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Health Department releases overview of local COVID-19 cases

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Putnam County officials announced Tuesday that there have been 53 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the county.

This marks an increase of two cases since Monday’s update, and the first increase since Saturday.

The Putnam Co. Health Department (PCHD) on Monday compiled an overview of cases in the county.

As of Monday, April 20, the 51 confirmed Putnam County cases were comprised of:

• Four individuals who have passed away;

• 27 individuals who have recovered;

• 18 individuals in isolation recovering at home; and

• Two individuals in area hospitals.

The four individuals who passed away were over age 80.

The age breakdown of the confirmed cases is:

AgeCases
0-192
20-293
30-399
40-4913
50-5913
60-696
70-790
80+ 5

The PCHD plans to continue to provide regular data updates on confirmed cases. It should be noted that these are cases which were confirmed through testing only.

Additional updates include:

• Food pantry support is available for Putnam County residents.

Visit www.pchosp.org to access a list of pantries and their hours.

• Gov. Eric Holcomb extends stay-at-home order through May 1.

Citizens are asked to continue to stay at home if they can and practice social distancing. To learn more, visit the Indiana State Department of Health’s website at https://coronavirus.in.gov.

• Family and Support Services of West Central Indiana (FSSWCI) is offering free support for victims of violence and families with young children.

If you or someone you know are experiencing abuse, FSSWCI can help. Visit www.pchosp.org to learn more, and for a list of mental health resources.

Local officials are also encouraging preventive steps, including:

• 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 percent 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 ISDH.

The ISDH updates occur at 10 a.m. and can be accessed via www.coronavirus.in.gov. According to the ISDH, the number of tests it lists is provisional and reflects only those reported to ISDH. Numbers should not be characterized as a comprehensive total.

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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  • I appreciate this breakdown information. I do wonder how many cases were never reported? Back in Jan. and into Feb. my wife got deathly sick and we thought at first it was the flu. She continued to get worse, she had fever, cough, headache, shortness of breath and finally coughing up pure blood. She went to the doctor and they took a flu test which came back negative. They sent her for x-rays to check for pneumonia and that was negative as well. Of course at that time we were not hearing much about COVID-19 and there wasn't that test available. To summarize we think she may very well have had COVID-19 but was not diagnosed as such. Could this be? Were there more not diagnosed in the early stages of this pandemic ?

    -- Posted by Workingthesoil on Tue, Apr 21, 2020, at 4:08 PM

  • I was also quite ill with what felt like a very bad cold early this year. A cough that just wouldn’t go away. I ran a fever for weeks. Maybe when things calm down there will be enough antibody tests to test people like me to see if we already had it.

    -- Posted by techphcy on Tue, Apr 21, 2020, at 4:16 PM
  • *

    BHS1967, I wouldn't put it past them to withhold that kind of information... Just today, Indiana officials refused to disclose details about an outbreak taking place in nursing homes across the state:

    https://www.wthitv.com/content/news/Indiana-officials-wont-detail-nursing-home-v...

    The excuse is that it's due to new regulations but no regulations prevented the entire state from shutting down, so why should it prevent its citizens from knowing where the ground zeros of outbreaks are? Answer: it shouldn't. It's just more balderdash.

    It's by no stretch of the imagination that if the idiots in charge truly felt compelled to prioritize the health of those they're supposed to serve, they'd release helpful information like that so that everyone can have a better, more well-rounded understanding of everything that's taking place. Heaven forbid the people be allowed a more holistic comprehension... We just can't let them have that kind of power.

    -- Posted by DouglasQuaid on Tue, Apr 21, 2020, at 7:36 PM

  • Thank you to the Board of Health for releasing this information to the newspaper. It is much appreciated.

    -- Posted by Nit on Tue, Apr 21, 2020, at 7:41 PM
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