By Lee Bratcher/OC Monitor
HARTFORD, Ky. — Ohio County Judge-Executive David Johnston gave his weekly COVID-19 update to the county. Johnston discusses the COVID-19 outbreak at Signature Healthcare of Hartford and tells Ohio County it has to d better.
“It’s not a good day, I’m sorry to say. We’re dying because of the COVID-19,” Johnston said to open his update. “I’m not saying we know what to do to prevent it altogether, but we know to social distance, we know to wear our masks. So we should at least do that, all of us. We need to take that seriously.”
Johnston’s dour opening comments come after Ohio County suffered its eighth death due to COVID-19. The county also had 12 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the last week. Today, the Green River District Health Department reported no new confirmed cases of COID-19 or deaths for Ohio County.
Of the eight COVID-19 deaths in Ohio County, Johnston said six of those deaths were from Signature Healthcare, but the other two deaths were from other areas of the county.
“We’ve had the same number of deaths as Daviess County, and look how large they are compared to us,” Johnston said. “We’ve just got to do better.”
Johnston did have some good news in that of the 360 total confirmed COVID-19 cases the county has had, 320 of those people have recovered. At Signature Healthcare, of the 35 patient cases there, all but six have recovered, though one patient is in critical condition, according to Johnston. All of the Signature Healthcare staff who tested positive for COVID-19 has recovered.
“Please, Ohio County, we must do better on what we know to do,” Johnston said. “Hopefully, we’ll get better within the next few weeks, but as of right now, we’re not. I want to encourage everyone to do the three Ws, wear your mask, wash your hands and watch your distance.”
To view Johnston’s Facebook Live update in full, click here.