Thirteen COVID-19 cases now confirmed in Putnam County

Friday, April 3, 2020

On Friday afternoon, Putnam County officials announced that one new case of COVID-19 had been confirmed since Thursday.

Currently, there are 13 confirmed cases in the county.

The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH), as of Friday, is also sharing the number of individuals who have been tested per county on its website. According to the ISDH, the number of tests is provisional and reflects only those reported to ISDH. Numbers should not be characterized as a comprehensive total.

Additional updates include:

• Putnam County Hospital has created a COVID-19 hotline: The hotline is staffed from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week. Citizens can call the hotline at 765-301-7019 to speak to a healthcare provider to address questions or concerns about the virus.

• No visitor policy at Putnam County Hospital in place: Putnam County Hospital enacted a no visitors policy Thursday to protect patients and the hospital community from COVID-19. To learn more, visit www.pchosp.org.

• CDC guidelines: Citizens should adhere to the CDC guidelines and practice social distancing when picking up groceries, getting gas or picking up prescriptions. A distance of six feet is required by the CDC. Visit www.cdc.gov for more information.

• Schools to remain closed: The Indiana Department of Education has cancelled all in-person K-12 classes for the 2019-2020 school year. To learn more, visit www.doe.in.gov/covid-19.

A number of preventive steps include:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.

• Don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth, especially with unwashed hands.

• Avoid close contact with people who are showing symptoms of illness.

• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

• Cover your cough or sneezes with a tissue or sneeze into your elbow.

• Throw the tissue in the garbage and make sure to clean your hands afterward.

• Stay home when you are sick.

• We are all in this together.

Putnam County is providing regular updates on COVID-19 to citizens as part of its effort to complement the daily updates from the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH). The ISDH updates occur at 10 a.m. and can be accessed via www.coronavirus.in.gov.

To learn more about Putnam County’s coordinated response to COVID-19, visit the Putnam County Hospital at www.pchosp.org/covid-19-updates or the Putnam County Health Department at www.putnamhealthindiana.org.

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  • Putnam County Officials: Would like to know if any of

    the 13 have recovered or are recovering...you were quick

    to tell readers of the one fatality....

    -- Posted by MAURICE MICHEL on Fri, Apr 3, 2020, at 3:03 PM
  • Yes this would be some information that would be helpful to the community!

    -- Posted by mamawjane1951 on Fri, Apr 3, 2020, at 5:07 PM
  • Good to see that the number of tests per county is now being provided at https://coronavirus.in.gov/.

    Putnam County has had 75 people tested out of a population of 38,000. That's not much (less than 1%). We need more testing so that we can get a handle on this.

    -- Posted by SamJohnson on Fri, Apr 3, 2020, at 8:29 PM
  • So little information makes me think they aren't really interested in giving out info that doesn't fit with the extreme steps we are engaging in.(the narrative) It just doesn't add up to shut down large parts of the economy with so few cases, especially here in flyover country.

    I guess this doesn't begin and end with our locals. But, I distinctly remember that if some food service establishment didn't comply with the rules (and they should) that was common knowledge published for all to see as info we all could and should know. Why so secretive about our own safety? Again, I don't care about the name. I want to know where to be extra careful, if need be.

    Maybe its just not that widespread. Maybe it is something that some can tolerate more than others. I think that's obvious. These numbers just don't equal the costly burden that the shut down is causing. We need the restrictions to be tweaked as more info is gathered.

    Sooner rather than later.

    -- Posted by direstraits on Fri, Apr 3, 2020, at 11:21 PM
  • Speaking of food establishments... Local papers used to publish the health inspections of them and the public could know which ones to avoid to prevent becoming ill. Then they were presented in such small print they were almost unreadable. Now they're not published at all. And I never heard of any local restaurant being shut down, even temporarily, after multiple repeat violations.

    -- Posted by Ben Dover on Sat, Apr 4, 2020, at 9:02 AM
  • The local papers cannot print any inspection reports if the Board of Health does not report them

    -- Posted by Nit on Sat, Apr 4, 2020, at 3:55 PM
  • The papers can't call the BoH and find out?

    -- Posted by Ben Dover on Sun, Apr 5, 2020, at 8:30 PM
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