August 4, 2020 2:20 p.m.

With the number of local cases of COVID-19 continuing to rise, the Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team has issued a Special Report.

The report said the number of cases is going up because “people are not heeding our advice about traveling, attending social gatherings and staying at home when they are sick”.

The report said:

A recent outbreak spiraled out of control in a matter of days. A family member decided to travel from another state with a high level of COVID-19 cases to Douglas County, to simply visit family. The visitor did not self-quarantine for 14 days prior to the visit. Either at home or during their journey, the visitor unknowingly contracted the coronavirus. While here, the visitor unknowingly exposed or infected several in their host family with COVID. One member of that family then attended a large social event with over 60 people, who were not wearing face coverings or practicing social distancing, and unknowingly exposed and infected several guests at the event. A guest at the event then had a different family gathering that exposed and infected a few others. Several of those people then went to work and unknowingly exposed and infected their coworkers. Now the outbreak involves several families with many people in quarantine and several businesses affected. This is all related to the one visit.

The report said the county has reached a critical juncture with COVID-19. It said, “if we do not stop the spread now, the virus could potentially wreak havoc”, leading to many potential consequences. Those could impact schools, hospitals, medical practices, the jail, and the business community.

The report said residents should:

*Ask family and friends to stay home and not visit

*Don’t attend social gatherings

*Stay home if sick

*Assess their COVID-19 risk and avoid activities that are high risk.

Go to www.douglaspublichealthnetwork.org for more information.