Dade County boss Ted Rumley, reading the daily COVID-19 numbers at today's 3 p.m. county crisis live-streamed briefing, said Dade so far has no confirmed cases of the deadly virus. But Logan Boss (left), regional public information director for the Georgia Department of Public Health, said that didn't mean Dade didn't have any.
"I guarantee you, it's here in the Dade County community," said Mr. Boss. "I would be willing to bet you've got cases, people who are sick with the virus here."
Dade cases may not be showing up in the daily numbers, he said, because they have mild cases of the sickness, because they think they've got flu and haven't sought medical attention, or simply because they haven't been tested: "Because of the limited amount of testing that we're doing now, you have no confirmed cases here, but the virus.is here," said Mr. Boss.
Mr. Boss was the featured speaker at the Monday version of Dade's live-streamed daily briefings. He spoke longer than any of the other officials and he delivered weirdly mixed messages: Along with the preceding statement, that Dade probably already had plenty of COVID-19 cases that were going undiagnosed because there wasn't enough testing here, Mr. Boss reiterated DPH's abiding mantra that most people didn't need the testing anyway.
"Not everybody needs testing. You can have symptoms of COVID-19 and still not need testing," said Mr. Boss. "Most people have a mild form of this illness and they can treat themselves."
In any case, whether Dade Countians need or do not need the testing, Mr. Boss made clear they are not going to get it because there just aren't enough tests to go around. There's been good news about new, faster test kits in the past day or so, he said. "As more and more of this testing capability comes online, we'll be making more and more of that available," he said. As it stands now, though, the health department is reserving its limited supplies for higher-risk individuals, their caregivers, plus medical workers and first responders at risk of spreading the infection through their continued work.
Mr. Boss said specimens are only collected at two sites in the area after which they are sent to one of a number of labs for testing, with the results taking three or four days to get back, which is a little faster now than the week-plus turnaround described earlier but still not as fast as many would wish.
He repeated DPH's guidelines to those who feel they have symptoms: Call your own primary care physician. In Dade County, both Primary Health Care and CHI Memorial Family Practice have procedures in place for testing. Their phone numbers are, respectively, (706) 956-2665 and (706) 657-4183. In adjoining DeKalb County, Ala., North Sand Mountain Primary Health is (256) 597-2135.
Mr. Boss said his district includes 10 northwest Georgia counties and: "All our other counties have already had cases, some more than others" Bartow County was worst hit, he said, apparently stemming from a big church gathering where many people were infected at once--including some from neighboring counties who took the virus home with them.
What to do about it? Mr. Boss repeated the ubiquitous advice of frequent, thorough handwashing, using hand sanitizer, staying away from other people, especially sick ones, and not touching your face. "Simple as that sounds, that is still the very single most important way to prevent the spread of this virus," he said.
As for businesses, said Mr. Boss, if they cannot meet the CDC guidelines for keeping employees safe, they should seriously "weigh the prudence of staying open."
Enough of Logan Boss. Now, back to the Boss, Dade County Executive Chairman Rumley. Today's Georgia numbers as he read them at 3 p.m. were 2809 in Georgia, up from 2651 Sunday, with 87 deaths, up from 80 the day before. In Jackson County next door in Alabama there are now five cases and DeKalb has four.
[For the Georgia numbers you can go to DPH's daily status report by clicking the logo at right. Numbers are updated at noon and 7 p.m.]
Rumley touched as he had on Sunday on the problem of tourists from all over flooding Dade to visit Cloudland Canyon State. He'd been working with state Sen. Jeff Mullis about it and had had a call from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, he said. "They didn't say anything really positive about closing the park, but that could change between now and the weekend," said Rumley.
He read a message from Dade Superior Court Clerk Kathy Page: The deed room in her office at the courthouse is open on limited basis, one searcher at a time allowed. Alternatively, searchers may go on her website and access all deeds back to 1984. That website is www.dadegaclerkofcourt.com,
The boss thanked Verenice Hawkins for making protective masks for county employees--"I'm sure they're topnotch if Verenice made them"--and Sgt. Chad Payne thanked Samantha Clark for doing the same for the Dade County Sheriff's Office.
Sgt. Payne also warned residents about scammers offering COVID-19 tests for sale or sending people fake federal stimulus checks. "That's their way to gain access to your checking account," he said. Citizens should check with their banks about any suspicious-looking checks,
Marshana Sharp, manager of the Dade County Public Library, popped in to acknowledge that the library won't be opening up April 1 as originally announced: As
the pandemic endures, the new closure is "until further notice.: But Ms. Sharp says readers may still apply for library cards at chrl.org and she will call and give them a card number so that they acces the many books, magazines, audiobooks and services the library has online. If you have questions you can email them to dadecirc@chrl.org. for info.
These county briefings take place every day at 3 p.m. Readers may watch them live at the Dade County Ga. Facebook page or see the video later either there or on The Planet's FB page, which posts a link to each.
