MOUNT VERNON – Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March, Knox County has seen 98 confirmed cases. Over half of those have been reported since July 1, and more than a third have come in the last week.
New data from Knox Public Health reveals an alarming spike in infections, one that mirrors Ohio’s trajectory in recent weeks. Wednesday marked the 15th straight day that Ohio topped 1,000 new cases, a threshold that had only been reached three times prior to July.
Knox County recorded 14 new cases on Monday, surpassing its previous single-day record of seven (July 17). The county’s second COVID-19 fatality was announced Tuesday, a 74-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran from Howard who died of “pneumonia related to COVID-19,” according to KPH spokeswoman Pam Palm.
Knox County has seen 98 positive cases, 12 hospitalizations and two deaths due to the novel coronavirus as of Wednesday. The pandemic has reached all corners of the county, with 38 confirmed cases coming from Mount Vernon; 14 from Howard; 13 from Centerburg; 11 from Fredericktown; 10 from Danville; four from Utica; three from Butler; three from Gambier; and one each from Walhonding and Frazeysburg.
According to Knox Public Health, 50 of the county’s 98 confirmed cases have recovered, while 46 are still active. The health department is currently monitoring 42 residents.
Knox Public Health is attributing 33 of the 38 positive cases reported in Knox County over the last week to “community spread,” as the source of the infection is unknown.
Thirteen cases came from an outbreak at Country Court Skilled Nursing Center in Mount Vernon. While Knox County Health Commissioner Julie Miller said Wednesday she couldn’t speak specifically about this week’s data, she noted that over the past month, typical summertime gatherings have been the source of most infections locally.
She’s seen positive cases come from events like weddings, funerals, religious services, athletic contests, and gatherings at private residences.
“We are seeing it associated with private residence gatherings, because that’s where you can have more people than 10,” Miller explained during Wednesday night’s health board meeting. “And good or bad, whether it’s a big reunion or just a friendly get-together, we are seeing positive, confirmed cases come out of those types of things.
“We’re seeing it out of what I’ll call spiritual or religious-based services, be it a church service and/or weddings, funerals. We are also recently, as of today… [seeing confirmed cases from] youth sports. The state is already working on what they’re going to do with youth athletics because we’re seeing more kids being exposed during youth ball.”
The rise in cases can’t completely be attributed to increased testing, either, health officials say, as positivity rates have risen as well. Ohio now boasts a 6 percent positivity rate, up from 3.8 percent in mid-June.
Knox County’s positivity rate seems to have risen as well. On June 23 – exactly one month ago Thursday – Knox Public Health reported that 1,361 tests had been conducted in Knox County, with 34 having returned positive. The positivity rate at that point was roughly 2.5 percent.
On Wednesday, Knox Public Health reported that 2,333 tests had been conducted and 98 had returned positive (292 test results are still pending) – bumping the county’s positivity rate up to 4.2 percent through the first four months of the pandemic. The positivity rate in Knox County jumped to 6.5 percent between June 23 and July 23, with 64 out of 972 tests returning positive.
The demand for – and interest in – testing has seemingly risen in Knox County as well over the last month. A combined total of 351 people showed up to receive a test at Knox Public Health’s first two drive-thru events in June. On Monday, at a drive-thru clinic in Howard, Knox Public Health conducted nearly 300 tests in the first hour. The health department quickly ran out of testing kits, and it had to turn people away due to the unexpected shortage.
Miller said Wednesday that she is not surprised to see Knox County experiencing a surge in mid-July, four months after the state’s first case was announced.
“It does not surprise me that this rural population in the middle of Ohio has had to wait until the middle of July to see a surge. That is how communicable diseases work,” Miller said. Communicable diseases will typically “start on the coasts,” she explained, and work inwards.
“It’ll come to the east or west coast, or it might come to both at about the same time, and you can see maps of it moving across the United States,” Miller said.
“And then what it does is they hit the metropolitan areas, which makes sense. It’s where [there are] tons of people living closely together, working closely together – on the streets, in subways, in public transportation – whereas all the rural communities, those of us are spread out more, and we might not live on top of each other or have public transportation like subways.”
Eventually, Miller said, rural communities will get hit. She believes Knox County’s time has come.
“I’m not surprised that our ‘surge’ is waiting until now,” Miller said. “But the key is, how well can we control our surge?”
Miller plans to address the community on Facebook Live at 5 p.m. Thursday, regarding the recent rise in cases. She told the health board that she plans to “beg this community to keep us yellow, because we’re not going to stay yellow for long.”
Knox County is currently ‘yellow,’ or Level 1, on the state’s Public Health Advisory Alert System, which tracks COVID-19 hotspots across the state. Only one of Knox County’s neighbors – Ashland County – is also Level 1; the rest are either orange (Level 2) or red (Level 3). The map will be updated again Thursday afternoon.
“I think we already meet three of the set of criteria [from the state], which would put us at a ‘Level Orange,’” Miller said Wednesday, “but they’re the ones that designate that.”
So far, Miller said the county’s health system has remained relatively unfazed by the pandemic. Officials from Knox Community Hospital told her recently that “their census is typical for this time of year,” and that as of Tuesday, its ICU contained no one with COVID-19 complications. Local EMS officials have said their runs are also relatively normal for mid-July.
But with case numbers and positivity rates increasing locally, Miller worries that might change.
“We’re blessed that the hospital hasn’t been overwhelmed,” said Miller, noting that her three goals heading into the pandemic were to keep Knox County’s numbers low, prevent deaths, and to not overwhelm the local healthcare system.
While those goals have largely been met so far, Miller said they are now in jeopardy, given the current spike in cases. She plans to share these concerns with the community Thursday, and to plead that residents follow the recommended health guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus.
“We can not – we can not – allow this health system in this county to get overwhelmed,” Miller said. “It’s the second-biggest employer, we have EMS that are limited with their capacity to serve this community, and if our system gets overwhelmed, we have plans, but whether they’re going to work or not is [uncertain].
“We don’t have the resources that Columbus or Cleveland or Mansfield has. I mean, seriously. It’s huge for me that this system not get overwhelmed.”
Those wishing to receive a COVID-19 test can call Knox Public Health at 740-399-8014 to set up an appointment. Testing is still being conducted daily at the Community Health Center in Mount Vernon.
Palm said in an email that plans are underway to offer another drive-thru testing clinic in the future, like the one in Howard on Monday, which was coordinated in conjunction with the Ohio National Guard. No date or location has been set as of Thursday.
