ByWTOC Staff|March 18, 2020 at 11:57 PM EDT - Updated March 19 at 12:33 PM
GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - Two Glynn County, Ga. residents have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a release from the Coastal Health District.
Health officials say both are recovering at home and self-isolating. The source of their exposure is unknown.
“This is not the news we wanted to hear, but it is not unexpected,” says Dr. Lawton Davis, Health Director of the Coastal Health District which includes the Glynn County Health Department. “We have been preparing for this. Our hospitals and healthcare providers have been preparing for this.”
This is the first two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in a resident of the Coastal Health District.
Health officials want you to practice social distancing- avoid crowds, wash your hands- and help stop the spread.
Dr. Davis said local officials have been preparing for this. While he cannot release specific details about the person who tested positive, he says their epidemiology team is working to confirm, identify, notify and evaluate those who have been exposed.
As they look at these cases and continue testing, Dr. Davis says it’s likely not the only ones.
“I think that you know as testing is ongoing, we will find more. Will we have a case in Chatham County? Yes. Will we have a case in Bryan County? Yes. Effingham County? Yes. It’s again a matter of when not if,” Dr. Davis said. “I would say that we have evidence that this virus is able to be transmitted by people either before they develop symptoms, you know two or three days before they get sick and quite possibly even by people who are not going to get sick, but they still have the virus and so I think it is very reasonable to assume that it is already out there in our communities.”
The Coastal Health District did create a drive-thru specimen collection site in Glynn County. It did not happen because of this positive case—they want to make that clear. They are not disclosing where the sampling will happen, and it will only be used on pre-approved high risk people who have been evaluated by a healthcare provider and assigned a person under investigation number.
Photo: Getty Images