With the Fourth of July holiday weekend now here and coronavirus still an issue, Lyon County Public Health officials are urging residents to be safe the next few days.
Emergency Preparedness Director Jennifer Millbern minced no words on the topic on KVOE’s Newsmaker segment Friday:
Millbern’s concerns come from several recent trends, notably with contact tracing. Up until recently, the number of people needing contact tracing follow-ups was limited to close family or a small circle of friends. That has increased significantly due to mass gatherings, outings to bars, sports events and the like. Millbern concurs with Kansas Health Secretary Lee Norman, who says a compromise piece of legislation on emergency powers took out the ability for contact tracing third-party individuals.
Millbern is glad overall infection numbers aren’t increasing by large quantities, deaths have remained steady and hospitalizations have declined for around two weeks. However, she says testing numbers are increasing — with roughly half June’s total of over 1,300 tests coming from three congregate locations. Millbern says there has been an increase in people going through Public Health’s drive-through facility over the past week — and she says one unnamed local business had to be shut down earlier this year because most of its staff had to go into quarantine.
Following Governor Laura Kelly’s executive order announcement Monday and official rollout Thursday, Millbern urged everybody in Lyon County to wear facial coverings in public settings. She says it’s a “strong tool” for slowing down COVID-19 transmission.
