In less than 72 hours, the number of cases of coronavirus in Carroll County increased from 15 to 25 cases as of Wednesday morning and two at a long-term care facility in Carroll County.
There has been one death due to COVID-19, according to Emergency Management and Civil Defense Director Ken Strachan. The increase in cases in Carroll County since Saturday has caused some alarm.
He told Carroll County Supervisors on Monday the increase took place within 48 hours. “Since Saturday, we went from 15 cases to 20 cases,” he said.
The numbers rose again on Wednesday and went to 25 cases with reports of two cases at a long-term care facility, according to the Mississippi Department of Health.
Strachan said he’s been giving out masks to the places who need them the most, and two areas of concern for him are the Carroll-Montgomery Regional Correctional Facility and the Vaiden Community Living Center.
According to a table on the Mississippi Department of Health, the two cases at the long-term care facility are both white patients, gender was not revealed for either patient.
“They have people who are in close quarters, and you can’t really be six feet from them,” Strachan said. “It can spread like wildfire.”
He said he placed a second order but getting personal protection equipment has been difficult.
Strachan said there are three main areas when it comes to COVID-19: new cases, hospitalization and deaths.
“If we can keep the new cases down, then we can decrease the other two areas,” Strachan said.
Chancery Clerk Casey Carpenter asked the board to approve paying Gwen Whirl $200 to clean the Carrollton Courtroom, which led to the discussion of Board attorney Kevin Horan telling Supervisors they needed to consider a long-term protocol for cleaning all county offices.
Carpenter said he asked Whirl to clean the Carrollton courtroom because he had judges and district attorneys coming in as they prepare to hold grand jury. The board approved paying Whirl $200 for cleaning the courtroom.
Horan told board members they should consider a long-term protocol for cleaning the courthouse and other county buildings “at least until Christmas.” He said legislators had a conference call with Dr. Thomas Dobbs who told them the state is about to hit its peak for cases in the next couple of weeks.
“It’s about to become more intense. He said we’re about to plateau. It’s not going to go up or it’s not going to go down,” Horan said.
Carpenter said he would ask Whirl if she would consider cleaning other county facilities.
Horan told the board should also consider a mask protocol. He also told them to consider closing off the all entryways into the Carrollton Courtroom except for one.
“That’s the only entryway into here so it wouldn’t be a problem,” Horan said.
