Valley County Hits 400 Cases of COVID-19

The Valley County Health Department reported the 400th case of COVID-19 in the county on Nov. 2. The total case count is a sharp increase from the beginning of October when the county was reporting just over 140 cases on Oct. 7. Of the total number of cases, 338 have recovered, 57 are active and five have passed away.

Out of the total 400 cases, the county has hospitalized 36 patients, making the rate of hospitalization nine percent. As of Oct. 2, 9 people were hospitalized in Valley County. Seven were positive for COVID and two awaiting test results.

Since Oct. 26, the county had reported 53 positive cases encompassing every age group from children to into their 90s. The largest demographic of active cases is the 30-39 age group as of Oct. 2. There were 11 cases of senior citizens infected by the disease and just last week Prairie Ridge reported their first confirmed resident infection after months of strict protocols to prevent the occurrence.

In response to rising cases and hospitalizations, the County Board of Health began a series of public meetings to decide how to move forward. Two meeting concluded and the county was set to make a decision at a Nov. 11 meeting at 5:15 p.m. on Zoom on either increasing COVID mitigation measures to protect health infrastructure or more strictly enforce existing guidelines—a step they have already started by educating businesses on mask wearing, hand washing and social distancing. That decision will come nearly a month after the initial wave of COVID hospitalizations threatened to overwhelm Frances Mahon Deaconess’ inpatient nursing and physician staff.

It was unclear at press time what the Board of Health would recommend and what the health officer would implement. At the first meeting in October, county health officer Dr. Anne Millard said she wanted to conduct a four-week reset in which the county would return to “phase one” measures—meaning some businesses would be limited to curbside service, group gatherings would be restricted and traveler quarantines would be implemented.

The business community and the area Chamber of Commerce pushed back on the notion saying they would suffer financially and that some businesses could close. They defended businesses owners who were not enforcing mask mandates and other rules in their stores saying it was the county’s responsibility to enforce the measures. At an exclusive meeting with the Chamber of Commerce, Board of Health President Clay Berger discussed the measures and pushed for strict enforcement. He said that many of the businesses agreed that a strict enforcement of phase two by businesses would be better than a return to phase one.

It is unclear what impact enforcement has had on the community. Cases have continued to rise, but hospitalizations have fallen. Mask wearing and other measures have also gone up around the community as businesses begin to enforce COVID mitigation in an effort to stay open and avoid further disruption to their 2020 business years.