April 25, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: COVID-19 Burke County Media Briefing
Burke County’s Response to COVID-19
• Burke County is currently at 88 positive cases. The cases consist of both traveling and community spread. All positive cases are isolated and Public Health staff continues to investigate the cases and will be locating those close contacts to help contain the spread of the infection.
• Numbers noted on the state website may fluctuate during the public health investigations when staff find out that some positive tests are truly not Burke County residents. Numbers listed above are correct numbers for Burke County.
• Public information line has been opened Monday through Friday, 8am – 5pm for those with questions can call 828-764-9388.
Burke County does have two long term care facilities that have COVID-19 outbreaks, but the facilities will not be identified to protect the residents and workers within these facilities. For Burke County, 76% of the cases are within long term care facilities.
The Burke County Command Staff and Burke County Health Department are working very hard to keep all residents within Burke County as healthy as possible during this challenging time. If residents continue to not stay at home, congregate in businesses (less than 6 feet and for 10 minutes or longer) and stay out in public, the more likely you will run in to someone that has COVID-19 and probably doesn’t know they have it and don’t have any symptoms. In the future, as businesses are opened, this possibility will become even greater.
All positive cases are investigated and all close contacts of those are notified and tested. If contacts are determined not to be easily identifiable then the Burke County Public Health officials will get the information out into the public for those that might have been in contact with someone testing positive. Residents will continue to put themselves at risk the more they go into public settings.
Since the data for this situation is continually changing, North Carolina residents can always check the NC Department of Health and Human Services website for updated information. The website is located at https://www.ncdhhs.gov/divisions/public-health/covid19.
Update on www.burkenc.org/COVID-19Webpage:
• Charts with percentages of positives cases by gender and age breakdowns
• These charts are updated by 5pm daily
If you have any further questions or need additional information, contact the Burke County Public Information Line at 828-764-9388, Monday – Friday from 8am – 5pm. After hours, weekends and holidays, the NC Public Information Line number is provided as a resource to contact. The operator will answer your questions or direct you to the correct person to answer your questions. Or you can also visit the Burke County COVID-19 webpage at www.burkenc.org/COVID-19. If you are having a medical emergency, call 9-1-1 and inform the dispatcher that you have symptoms listed for COVID-19.
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