Monday, July 20, 2020

07.20.2020 Gulf County COVID-19 Update

Good Afternoon Gulf County!

Attached you will find our COVID-19 update that has been shared on the Gulf County Florida Emergency Management Facebook page. This top pinned post will be updated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In addition, it will be emailed to our community distribution list to ensure we are reaching as many community members as possible.  For updates sent directly to your phone text GULFCOVID to 888777.


A Message From Your County Health Department:

  1. We continue to see our positive case counts climb in Franklin and Gulf Counties. Last Monday, Gulf had 99 cases and Franklin was at 44. Today, Gulf has 178 cases and Franklin has 77. The vast majority of these cases are close contacts to a known positive case within the county, but we still continue to have cases with unknown exposure. Many cases come from whole household exposure, some are business related, and some are from gatherings, which have included weddings and funerals. Follow the gulf and franklin county-specific profile reports as well as additional information found on the floridahealth.gov page for specifics about the county you live in. Until a COVID-19 vaccine is developed, it still remains vital to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus and protect individuals at increased risk of severe illness, including older adults and people of any age with underlying health conditions.

  1. A great resource to answer many frequently asked questions can be found on the CDC website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html

  1. The quarantine period is important. We need close contacts to a positive case to quarantine for 14 days from the date of their exposure to the positive individual. Getting a test that is negative during the quarantine period does not stop the clock. We have seen many individuals develop infection on the second week of quarantine, so it is really important to stay quarantined for the full 14-day period. Household quarantine can be a little more stretched since it can be very difficult for a positive individual to properly isolate from everyone else. If you live in the same household as a positive case, you need to quarantine while the person is sick and once this individual is no longer infectious, that’s when your quarantine 14 period will start. We explain all of this to every close contact identified and can provide quarantine orders to each individual.

  1. I tested positive for COVID19. When can I be around others (no longer infectious)? If you tested positive for COVID19, you need to stay at home and isolate per the guidance provided by public health officials. If you think or know you had COVID-19, and had symptoms, you can be with others after at least 10 days since symptoms first appeared and at least 24 hours has passed with no fever without fever-reducing medication and symptoms have improved. If you tested positive for COVID-19 but had no symptoms, you can be with others after 10 days have passed since your test. If you develop symptoms after testing positive, follow the guidance above that includes fever and symptoms improving. Follow this link to stay tuned on updates: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/end-home-isolation.html
Depending on your healthcare provider’s advice and availability of testing, you might get tested to see if you still have COVID-19. (Ex. residents of a nursing home.) If you are tested, you can be around others when you have no fever, respiratory symptoms have improved, and you receive two negative test results in a row, at least 24 hours apart.  
  1. Please tell us all your close contacts. Please be honest about the people you’ve been in close contact with. If you are identified as a positive case, the health department will work closely with you and help reach out to anyone you were in close contact with during your infection period. Why is this so important? We are trying to interrupt disease spread. Close contacts need to be able to quarantine so that the spread of the virus stops. Your personal information is kept completely confidential. When someone finds out they need to quarantine, all they hear is “you’ve been identified as a close contact to a positive case.” From there, we provide quarantine guidance to follow and help answer questions about the virus.

 What you’ll find in today’s update:

Here are the Florida Department of Health testing numbers as of 2:00pm today:
                                 LOCAL STATUS             
FRANKLIN
How many unduplicated COVID-19 tests so far for this event
2,183
How many negative tests we have
2,105
How many positive tests we have
77

LOCAL STATUS
GULF
How many unduplicated COVID-19 tests so far for this event
         2,855
How many negative tests we have
2,673
How many positive tests we have
178
Please note: The demand for the testing and designated laboratory, may cause a slight delay inID-19 Dashboard.
 As always, please share this tool and the attachments with your coworkers, partners, friends and relatives as we need to all be educated on the facts. We know that informed people make better decisions, so please help us to eliminate miscommunication and rumors by informing our community. We will keep each and every one of you updated as new information becomes available.
Jessie Wagner Pippin
Public Information Officer
Florida Department of Health in Gulf County
2475 Garrison Ave.
Port Saint Joe, FL 32456
Office Phone: (850) 705-6103
Cell Phone: (850)227-4193
Fax: 850-227-7587
E-mail: Jessie.Pippin@flhealth.gov
Webpage: www.floridahealth.gov





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