County updates COVID-19 totals

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Putnam County officials announced Wednesday that there have been 378 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the county since March.

This includes 21 newly-reported positive cases on Monday and 14 newly-reported cases on Tuesday.

As of Tuesday afternoon, there had been three cases in local schools, the Putnam County Health Department confirmed. One of these was in North Putnam Schools, while two others were in Cloverdale Community Schools.

Additionally, as of Wednesday the Indiana Department of Correction was reporting 142 positive cases among offenders at Putnamville Correctional Facility, an increase of 28 cases from one week earlier.

Over the same time period, four new cases were reported among Putnamville staff members, the DOC reported, bringing the total to 15 cases. Ten of these have recovered.

Among Putnamville prisoners, 501 were in quarantine for having possibly been exposed to COVID-19, whiel 180 were in isolation as possibly having a contageous disease. In all, 36 Putnamville offenders have recovered from COVID-19 and none have died.

At the county level, there have been no deaths from COVID-19 since May 30.

For a further breakdown of cases, visit www.coronavirus.in.gov. To learn more about the cases at Putnamville Correctional Facility, visit https://www.in.gov/idoc/3780.htm.

Putnam County Hospital is now offering curbside COVID testing by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, call the COVID hotline at (765) 301-7019.

Upon arriving for your scheduled COVID-19 curbside appointment, follow the COVID-19 testing signs to the appropriate testing area. Putnam County Hospital asks that patients not arrive more than five minutes before their scheduled appointments in order to keep the traffic to a minimum.

As a reminder, county officials also ask the public to continue to follow the mask mandate when out in public. This includes high school, middle school and youth athletics.

• What should I do if I think I need a test or begin presenting COVID related symptoms?

If you think you have been exposed to COVID-19 and develop a fever and symptoms, such as cough or difficulty breathing, call your healthcare provider for medical advice.

• What should I do if I have questions about protocols for county schools?

All of the county school systems have plans approved through the Putnam County Board of Health If you have questions regarding protocols related to COVID, visit your community school corporation websites.

Any specific questions should be directed to your specific school system.

• What else can I do right now?

It is imperative individuals take action to avoid COVID-19 to prevent its spread. 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 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 afterwards.

- Stay home when you are sick.

- Wear face coverings in public when performing essential duties.

- 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 Dept. of Health. The updates 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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  • *

    For an alternative perspective... (You are being lied to)

    https://www.redstate.com/michael_thau/2020/08/19/new-covid-study-no-symptoms-not...

    -- Posted by dreadpirateroberts on Wed, Aug 19, 2020, at 12:24 PM
  • *

    And if you do get COVID-19 - why can't you get effective treatment?

    https://www.christianpost.com/voices/death-toll-mounts-with-fda-denial-of-hcq-fo...

    -- Posted by dreadpirateroberts on Wed, Aug 19, 2020, at 12:51 PM
  • DPR...Maybe you are being lied to? I read the article and I believe it to be from a biased source. The “flip side” publish their biased findings, as well. It’s the truth according to which color you have faith in...red or blue.

    -- Posted by kbmom on Wed, Aug 19, 2020, at 1:11 PM
  • *

    KBmom - I'd tell you a COVID-19 joke, but there is a 99.56% chance that you wont get it.

    Are you so political that you cannot see past party?

    If you weren't so biased (or maybe just afraid to be wrong), you would see that there is a whole bunch of SCIENCE (not politics) in the article. (I distilled it down for you... you can thank me later.)

    "The researchers kept track of 3410 people in Hubei China who had close contact with someone infected with the COVID-19 virus to see how many wound up catching it. They also kept track of the degree to which the infected individuals had any symptoms. Of the 305 people who had close contact with someone who had the virus but never showed symptoms… only 1 person caught it."

    "FDA says the the PCR false positive rate is around 3%."

    "Even people with symptoms turn out to be not very contagious.

    Mild symptoms: Only 19 of 576 or 3.3% who had close contact wound up infected.

    Moderate symptoms: Only 82 of 1469 or 5.6% who had close contact wound up infected.

    Severe symptoms: Only 5 of 155 or 3.2% who had close contact wound up infected.

    Critical symptoms: only 11 of 105 or 10.5% who had close contact wound up infected."

    "And for the record, this Lancet study (from March!) [embedded at site] looked at our first patient in US. She also had hundreds of contacts, and only infected one person--her spouse--while she was symptomatic."

    "Dr. Tadaro...educate[s] us on Tcell response to Covid and herd immunity, and the fact that masks prolong the virus cycle to reach herd immunity":

    "The pervasive misconception is that we have zero immunity against COVID-19. Based on this flawed understanding, epidemiologists projected that herd immunity is not reached until 60-70% are infected. This is almost certainly wrong.

    While antibodies against COVID-19 may only last months, T cell immunity can remain protective for years. In a study of 23 people who survived SARS in 2003, every single one had memory T cells that recognized the SARS virus 17 years later. (Nature) Moreover, blood samples from all 23 individuals showed “robust cross-reactivity” against SARS-CoV-2. This can be called crossover immunity.

    Crossover immunity is not limited to just people who were infected with SARS years ago though. In the same study, in 37 persons with no history of SARS or COVID-19 (negative serology and/or samples taken before COVID-19), over 50% had SARS-CoV-2 specific T cells.

    This is not surprising because there are at least 4 strains of coronaviruses that cause the "common cold". The above study is not the only one to show this level of cross-reactivity.

    In a study from April 2020, in 68 healthy donors never exposed to COVID-19, 34% had T cells that reacted to SARS-CoV-2. This finding was confirmed in yet another study published in Cell in June 2020 showing that 40-60% of unexposed individuals had T cell recognition of SARS-CoV-2. The authors hypothesized that crossover immunity came from “common cold” coronaviruses.

    With an understanding of T cell immunity, it makes sense that the elderly are more affected by COVID-19. It is well known that persons in advanced age and/or who are immunocompromised lose T cells. Let’s get back to herd immunity via T cells.

    If ~50% of people had T cell immunity prior to SARS-CoV-2, then that leaves 50% of the population susceptible. In the regions hit hardest by COVID-19, serology studies show new cases and deaths peaked at around 10-20% infected.

    Adding the 50% who already had T cell immunity from common cold viruses to the newly infected 10-20% equals about 60-70% immunity. Not coincidentally, 60-70% is the percentage epidemiologists project is necessary for herd immunity with a respiratory virus."

    (Me again) Now, add to this the fact that the US Govt (bureaucracy) has curtailed use of HCQ (as noted in the other article I posted a link to...from a DOCTOR) which is needlessly killing people, and add in the fact that the average age of COVID mortality is 80+ with most of those being in nursing homes - you know, where two DEMOCRAT governors were INTENTIONALLY putting COVID-POSITIVE patients (just in case you still want to see the politics of it) - and now maybe you will see what I am trying to tell you.

    Its a virus. It can be bad, especially to those susceptible. But it is NOT the end of the world, and the harms we do (economically and mental/physical healthwise) to ourselves and our children are not justified.

    Open everything back up. Return to normal. Wash your hands. If you are sick, stay home.

    -- Posted by dreadpirateroberts on Wed, Aug 19, 2020, at 3:34 PM
  • Those two links you provided are pure biased trash. Go spread your propaganda somewhere else! No surprise though, most of what you post is lies and ult-right trash.

    -- Posted by BJCP96 on Wed, Aug 19, 2020, at 3:51 PM
  • Also super long winded and boring. You seem to think if you type a bunch of words it makes what your saying more believable. Spoiler Alert: It doesnt.

    -- Posted by BJCP96 on Wed, Aug 19, 2020, at 3:52 PM
  • How many people are right now in the hospital ??

    -- Posted by Falcon9 on Wed, Aug 19, 2020, at 3:56 PM
  • *

    DPR, I was looking for the definition of irony and your post popped up. You do understand how foolish you look calling her out for not being able to see past party when you 100% overlooked the fact that she stated that both parties have published "Facts" about the virus.

    So to distill it down for you (you can thank me later).

    Are both parties stories factually accurate?

    No, they aren't as you can't have a fact be two different things. For example 2+2=4 can't also be 2+2=170,000.

    So do you think that both might just be opinions rooted in what helps support that argument? If you can't admit this then you are the one that can't see past party. What you presented is an opinion based article by a right wing whack job conspiracy promoting website. I can find 100 of the same type of articles from left wing whack job websites. Trust me neither are fact based.

    You're slipping man.....Go burn your Goodyear tires.

    -- Posted by RSOTS on Wed, Aug 19, 2020, at 3:57 PM
  • The article linked to in the first comment falsely claims that the study in the Annals of Medicine prove that masks, school closures, and social distancing are not necessary...

    The study was conducted in China during extreme lockdown and it explicitly says that the reason household exposure was higher is likely due to masks and social distancing...

    Direct Quote from the article

    "Another explanation is that mask wearing to prevent infection was mandatory in public settings but not in households during the study period. Thus, effective measures to reduce household transmission and quarantine of household contacts are extremely important."

    Far from suggesting what the redstate article says...the study appears to confirm that masks and other measures are likely very effective.

    -- Posted by andycullison on Wed, Aug 19, 2020, at 6:33 PM
  • RSOTS you say there are left-leaning "whack job" news sites skewing facts to mislead people? I have to challenge that assertion. Maybe you're thinking of libertarian, which is what DPR seems to be. But they're also right-wing whack jobs......

    -- Posted by Raker on Wed, Aug 19, 2020, at 8:52 PM
  • *

    BJCP - LOL. Yep...you convinced me. LOL. Such powers of persuasion.

    It probably wouldn't hurt to get out of your parent's basement once in a while...open your mind a bit. And then maybe you can actually contribute something beyond childish angry words.

    RSOTS - LOL. I swear you must have it hard for me... you follow me around this site like some crazed stalker posting your hate and vitriol, twisting things, instead of just engaging the topic in a rational fashion.

    But I will address your rant - b/c I am that magnanimous:

    She called the source "biased" - fair enough, it is. (I am guessing she refers to the RedState article, and not the Christian Post article, but she doesn't specify and I guess either could be considered bias.)

    But then she automatically discounts it b/c it is from a "biased" source without actually addressing what was found in the article that is not political, such as the 3% false positive rate as noted by the FDA or the information from medical doctors and scientists, or the viral transmission of the 1st case (their designation) of coronavirus and that it was only her and her husband that had gotten sick despite contact with 372 people.

    Then she says that both sides say their things and its the "truth" depending on party.

    I countered that assertion by showing her the science of what was in the article. Not what the author says, but what the science says.

    I am showing the SCIENCE that says it isn't the plague the government (on both sides) is treating it as.

    For as much as you follow me around one would think that you would understand by now that I don't do party politics. I can't stand the Republican party. I call out Jim Baird all the time on this website. I call out that useless occupier of the Governors Mansion all the time on other sites. Nor do I have any affinity for Democrats and their evil ways. To me, the R's and the D's are two different squads of the same team...Team Screw America.

    I am a Constitutionalist. I am a student of - and believer in - the ideals of the Founding Fathers. I believe in liberty & freedom. I believe that which governs least governs best.

    And I don't burn any tires... I prefer they be recycled or repurposed. :)

    Andycullison - instead of simply reading the article (assuming you did) and looking for something to pick apart, did you actually read the study?

    Here is what the study found:

    "We found that the secondary attack rate was less than 4% among close contacts of persons with COVID-19. Secondary infections acquired while using public transportation were rare; in contrast, 1 in 10 household contacts was found to be infected. Moreover, we found that patients with more clinically severe disease were more likely to infect their close contacts than were less severe index cases; asymptomatic cases were least likely to infect their close contacts. Manifestation of certain symptoms, such as expectoration, in index cases was also associated with an increased risk for infection in their close contacts."

    The study also said this:

    "This supports the view of the World Health Organization that asymptomatic cases were not the major drivers of the overall epidemic dynamics."

    To put it in layman's terms... your chances of getting coronavirus from an asymptomatic carrier are RARE (probably due to a lack of transmission vectors), your chances of getting coronavirus in a public setting are RARE (this may be due to masks or limited exposure), your chances of getting coronavirus in a healhcare setting are LOW (again possibly due to masks/protocols and/or limited exposure), while your greatest chances of getting coronavirus are from a symptomatic person in your household (possibly due to no masks and/or greater exposure) and at that it is only 10%.

    If you want to wear a mask, go ahead. You can wear a tutu and galoshes if you want.

    But don't force me to wear a mask when the SCIENCE continues to show that the measures taken are simply window dressing at best and draconian government over-reach at worst.

    By the way, I saw on the news yesterday of another study that says coronavirus transmission on a plane is very rare as well.

    -- Posted by dreadpirateroberts on Thu, Aug 20, 2020, at 1:52 PM
  • And blah, blah, blah to the DRR book above if anyone bothered to waste their time reading it

    -- Posted by Nit on Thu, Aug 20, 2020, at 4:54 PM
  • I’m not compelled to read a novel right now, but you have to give some weight to a photo of a New York politician who has constantly blamed Trump for the entire Covid nightmare, making a public appearance without a mask. They want to make rules for the peasantry but don’t follow those rules themselves. This is what your politicians — all of them — think of you.

    -- Posted by techphcy on Thu, Aug 20, 2020, at 5:46 PM
  • *

    Nit - LOL. I would say that's about right for you... declaring its a waste of time without reading it. Its also nice of you to let others know that you have decided for them that its a waste of time. After all, you wouldn't want anyone to actually decide for themselves...

    No worries, you would probably have trouble understanding it anyway... I tend to write above your comprehension level.

    -- Posted by dreadpirateroberts on Fri, Aug 21, 2020, at 1:15 PM
  • I read the entire article. And the portions you are citing regarding low infection rates are in circumstances where masks and social distancing were likely prevalent.

    -- Posted by andycullison on Sat, Aug 22, 2020, at 1:18 AM
  • DPR - I did read the study...and I gave you a quote...from the study indicating the effectiveness of masks. I didn't cherry pick...that was literally a part of their conclusion

    -- Posted by andycullison on Sat, Aug 22, 2020, at 1:23 AM
  • #farmboywouldwearamask

    -- Posted by andycullison on Sat, Aug 22, 2020, at 1:29 AM
  • Buttercup: Farmboy, wear a mask

    Wesley: As you wish

    -- Posted by andycullison on Sat, Aug 22, 2020, at 1:30 AM
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