The recent uptick in local COVID-19 cases is “not good news for our community.”
Those were the words of Lyon County Public Health Emergency Preparedness Director Jennifer Millbern, a guest of KVOE’s Newsmaker segment Tuesday. Over the past week, the county has seen a significant uptick with over 50 new cases being reported between last Friday and Monday alone.
Millbern says the recent uptick is attributed mainly to community spread related to social gatherings. Millbern says this makes the situation more worrisome as it makes the outbreak more difficult to mitigate.
Millbern says much of the responsibility for mitigation now falls on local individuals to ensure they are not spreading the virus to others. Two of the latest positive COVID-19 cases have been attributed to a sports activity cluster that recently developed after a COVID-19 positive youth transmitted the disease to a teammate. All other individuals in attendance or participating in the activity have been placed into quarantine.
Millbern says the current uptick is even more concerning with the 2020-21 school year quickly approaching. As KVOE has reported recently, Governor Laura Kelly issued an executive order mandating mask usage within school buildings. Attorney General Derek Schmidt later stated that school districts had the option to opt-out of that order if they so desired.
Millbern says mask usage is becoming increasingly more important, especially given recent trends, however, she believes masking up should be positively encouraged rather than mandated.
For more information on Lyon County Public Health or COVID-19 in general visit Publichealth.lyoncounty.org.
