Michigan is reporting 2,295 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 43 deaths. St. Clair County has ten (10) confirmed COVID-19 cases, an increase of two since yesterday’s report:
· 52 year old female, no travel history, recovering at home
· 39 year old male, no travel history, hospitalized
St. Clair County Health Department is currently monitoring 36 people who are awaiting COVID-19 test results.
The St. Clair County Health Department receives information about confirmed COVID-19 cases from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The number of COVID-19 tests are reported to the St. Clair County Health Department by hospital systems, however, may not be a complete report of all tests conducted.
According to Dr. Annette Mercatante, Medical Director at the St. Clair County Health Department, “There are several reasons we are seeing more COVID-19 patients being hospitalized. Hospitalized patients are prioritized for testing, so we will detect those patients more often. Additionally, complications due to COVID-19 typically occur after the first week of symptoms. Since we identified our first cases two weeks ago, it makes sense that we would see more cases that need advanced health care as this pandemic plays out. The most critical response to this event is that we slow transmission down by social distancing and quarantine efforts as needed so that our healthcare system can keep up with those that need the care. It is too early in this event to fully compare severity and other epidemiological factors with other locations, but we still have an opportunity to protect those people around us by following all the recommendations provided.”
The St. Clair County Emergency Operations Center functions as a centralized coordination of emergency resources to provide overall policy and guidance for strategic objectives related to the COVID-19 situation. For further information visit: cdc.gov/coronavirus; Michigan.gov/coronavirus; or scchealth.co. A general St. Clair County COVID-19 Informational Hotline is available Monday through Friday, (810) 966-4163, 8:00am-4:30pm or email questions to covid19@stclaircounty.org. The State of Michigan hotline is 1-888-535-6136 and is operational daily 8:00am – 5:00pm or email questions to COVID19@michigan.gov.
This information was submitted by the Joint Information Center at 4:33 PM on 3/25/2020
