****FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE****
May 21, 2020
Cattaraugus County Health Department was notified of two additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 residents within Cattaraugus County. The department's active positive COVID-19 caseload is now fourteen, as there are now thirty-seven residents who have recovered from COVID-19.
The fifty-second confirmed case is a female resident who resides in the northeast quadrant of the county, who works in a healthcare facility, and presented to a WellNow clinic in Buffalo on April 26th for a COVID-19 antibody test which indicated a possible current infection. She was tested for COVID-19 on May 3rd and her test results on May 10th indicated that she was positive. She has been asymptomatic (no fever, no cough, no shortness of breath, no body aches etc.) for the most part and has no significant travel history.
The fifty-third confirmed case is a male resident who resides in the southeast quadrant of the county, who has no significant travel history, he underwent his pre-op exam on May 19th, which included being tested for COVID-19. The results of his test on May 19th indicated that he was positive for COVID-19. He has been asymptomatic (no fever, no cough, no shortness of breath, and no body aches) for the most part, and denies any contact with a positive COVID-19 person.
The department has begun a thorough contact tracing investigation for those individuals that they have been in contact with and the places that they have visited.
We continue to ask our residents to hunker down, and avoid any non-essential travel, especially to areas where there is community wide spread of COVID-19 otherwise, you place your family and other Cattaraugus County residents at risk. If travel is necessary, please wear a homemade cloth face mask while in public and maintain social distancing, at least 6 feet away from other people.
We would like to reiterate that if any resident experience fever, cough, shortness of breath or whole body aches they should contact their health care provider (avoid going directly to an Urgent Care facility, or the Emergency Room before calling).
Finally, wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. This is especially important after using the bathroom, coughing, sneezing or blowing your nose.
If soap and water is not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains a minimum of 60% alcohol.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth, especially with unwashed hands.
Disinfect commonly touched surfaces with a cleaner that is approved by the EPA against COVID-19.
Please stay home if you are sick (at least 24 hours after fever ends.)
Finally, in an effort to determine the prevalence of the virus in our community, any resident interested in getting a swab test can register for a test or call 716-938-9119 or 716-938-2265
For continued updates visit us at CattCo.org/Coronavirus.
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