Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

STANFORD – The number of COVID-19 cases is declining as of this week, according to Lincoln County Health Department Director Diane Miller.

Miller said as of Monday there were 231 active cases of COVID-19 to report in Lincoln County and 20 household contacts to those cases were being monitored.

There were seven individuals hospitalized due to the virus, and three of those patients were in the Intensive Care Unit as of Monday.

A total of 80 COVID-19-related deaths have been reported in Lincoln County since the start of the pandemic and Miller said five more deaths were being sent to the state for review this week.

“We are still a red county and we still have some work to do here to continue to bring these numbers down,” Miller said Monday.

Miller is encouraging the public to get vaccinated as well as get a flu shot.

“The goal is for individuals to get their flu shot by the end of October. That’s the goal. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) and Department of Public Health want us to try to vaccinate as many as we can before the end of October,” she said.

Miller said the public should continue wearing masks when out and about and keep up the control measures that help reduce the spread such as regular hand washing and social distancing.

The LCHD is urging the public to celebrate Halloween safely with those practices.

“I know there are some Halloween events already scheduled to take place and I can’t encourage them enough to do that in a safe manner. Have things that are already pre-packaged and make sure that whoever is doing it, that they hand the candy and items out and not let everybody have a dip in the bowl,” she said.

Miller said it’s been a busy time for the local health department and she’s grateful for the community’s help, especially the Lincoln County School District.

“School is going good,” she said. “My department is very appreciative of the school system helping us to contact traces and handling those contacts to the cases that are in the school because that has really helped our workload here. I greatly appreciate that due to the number of staff that I have. I appreciate all that have helped me during this pandemic.”

SO YOU KNOW
For more information on vaccines or flu shots, contact the Lincoln County Health Department at 606-365-3106. Miller said the LCHD also has free rat bait available to the public this week.