Full Notification

June 26, 2020

The McDowell County Health Department has been notified that seven additional McDowell County residents have tested positive for novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Public Health officials and the McDowell County Emergency Operations Center are monitoring trends of transmission.  By tracking these trends and data, conclusions can be made that transmission continues to be in gatherings of 10 or more people where social distancing is not practiced and households where multiple people reside.  Public health staff is aggressively investigating and tracing all contacts to positives.  To protect individual privacy, no further information about the cases will be released.

This brings the total number of positives to 203 in McDowell County. There have been 3,923 people tested, 3,588 negative results and 132 tests are pending results.  Presently, there are 88 individuals in quarantine, 113 out of quarantine and 2 deaths. Currently, 8.6% of the McDowell County population has been tested for COVID 19.

“I encourage everyone to follow the extension of Governor Cooper’s Executive Order to wear a face covering.” stated Public Health Director Karen Powell.   “It is so important that you wear a face covering anytime you are out in public.  It will help stop the spread of the virus and keep yourself and others safe.  Always wash your hands, use hand sanitizer and avoid touching your face.  We want to see these numbers go down and wearing a face covering is one way to do that.” McDowell County Health Department is working diligently to get in touch with all contacts of positives to offer testing.  We continue to quarantine all positives for 14 days.  It is critical for Public Health to be ahead of the transmission risk by isolating anyone who has been exposed.  We cannot lose focus of this serious situation, which is to stop the transmission of COVID-19 and to save lives.  Your Public Health team is dedicated and committed to keeping you safe and protecting the community.    McDowell County is strong, and we will get through these unprecedented times.

The Health Department is continuing to test individuals for COVID-19.  If an individual would like to be tested, they can call the hotline at (828) 527- 6687. The operator will ask a list of questions and will provide the caller with the appropriate instructions based upon the answers given. The hours of operation for this hotline are 8AM – 8PM, 7 days per week.  If you are having a 6medical3 emergency, call 9-1-1 and inform the dispatcher that you have symptoms of COVID-19.
 
Citizens can utilize an online COVID-19 screening tool by going to https://mcdowell.clearstep.health/ and completing the assessment.  Additional statistics related to COVID-19 testing in McDowell County can be found by visiting http://www.mcdowellem.com/covid-19.html

• McDowell County Health Department; June 29^th from 9AM-11AM
• Old Fort Town Hall; June 30^th from 9AM-11AM; located at 38 Catawba Ave in Old Fort
• McDowell High School; July 1^st from 9AM-2PM;