A dozen people test positive for novel coronavirus
OKANOGAN – Okanogan County Public Health has confirmed that one of the dozen people infected with COVID-19 lives in the north end of the county.
In the Wednesday, April 8 update, Public Health announced that two more people in Okanogan County had tested positive for the Novel Coronavirus, up from Tuesday’s count of ten. A total of 287 samples have been sent for testing, with 221 negative results and 54 pending results.
Of those that have tested positive, five live on the Colville Reservation, four in the Methow Valley, two in South County and one in North County.
In the Tuesday update, Public Health said that two of people who tested positive had recovered from the virus.
In the update, which was sent out by Okanogan County Emergency Management’s alert system, Public Health included some tips to help stay safe and curtail the spread of COVID-19.
Going to the Grocery Store
Everyone is safest from COVID-19 when we all stay in our homes, but, eventually, even the best stocked of us need to go to the grocery store. Grocery stores are working hard to keep their employees and customers as safe as possible.
Some grocery stores are helping us stay six feet apart from each other by providing signage or spacing markers on the floor. Others are monitoring traffic flow and focusing on helping us stay six feet apart when lines begin to form. And some are limiting the total number of people in the store at any one time.
Like all of us, grocery store employees should not work when they are sick, wash their hands frequently, use hand sanitizers, and refrain from touching their faces.
Keep yourself and grocery stores as safe as possible
• Limit the number of times you go to a grocery store to once a week or even less frequently.
• Shop with a list and like you mean business. Save the browsing for later! The less time you are in there, the better!
• Shop by yourself, if possible, to help limit the number of people in the aisles. Better yet, can you take a neighbor’s list with you and shop for them while you are at it?
• Shop at less popular times when the stores will be less crowded.
• Wearing a cloth face covering to protect others in case you have COVID-19 but haven’t developed any symptoms.
• Don’t touch your face! Avoid using your phone, putting on chapstick, scratching your beard, or doing anything that would bring your hands into contact with your face.
• Use hand sanitizer when you get in the car.
• Wash your hands thoroughly when you get home.
• You can toss packaging and wipe down bottles when you get home, but do NOT put disinfectants like bleach or cleaning products on your produce or directly onto your food, that is bad for you.
To reach various agencies for more information:
Washington State Department of Health Call Center – 1-800-525-0127 Press # after the prompt
Education & Information – www.doh.wa.gov/emergencies/
Okanogan County Alerts – Sign up for alerts like these from Emergency Management at: https://www.okanogandem.org.
