By Woodrow Polston
The latest COVID update reveals a substantial drop from the previous report, with numbers coming down since the last Zoom meeting, reported the Audrain County Health Department. According to ACHD, the risk assessment is currently remaining in the high-level category, but the number of active cases changed from 97 to 41, while the number of probable cases also decreased from 34 to 17. The past seven-day positivity rate also came down from 18.4% to 9.8%. The past seven-day new cases per 100,000 persons also changed from 268 to 142. Cities with 10 or more cases were Mexico, with 29.
ACHD has also announced that it has launched a new COVID-19 positive test self-reporting page on their website. The new page, found at myachd.org/covid-self-test-reporting, was created in response to the rapid growth in the sale of at-home COVID-19 rapid tests at various retail pharmacy outlets.
“This portal will let Audrain County residents report their positive COVID-19 tests from the comfort and privacy of their own home,” said ACHD Administrator and Chief Executive Officer Craig Brace. “Our hope with the page on our website is that residents will take the time to report their positive results to us so we can more accurately gauge how COVID-19 is affecting our residents going forward,” he added.
The page will ask a resident a series of questions regarding their vaccination status as well as their name, address, age and race and ethnicity. “We are gathering this information to more accurately pinpoint who COVID is affecting in our community so we can devise more precise responses to the pandemic,” said Brace. “We don’t collect any different information than what you give to a provider when you go to get tested at their facility,” he said.
Also on the webpage are instructions for what to do for those that do test positive and for those that were exposed to a positive COVID-19 resident.
“We also have that information there so that residents, while either waiting for the appropriate amount of time to pass before being tested or for their own education, know how to respond to a positive test result or an exposure to a positive resident,” said Brace. “By being proactive and knowing what to do in advance, a person can help cut down on the spread of COVID-19 by not exposing others to the virus,” he added.
The page is designed to collect information from only those who test positive with an at-home test. Those that test negative with an at-home test do not need to report their results. For further questions, you can contact the ACHD at 573-581-1332 or visit their website at myachd.org.