25 New COVID-19 Cases in Saline County

Saline County has 25 new positive COVID-19 cases.

According to the Saline County Health Department, all of the new cases are associated with other positive cases.

The total for Saline County is now 215, with 143 cases currently active. Seventy people that have recovered, and two people have died.

Saline County continues to have a tremendous uptake in COVID-19 cases. An alarming amount of cases are having mild symptoms. Those with mild illness have continued to work or attend events then eventually get tested and are not staying at home and awaiting their results after testing. A portion of these positive cases report attending gatherings, parties, or traveling to sports tournaments while contagious. These events have been both inside and outside of Saline County.

If you are being tested for COVID-19, you are considered a Person Under Investigation (PUI). The PUI MUST isolate while waiting for results. The PUI should isolate away from anyone in their household. If they are not able to isolate away from the household members by staying in their own room, it is highly recommended that the entire household must quarantine while awaiting results to reduce exposure and potential spread.

If you are notified by the Health Department of being a contact of someone who is positive for COVID-19, you MUST quarantine at home for 14 days. A close contact is defined as any individual who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 10 minutes starting 2 days before illness onset until the time the patient was isolated. If you are a contact and decided to be tested, and it comes back negative, you STILL have to finish your 14-day period because you may become contagious anytime during the rest of the 14 days. We do NOT recommend testing contacts unless symptoms arise or a high-risk individual is involved.

If a person in quarantine does not develop any COVID-19 symptoms, then they are released from quarantine at the end of 14 days. If symptoms do develop during those 14 days, the person is to contact their primary healthcare provider for further evaluation and/or testing. People who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 may be released from isolation at the direction of the Health Department when it has been at least 10 days since the onset of symptoms AND 72 hours since symptoms have resolved. This symptom-based method of returning people to work is preferred to a testing-based method of returning people to work because tests can still remain positive long after the virus is no longer active.