Highland County nursing homes with active outbreaks of COVID-19:
* Crestwood has 37 cases involving residents and seven involving staff.
* The Laurels of Hillsboro has 34 cases involving residents and five involving staff.
* Heartland of Hillsboro has five cases involving residents and two involving staff.
The following are overall COVID-19 numbers as of Monday:
Highland County has had a total of 423 lab-confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases, according to the Highland County Health Department.
In a previous Facebook post, Highland County Health Commissioner Jared Warner stated that probable cases must “[meet] clinical criteria AND epidemiologic evidence with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID-19” or “[meet] presumptive laboratory evidence AND either clinical criteria OR epidemiologic evidence.”
The health department has documented 42 probable cases in Highland County since the pandemic began.
The health department also reported that there were currently 108 actively sick patients and six COVID-19-related hospitalizations, and the health department is currently monitoring 348 people for symptoms.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak reached Highland County, there have been a total of 37 COVID-19-related hospitalizations and eight COVID-19-related deaths, and 307 patients have recovered from COVID-19.
According to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), which reported 377 cases in the county as of Monday, of the cases in Highland County:
* 59 cases involved 60- to 69-year-olds, seven of whom were hospitalized and one of whom later died.
* 58 cases involved 50- to 59-year-olds, seven of whom were hospitalized.
* 54 cases involved 70- to 79-year-olds, 12 of whom were hospitalized and one of whom later died.
* 53 cases involved 40- to 49-year-olds, three of whom were hospitalized.
* 48 cases involved 20- to 29-year-olds, one of whom was hospitalized.
* 37 cases involved 0- to 19-year-olds, one of whom was hospitalized.
* 35 cases involved 30- to 39-year-olds, one of whom was hospitalized.
* 31 cases involved someone 80 years old or older, five of whom were hospitalized and two of whom later died.
* One case involved someone of an unknown age range.
For more information on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ohio, visit coronavirus.ohio.gov.
Reach McKenzie Caldwell at 937-402-2570.
