Greene County Health Administrator Shari Lewis of the Greene County Department of Health issued a COVID-19 Area Alert very early Thursday morning, August 20. The alert includes notification of a confirmed case of COVID-19 at Greene County Health, a clinic in Linton that will be closed until September 2. The health department alert includes info on testing sites and the basics of contact tracing.

Greene County Health Department 200 2.jpg

Greene County Health located 1600 A St. NE, Suite 9, Linton, IN, has learned of an exposure to COVID-19. As a result of this exposure, the Greene County Health Department recommends patients who visited the Linton location between Monday, August 10th through Tuesday, August 18th get tested for novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

A free COVID-19 testing site is located at the Fairplay-Grant Fire Department, 206 Charlotte, Switz City, IN. The test site is open to individuals with or without COVID-19 symptoms starting at age 1 year and older. Register in advance at https://lhi.care/covidtesting or by calling 1-888-634-1116. Walk-ins are welcome.

Greene County Health has voluntarily closed the Linton location and will reopen September 2, 2020 after cleaning and disinfecting.

Greene County advisory update:

As Greene County continues to experience community spread, “Contact Tracing” is the best tool we have for managing this epidemic in an ongoing way. Contact Tracing is used to break chains of transmission and prevent future surges of COVID-19 cases. It is important for all Greene County residents to understand the basics of contact tracing.

How contact tracing works:

People who test positive for the virus are contacted by the State department of health and/or the local health department and are given instructions for isolating. People potentially exposed to COVID-19 are also contacted by the State department of health and/or local health department and are asked to self-quarantine. Effective contact tracing does not require that the sick person’s identity be disclosed; it only requires that the person receiving the call to act—adhere to the advice given.

How to know who’s calling:

Please do not ignore calls, emails or text from the health department, a school nurse, or a contact tracer. The number on the caller ID for contact tracers will show up as 833-670-0067 or may display “IN Health COVID” and text messages are from 877-548-3444.

Terms all Greene County residents should know:

Close Contact: anyone who was within 6 feet of a confirmed, positive person for at least 15 minutes (cumulative, masked or unmasked) starting 2 days before the onset of symptoms until the date that person is isolated. If the positive person has no symptoms, it’s 2 days before the test was taken. Close contacts need to quarantine at home for 14 days after the date of their last exposure. Close contacts are encouraged to get tested 4 to 5 days after an exposure. Close contacts who test negative are still required to complete a 14-day quarantine because COVID-19 symptoms range from mild to severe and may appear 2-14 days after exposure. Note: Contacts of close contacts are not contact traced; contacts of close contacts are considered low risk for transmission.

Isolation: A positive person with symptoms must isolate at home for 10 days from symptom onset and be fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and improvement of symptoms. A positive person without symptoms must isolate at home for 10 days after the date the positive specimen was collected.

Quarantine: Close contacts who have been exposed should quarantine at home for 14 days after last date of exposure. If you develop symptoms within the 14 days, get tested and contact your health care provider.

Alerts and statistics are posted via the Greene County Health Department website’s COVID-19 page at www.co.greene.in.us/health