The number of active COVID-19 cases in Highland County spiked on Wednesday. According to the Highland County Health Department, there were 54 active cases in the county as of Wednesday — 42 of which involve residents and staff members of Crestwood Ridge Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation in Hillsboro.

In a Tuesday interview, Highland County Health Commissioner Jared Warner stressed the importance of complying with COVID-19 safety precautions.

“We’re trying to explain to people that the reason we’re pushing those simple ideas — put your mask on, keep distance between yourself and other people, and wash your hands — is because we want to avoid Crestwood situations. The more Covid there is in the community, the more likely it is to accidentally end up in one of these facilities,” Warner said. “We don’t want people to panic when they look at these large numbers, but we want them to understand where these numbers came from, and we want people to remember that there’s a reason we’re doing this. There are a lot of people who are calling my office right now who are very concerned about their loved ones — their mothers and fathers and grandmas and grandpas who are in those facilities. We’re making these personal sacrifices and dealing with the annoyance of the masks and not doing all the things we normally do — we’re trying to protect those families. Our neighbors are impacted when something like this happens.”

Warner added that he expects the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) to increase Highland County’s risk level in the Ohio Public Health Advisory System later this week.

As of Monday, ODH reported that Crestwood had six COVID-19 cases involving residents and three cases involving staff during the current week. ODH also reported that since April 15, Crestwood has had six cumulative cases involving residents and four cases involving staff.

In other Highland County nursing homes, ODH reported that Edgewood Manor, Heartland of Hillsboro, and the Laurels of Hillsboro had no active cases involving residents or staff.

ODH had not updated its long-term care facility dashboard at press time. In a Monday Facebook post, Warner stated that the dashboard will reflect the increase in cases at Crestwood later this week due to a reporting delay.

Reach McKenzie Caldwell at 937-402-2570.