NEWS RELEASE
August 18, 2020 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
Garrett County COVID-19 Dashboard Is Being Revised
By Garrett County Joint Information Center Team
The Garrett County Health Department is updating the COVID-19 dashboard on their website, garretthealth.org, to better reflect the current status of the virus in Garrett County.
Beginning at the time of this release, a box will be added to show the number of persons released from isolation. This will be a cumulative total of the number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 and have completed their required isolation period.
“Just because a person is no longer required to be isolated does not necessarily mean that person has recovered from their illness,” said Dr. Jennifer Corder, Deputy Health Officer for Garrett and Allegany Counties. “Some patients will continue to deal with health issues brought on by COVID-19.”
Another box will list the 7-day positivity percentage for the county. This number will be an average of the positivity percentage of tests administered in the 7 days immediately before the release of the information.
“The 7-day positivity percentage will be a good way to determine where things currently stand with COVID-19 in the county,” Dr. Corder said. “Our current rate is fairly low, but if we have a string of several days where we received a number of positive results each day, then the rate will increase significantly.”
The boxes for positive and negative tests will remain on the dashboard, as well as the number of deaths for the county, which continues to remain at 0. The only number which will no longer be displayed on the dashboard is the total number of tests administered.
“We hope that adding this information to our dashboard will help give a more complete picture of Garrett County’s current COVID-19 status,” Dr. Corder said. “However, just because our numbers are low does not mean we can stop being vigilant about COVID-19 precautions. Our numbers are low partially because of the precautions we have been taking, and we need to continue to wear face coverings, wash our hands frequently, social distance, and stay away from large gatherings.”
For more information call the COVID-19 Hotline at 301-334-7698.
