PIKE COUNTY, Mo. — Pike County has now seen evidence of community spread of COVID-19 in two cases. Community spread means people have been infected in an area (such as a county), including some who are not sure how or where they became infected. Pike County Health Department staff has begun contact investigations and notifications regarding these two cases. Any close contacts of positive cases will be contacted individually.

These community spread cases highlight the extreme importance of social distancing and following the recommended guidelines to stay safe including avoiding social gatherings of more than 10 people and staying home whenever possible. If individuals must go out for essential activities, such as work or getting supplies, they shall keep a distance of 6 feet from others, wear face coverings and practice proper hygiene. Other essential activities include engaging in tasks essential to health.

Close contacts are considered those who were within six feet with no face coverings for more than 10 minutes and up to 48 hours of when the positive case developed symptoms. It is unnecessary to list itineraries for cases where close contacts are able to be identified throughout the investigation process. Thus far, all case investigations have been able to identify all close contacts. At a time where a positive case would have been in a public setting within close contact of unknown individuals would be when the listing of an itinerary would become potentially necessary to ensure public safety.

At this time there are two cases that are hospitalized and the others are/were in in-home isolation.

Residents can expect weekday case count updates at 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Case counts can be found on the Pike County Health Department website, Facebook and Twitter pages. Because Missouri’s numbers have grown, the state lab is only sending positive results. Pike County Health Department will only be providing the updated total number of positives in the county each day and are unable to list accurate numbers for pending cases or negative results.

The Pike County Health Department would like to remind residents to get their information from credible and reliable sources, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.CDC.gov , the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services at www.health.mo.gov and the Pike County Health Department at www.pikecountyhealth.org For general questions about COVID-19, individuals can call the Missouri hotline number at (877) 435-8411.