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Athens Co. Downgraded To Level 1 Public Health Emergency, Confirms One COVID-19 Case For August 6

By: Aaron Payne
Posted on: Thursday, August 6, 2020

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Athens County has been downgraded to a Level 1 Public Health Emergency, according to the Ohio Public Health Advisory System. This comes a week after the county was downgraded from Level 3.

The county only triggered one of the seven indicators, non-congregate cases.

An updated Public Health Advisory System Map was released Thursday. Athens County is now one of 26 counties to be at the “yellow” level and one of 10 to improve from orange to yellow this week.

“Athens County has done well in following the governor’s orders and is carefully managing disease spread,” a release from the Athens City-County Health Department read. “Our thanks to all who are working hard to slow the spread of COVID-19.”

But the health department urged county residents to continue following the orders.

“Residents will be returning from vacation and a small number of students will be moving back to Athens in the coming weeks. In order to maintain our low risk level, everyone must continue to practice prevention measures to keep businesses open and the community safe.”

The Ohio Department of Health and National Guard in cooperation with the Athens City-County Health Department are hosting a drive-thru testing site this Friday, August 7th at the Athens High School in The Plains from 1-6 pm.

Athens County has now had 353 cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic after an additional case was confirmed Thursday.

The Athens City-County Health Department announced the case in a press release sent August 6.

An analysis of Ohio Department of Health data indicates the new case involved a person aged 60-69.

There are 71 known active cases in the county as of Thursday. There are 281 recovered cases, according to the local health department. A total of 20 people have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 symptoms in the county since the start of the pandemic. There has been one death related to COVID-19 in the county that happened in March.

Anyone experiencing respiratory symptoms is asked to call their primary care physician, urgent care, or emergency department before arriving for care to let them know that they believe they are experiencing symptoms related to COVID-19 virus.

The Ohio Department of Health announced 97,4715 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 statewide as of Thursday at 2 p.m. There have been 11,366 hospitalizations and 3,618 reported deaths.

The DOH makes the following recommendations to protect yourself from illness:

• Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds; dry hands with a clean towel or air dry hands.
• Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer when soap and water are unavailable.
• Cover your mouth with a tissue or sleeve when sneezing or coughing. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Avoid contact with people who are sick.

Ohio’s coronavirus call center is open to answer questions from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The hotline number is 1-833-4-ASK-ODH or 1-833-427-5634. More information is available at coronavirus.ohio.gov.