| ||||||||||
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... |
State lab began testing for COVID-19 this week By Crystal Staley/Sebastian Kitchen Frankfort, KY - Today at the Capitol, Governor Andy Beshear, joined by officials from the Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH), within the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS), discussed the state's response efforts to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Gov. Beshear and other officials emphasized that there are no COVID-19 cases in the state and provided updates on the state's testing, prevention, coordination, monitoring and scam awareness efforts. "I want to reassure Kentuckians that we are still at low risk for exposure to the virus at this time," Gov. Beshear said. "Every state without COVID-19 cases has been advised that this is highly likely to change. It is imperative that we be prepared. And that is why we want to keep the public aware of not only our new testing efforts, but the efforts that local public health professionals are making to protect Kentuckians." Testing Gov. Beshear said that DPH began testing for COVID-19 at its state laboratory in Frankfort on Monday, March 2. As of Thursday afternoon, Kentucky has tested, or is in the process of testing, seven individuals. Four tests have been negative and three are pending. All of these individuals were not at high risk and were tested out of an abundance of caution. DPH has the ability to process results in a timely manner. Specimens received at the lab by noon each day will be resulted on the same day. Specimens received after noon will be resulted the following day. Currently, Kentuckians can seek testing by consulting with their health care provider. Prevention Gov. Beshear said as with any virus, especially during the flu season, there are a number of steps Kentuckians should take to protect their health, including:
Gov. Beshear said state officials are coordinating with local and federal officials and DPH is connecting with partner agencies like schools, childcare providers, emergency medical services, health care providers and local health departments through daily messaging. These communication efforts help to provide guidance for providers' immediate response to local needs. "Our State Health Operations Center, known as the 'SHOC,' is also operating to help mitigate concerns from our community of health providers," Gov. Beshear said. "We are currently working at Level 2, and that means we have people working every day to coordinate our response to this situation. We have regular conference calls and are coordinating daily the interagency efforts to respond to this." "On a community scale, we are encouraging all facilities, businesses and schools to begin preparation activities for the spread of Coronavirus," he continued. "If you are responsible for others, take active steps to prepare your plan to react and protect them." DPH is working closely with clinicians to make sure providers are aware of and informed about the illness. In addition, DPH wants to ensure providers there is a process in place through Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines to determine whether testing is warranted, including consulting with the CDC as needed. Last week, Gov. Beshear urged Kentucky employers to offer paid sick leave amid virus concerns to help ensure Kentuckians are not coming to work if they feel sick. Monitoring CHFS Acting Secretary Eric Friedlander said state public health officials have been monitoring individuals who meet certain criteria and are also preparing for the probability of the virus spreading within the Commonwealth. Dr. Steven Stack, Department of Public Health commissioner, said that the risk to the average Kentuckian is low, and public health experts are working to keep it low even as there will likely be more transmission of cases within the country. "We cannot make predictions as to how many cases we could potentially experience in Kentucky," he said. "We hope there are none, but we are prepared to see cases here based on surveillance from around the U.S. and other parts of the world. Given the nature of the virus and its ability to spread person-to-person, broader transmission will occur." DPH is monitoring people who might have been exposed to COVID-19 in the last 14 days by contacting each person and collecting travel and health history information and determining the risk level for COVID-2019 exposure. DPH has monitored 121 people in Kentucky, of those 10 are still being actively monitored. None of those are persons under investigation. Symptoms of COVID-19 may include fever, cough or shortness of breath. Individuals who are experiencing symptoms and may have recently traveled to China, Iran and other countries currently affected by COVID-19, or have been in contact with someone who has traveled to affected areas should first contact their local health department. DPH officials said that exposed people should limit contact with others by staying at home, avoiding public gatherings like school or church and not taking public transportation. Scam Awareness Gov. Beshear also warned Kentuckians to be suspicious of scammers and con artists claiming to have a cure for the newest strain of the virus. Only legitimate medical authorities are working with the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration to create a vaccine for COVID-19. If, and when, a vaccine is approved, Kentuckians should ask their family doctor or government health officials for information on how to obtain a vaccine. In the meantime, to avoid identity thieves, con artists and self-proclaimed experts, Kentuckians should:
As of 1 p.m. March 5, the CDC has reported 99 cases in the United States from 13 states and 10 deaths. The current cases of infection in the U.S. are available at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html. To date there have been nearly 3,000 deaths worldwide from the virus. Kentuckians can visit kycovid19.ky.gov and cdc.gov/coronavirus for up-to-date information. This story was posted on 2020-03-05 19:35:30
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic News:
Cold for 30 years: Temple Hill Triple Murder Public Safety Dispatch Class Graduates 130 Mystery Daffodils are on Milltown Portland Road Clearing skies today, high 63F 7-County Area Courts for Thu 5 Mar 2020 Letter: Watch out for Satellite Upgrade Scam Special message by Don Neat at Mt. Zion Egypt-Shiloh Men's Prayer Breakfast, Saturday 7 Mar 2020 Opinion: Your Donation, Your Community, Our Leaders KDFWR Officer Wayne Wilson promoted View even more articles in topic News |
|
||||||||
| ||||||||||
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
|