Health Department warns of surging cases locally
Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
COVID-19 has now struck at least one of this community's public figures, and possibly a few others.
County Coordinator Parrish Barwick called the Monticello News on Tuesday afternoon, July 14, to report that he had been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Barwick called from Tallahassee Memorial Hospital (TMH), where he was undergoing treatment for the illness, as well as for a couple of other health issues that he said had surfaced during his medical examination.
Barwick said he ended up at the hospital on Monday afternoon, after testing positive for COVID-19. The reason that he had decided to get tested, he said, was because he had experienced some terrible symptoms at work on the previous Thursday and Friday. He described the symptoms as headaches, fever and mental confusion.
“I was looking at the computer and I couldn't make heads or tails of what I was seeing,” Barwick said. “I was terribly confused. I thought there's something definitely wrong with this.”
Being that he was in the public eye, Barwick said he went to the health department on Saturday morning to get tested, the result of which test he received on Monday, showing that he was positive. At which point he checked into the hospital.
Barwick said he had no idea where he may have contracted the disease, as he had been careful to follow the social-distancing guidelines to the best of his ability. His wife, moreover, had tested negative for the disease, so he had definitely not picked it up at home, he said.
Barwick said the TMH staff was giving him various medicines that appeared to be working, as his fever was down to about 98 or 99 and he was feeling better.
“I've made some improvement, but I still have a long ways to go,” he said.
Barwick called his diagnosis a blessing of sorts, noting that as a result of the hospitalization, two other unrelated medical issues had come to light that he had been unaware that he had and that he considered of equal or more concern than the COVID-19.
One, he said, was an infection in his lower leg that had him practically incapacitated, a situation that he found was contrary to his nature.
“I've needed help getting out of bed,” he said. “I feel like an invalid.”
The other health issue, he said, was an atrial fibrillation, also called AFib or AF, which is described as a quivering or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications.
Barwick said he was being given medications to normalize his heartbeat and blood pressure and both seemed to be responding to the treatments and improving. In fact, depending on his state later in the week, he might try participating in the commission's Zoom meeting on Thursday evening, he said.
As of late Wednesday, however, the Jefferson County Commission meeting was canceled. The reason for the cancellation, per the terse press release emailed just before the close of business, was that “several key personnel were unable to attend the meeting due to illness.”
The release didn't identify the personnel nor the nature of the illness, but the commissioners and certain members of the staff, including Barwick, have gathered in person at the emergency operation center for the last several meetings, even though the proceedings have been video-streamed.
Meanwhile, on a related development, the Health Department in Jefferson County late on Wednesday put out an alert advising residents of a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases locally during the last two weeks.
“Outbreaks in places of businesses and through community spread has contributed to this surge,” emailed Pam Gilleland-Beck, the public information officer for the Health Department. “As of July 15, at 11 a.m., 100 cases of COVID-19 have been reported, 47 of these since July 1.”
The positivity rate also has increased locally to 6.1 percent as of Wednesday. The positivity rate indicates the percentage of total coronavirus tests conducted that are coming back positive.
Gilleland-Beck said the department is conducting contact tracing and working to identify and notify individuals who will need to self-monitor for symptoms for a 14-day period. She added that contact investigations are a critical way for staff epidemiologists to track and prevent the spread of the disease.
The department is also currently distributing 22,000 cloth masks to residents in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. In addition, according to Gilleland-Beck, it is testing at least two percent of Jefferson County's population monthly to identify any new cases.
To date, Jefferson County has had four deaths from the coronavirus and 12 people are currently being treated in hospitals.
Meanwhile, as of Wednesday, according to the latest figures from the Florida Department of Health, Florida had 301,810 COVID-19 cases, 19,334 hospitalizations and 4,653 deaths. The state has been averaging upwards of 10,000 new cases daily since July 1, and it has seen significant increases in both the positivity rate, which now stands at 11 percent, and in the number of deaths.
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