SHDHD Executive Director Michele Bever said that residents can help decrease the overall risk for spread of COVID-19 in their communities by reducing opportunities for the virus to spread from person to person. “This means keeping physically distanced from others, wearing cloth face coverings when we are around others, staying home when we have any symptoms, washing our hands, and disinfecting frequently-touched surfaces,” she said.
“It is important to recognize COVID-19 symptoms. Individuals with any symptoms consistent with COVID-19 should isolate at home to avoid spreading the illness to others,” she said. “This means staying home from work, school, or any other activities, and eliminating contact with others.”
COVID-19 symptoms may include onset of shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, new onset of dry cough, new onset of loss of taste or smell, fever, chills, congestion and/or runny nose, nausea/vomiting or diarrhea, sore throat, headache, and body or muscle aches. In many cases, a person will have more than one of these symptoms, or may be infected but have very mild symptoms or no symptoms at all.
“If you experience any of these symptoms, you should self-isolate, contact your doctor (call to seek medical care), get tested for COVID-19, and stay home until you receive your test results,” Bever said. “Even people with mild or no symptoms can spread the virus to others. This is why it is so important to maintain physical distance, to wear masks - especially when physical distancing is difficult to maintain - and to practice prevention everywhere we go.”
“These actions will help keep our students and teachers at school and will help protect those in our communities who are more vulnerable to serious illness,” Bever said.
South Heartland District case counts and trends can be found on SHDHD’s dashboard of local COVID-19 case statistics. This dashboard, along with updates, guidance, news releases and other COVID-19 information and links can be found on the SHDHD website: www.southheartlandhealth.org. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) provides daily updates to Nebraska's coronavirus COVID-19 cases on their Data Dashboard at http://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/Coronavirus.
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