Columbia County Board of Health Update

With 15 new cases, today is the largest increase we’ve seen so far. Stay safe, Stay home.

As of 3 PM on April 28, 2020:

– Columbia County has had 13 community members that have passed away from COVID-19
-169 positive cases of COVID-19
-85 of the 169 cases have recovered from COVID-19
– 15 of the positive cases are hospitalized, 4 of those hospitalized are in the ICU
-We have received 1,219 test results completed for Columbia County residents
-141 residents are under mandatory quarantine and 21 under precautionary quarantine

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

FROM: Chairman Matt Murell

COLUMBIA COUNTY DOH EXPLAINS CONTACT TRACING

With the concept of “contact tracing” becoming more prevalent in the fight against COVID-19, Columbia County Department of Health’s Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Chuck Kaiser explained on Tuesday that local health departments have been engaged in contact tracing since the beginning of this pandemic.

“It is part of the first line defense against a pathogen during the containment phase,” Kaiser said. “Contact tracing continues during a pandemic, even throughout the mitigation phase, as long as it is feasible. There often comes a point when the resources are simply not enough to handle the number of people who need contact tracing.

” Kaiser said contact tracing involves “nothing more than identifying those individuals who have come in close contact — within six feet for more than 10 minutes — with a person who has either tested positive for COVID-19, or a person who meets all the criteria for being highly suspected of having COVID-19.”

People who meet either of these criteria will be asked who they have come in close contact with within the past three days of the onset of their symptoms, or a positive test result, Kaiser said. Those people are the “contacts.” Once that information is obtained, then all those contacts with an exposure risk are notified and advised to quarantine.

During their quarantine period they are asked to monitor for symptoms. If they should become symptomatic, they become a suspect case and the contact tracing begins all over again. Those suspect cases are then referred for testing to see if they are positive. This is using isolation and quarantine as a means to help keep the virus from spreading.

BARNWELL RESIDENTS, STAFF TEST COVID-19 POSITIVE

Seven residents of the Barnwell Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Valatie have tested positive for COVID-19, Columbia County Department of Health Director Jack Mabb announced Tuesday. In addition, two staff members have tested positive for the virus.

“State DOH asked us to supply Barnwell with sufficient test kits to enable them to test the entire unit that has experienced the positive cases. We delivered the kits this morning,” Mabb said. “

The County Health Department is willing to provide test kits to all the nursing homes in the county. These are our residents and their families deserve to know what’s going on and what’s being done to keep them safe,” Mabb said, noting that four out of five nursing homes are testing symptomatic residents.

Matt B. Murell Chairman Kelly S. Baccaro Clerk Ronald L. Knott Deputy Chairman James J. Guzzi Deputy Chairman Columbia County DOH and New York State DOH will continue to monitor the situation at the Barnwell Nursing & Rehabilitation Center.

Barnwell staff did not return calls for comment.