June 18, 2020 1:50 p.m.

There are 3 new cases of COVID-19 in Douglas County as of Thursday.

This is largest number of new cases in the county in one day, since the pandemic began.

County Public Health Officer Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer told News Radio 1240 KQEN that all 3 people who tested positive, appear to have acquired the virus from other positive cases, while traveling out of state. Dannenhoffer said 2 of the 3 people are related. Dannenhoffer told KQEN that local residents who travel out of state need to be very careful. He noted that California and Washington State have both had big increases in daily case counts. Dannenhoffer said of the 32 positive cases the county has had, around half were people who had traveled out of state, and got the virus during their trip.

Dannenhoffer said if someone has been on a trip and thinks they could be positive they should contact the Local COVID-19 Hotline immediately. He said in these new cases, that was exactly what happened. The residents were instructed to quarantine, and then went into isolation when their test came back positive. Dannenhoffer said that means they didn’t expose anyone else to possibly catching the virus from them.

The Local COVID-19 Hotline is open seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The number to call is 464-6550.

Information from the Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team said the first local case of COVID-19 was announced on March 8th. Of the 32 positive cases, 28 have recovered and 1 is still in the hospital. There have been zero deaths. 4,033 people have tested negative for COVID-19 in the county.

The next Douglas Public Health Network drive through testing clinic is Friday.

Go to www.douglaspublichealthnetwork.org for more local information on COVID-19.