CHESTER – The Randolph County Health Department has released its latest COVID-19 update.
The report states the following:
The county transmission rate for CoVID 19 is “HIGH” Randolph County has received 100+ new cases of CoVID-19 in the last two days.
The Randolph County Health Department highly recommends taking additional precautions while in a public setting or a gathering of others especially if you are not vaccinated.
County CoVID-19 statistics are available at the following website: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view
OMICRON Variant Information regarding the variant can be found at https://search.cdc.gov/search/?query=omicron&dpage=1
VACCINE CLINICS
Randolph County Health Department.
Please call Health Department at (618) 826-5007 to schedule an appointment. We are administering the first, second, third for those aged five years and older as well as Booster doses of the COVID vaccine.
CoVID-19 Vaccine Clinics:
- Thursday, January, 6th – Pfizer, Moderna and J&J – Adult (8:00 am– 4:00pm)
- Tuesday, January 11th – Pfizer, Moderna and J&J – Adult (8:00 am – 4:00pm)
Community Vaccination Clinics in Illinois:
“Find a Community Partner Vaccination Clinic In Your Area.”.
Additional Vaccine information:
Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System: www.vaers.hhs.gov
CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html
IDPH: https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/vaccine-faq.html
Isolation and quarantine Guidelines:
The CDC is shortening the recommended time for isolation from 10 days for people with COVID-19 to five days, if asymptomatic, followed by five days of wearing a mask when around others. The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. Therefore, people who test positive should isolate for five days and, if asymptomatic at that time, they may leave isolation if they can continue to mask for five days to minimize the risk of infecting others.
Additionally, CDC is updating the recommended quarantine period for those exposed to COVID-19. For people who are unvaccinated or are more than six months out from their second mRNA dose (or more than 2 months after the J&J vaccine) and not yet boosted, CDC now recommends quarantine for 5 days followed by strict mask use for an additional five days.
Alternatively, if a 5-day quarantine is not feasible, it is imperative that an exposed person wear a well-fitting mask at all times when around others for 10 days after exposure.
Individuals who have received their booster shot do not need to quarantine following an exposure, but should wear a mask for 10 days after the exposure.
For all those exposed, best practice would also include a test for SARS-CoV-2 at day five after exposure. If symptoms occur, individuals should quarantine until a negative test confirms symptoms are not attributable to COVID-19. Contact Tracing Process Update:
If you or a family member test positive for CoVID-19 please remain isolated/quarantined until a Contact Tracer has an opportunity to reach out to you. Our goal is to reach new cases within 24 hours of notification which may vary depending on the daily caseload.
**Please do not call the health department as we will try to reach out as soon as possible to discuss your case**
The Illinois Department of Public Health is currently transitioning contact tracing to the (IDPH) Surge Center.
The Randolph County Health Department will begin to relinquish all contact tracing duties over the coming weeks.
Until then the Randolph County Health Department will follow the CDC recommendations and impose a five-day isolation and quarantine on cases or households that we manage until IDPH transitions to a centralized system.