April 1st, 2020 by WCBC Radio
The Allegany County Health Department reports that an Allegany County resident has tested positive for COVID-19. The individual is a male in his 60s with underlying medical conditions who is currently hospitalized. The patient recently traveled to a neighboring state.
Upon notification of a positive case, the Allegany County Health Department begins a contact investigation. During the contact investigation, the Health Department conducts interviews to determine where the patient has been and who he has been in contact with. The Health Department then notifies all individuals who came in contact with the patient while he was infectious. Individuals who came in contact with the patient must self-isolate or quarantine for 14 days.
Health officials stress that community members should stay home and only go out for essentials. Continue to practice social distancing, wash your hands often, avoid touching your face, disinfect high-touch surfaces, and stay away from others if you are not feeling well. If you are seeking medical care, call ahead so your healthcare provider can offer guidance over the phone and take the necessary precautions if you must come into the office.
This statement from Allegany County Emergency Services:
Public health officials via the Allegany County Joint Information Center released earlier today the first laboratory confirmed case of the COVID-19 virus, according to the Allegany County Department of Emergency Services Director James Pyles.
"Earlier today we learned of the first laboratory confirmed case of the COVID-19 virus in Allegany County. The patient, an approximately 60-year-old male is being hospitalized at UPMC-Western Maryland. At this time there is no other condition report," Pyles said.
Local and state public health and public safety officials watched trends in the virus from across the county, we knew it was only a matter of time until the virus developed in Allegany County.
In Maryland there are nearly 2,000 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus, resulting in 31 deaths and 522 hospitalizations.
"The safety information that DES, the Allegany County Health Department and UPMC-Western Maryland have been providing over the past week is vital," Pyles said. “Continue social distancing, following the stay-at-home directives, frequently wash hands and clean regularly touched surfaces."
"As I have said from the beginning, as soon as the first case was confirmed, we would notify the public…we did that today," Pyles said. "It is imperative that citizens in the county remain calm and vigilant. My agency and our allied agencies will continue to be here, supporting the community, being responsive to your needs and emergencies.”
April 01, 2020 at 10:49 am, Bob said:
It would be far more efficient and thorough to identify the patient and let the public deduce their risk than to rely on the recollection of a hospitalized person as to the identity of everyone he has been around for weeks.
April 01, 2020 at 11:11 am, Jay said:
Sorry Bob. There are privacy issues. The bigger problem is that we don’t have a national plan. That’s on the President. The virus will not be abated until we shut the entire country down for 2-3 weeks and then do massive testing. Otherwise this will go on and on.
April 01, 2020 at 11:24 am, Dan said:
> The President has done the best he can, what simple people like you don’t understand is the flu virus has killed more people.
April 01, 2020 at 11:39 am, mac said:
> Unfortunately, Trump’s best is falling way too short of being good enough.
It’s a matter of too little and way too late.
Even we simple people can figure that much out.
April 01, 2020 at 12:52 pm, Dan said:
> What else do you do?
April 01, 2020 at 12:52 pm, Jeff said:
> Yes Mac I’m sure you are much smarter than our President
April 01, 2020 at 1:26 pm, Mark said:
> Trump’s been too busy putting on his Reality Freak Show for his moron base then to be concerned with doing the job of a President and being protecting the American people. But I guess it wouldn’t matter, as Trump is too stupid to be anyone’s President.
April 01, 2020 at 1:23 pm, Mark said:
> Stunning how dumb you Trumpers are, and sad how many people will now be sickened & die cause of your ignorance.
April 01, 2020 at 2:47 pm, Jay said:
Even simple folk like me that at least David Dennison now seems to be listening to the medical experts. But my simple minded question is this: Has he done his best since this thing started in January?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And– we’re– we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s—going to be just fine.
January20: I know more about viruses than anyone.”
January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”
February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
February 25: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”
February 25: “I think that’s a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”
February 26: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
February 26: “We’re going very substantially down, not up.”
February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
February 28: “We’re ordering a lot of supplies. We’re ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn’t be ordering unless it was something like this. But we’re ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”
March 2: “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don’t think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”
March 2: “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”
March 4: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”
March 5: “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work.”
March 5: “The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”
March 6: “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”
March 6: “Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.”
March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”
March 6: “I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault.”
March 8: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.”
March 9: “This blindsided the world.”
March 13: “National emergency, two big words.”>
April 01, 2020 at 5:05 pm, mac said:
> Excellent chronology Jay.
The hubris of Trump is, if nothing else consistent.
He will always credit himself for anything that is good and always distance himself from anything that is not.
I’ve always told my wife that he has the intellect, self control, and comprehension of a 10 year old.
I could, of course, go on but I will leave room for replies from the Always Trumpers.
April 01, 2020 at 11:38 am, Dave said:
Jay, tell me is the only problem we have in the world today is that our President is Trump? Seriously is the world that “black and white”? Do I think that he is the greatest president that we have ever had? Hardly. But he is not the worse. We made it through 8 years of Obama we will make it through 8 years of him. This country has made it through numerous crisis in the past by our strength of character and faith in God with more inept presidents that him. Besides who is that bright shining star of leadership that is coming up with better ideas. God is in control it’s just that the majority (I fear) don’t believe that. We can come out the better for this, ill regardless of our government.
April 01, 2020 at 12:52 pm, Dan said:
> Amen
April 01, 2020 at 9:52 pm, Kate said:
SAY WHAT?
“ill regardless”
April 02, 2020 at 10:52 am, Dave said:
Sorry Kate “Irregardless” I will try harder in the future.
April 01, 2020 at 11:13 am, Ed said:
At the very least publish the businesses & places the person has been so that anyone who was at those can take quarantine measures.
We’ve been lucky so far, that Allegany county hasn’t had any infections up to this point. It was unfortunately inevitable that it would make it’s way here. However, from this point on, how bad it gets in the area largely depends on everyone working together to stop it’s spread.
April 01, 2020 at 11:13 am, jim said:
Thank God shutting everything down and social distancing happened. New York can tell you how effective that has been. The bonus is the economy becomes ruined too.
April 01, 2020 at 1:28 pm, Mark said:
> Like the rest of America we are too late to stop it, but the shut-downs do help from making things even worse, but that’s more than you can probably comprehend.
April 01, 2020 at 11:23 am, Dan said:
What your not being told is the tests were not done correctly in the first place. So the odds are this was not the first patient.
April 01, 2020 at 1:29 pm, Mark said:
> I was suspecting that, didn’t make sense that 230 some tests were ALL negative.
April 01, 2020 at 11:51 am, Gary said:
It’s sad that the government’s special epidemic office was disbanded by the President last December. Just when we needed that most. Let’s not diminish that fact and let’s not diminish this virus poses. So it hasn’t killed as many as the recent flu outbreak has. Look at the stats and then tell me in two weeks how many lives this virus will have taken! It’s estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. We’ve been playing catch up unfortunately and who’s fault was that ?
April 01, 2020 at 12:55 pm, Dan said:
> Not the numbers they are calling for!!
April 01, 2020 at 12:57 pm, Dan said:
> It is obvious you are a fearmonger. Go hide in your basement till it blows over.
April 01, 2020 at 2:49 pm, Jay said:
Actually Gary, that office was disbanded in 2018. It was part of Homeland Security. Bolton had a lot to do cutting the funding for that office.
April 01, 2020 at 12:42 pm, jim said:
Having more tests, having a special epidemic office, having a different president…none of this would have mattered. Once it left China and hit Europe, you have the pandemic and nothing will stop it. At least 70% of the world population will get it. Now the best we can do is “flatten the curve”, so the same overall amount of people will be infected but the hospitals do not get overwhelmed, hopefully causing less death. In any major disaster, you will never be fully prepared or ever have the hospital beds that will be needed. Testing, social distancing, washing your hands…it’s all noble but futile. Just a way for those high on the food chain to say something is being done to address this. Reminds me of the nuclear attack drills during the cold war. It’s Survival of the Fittest now folks. Accept it and stop whining about what could have been done differently.
April 01, 2020 at 12:58 pm, Dan said:
> Stop trying to make sense Jim, most sheep will not get your well written points.
April 01, 2020 at 1:34 pm, Mark said:
> Try telling that to the people of Taiwan, typical ignorance of Americans!! But then they don’t have a moron clown for a President! https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-taiwan-case-study-rapid-response-containment-2020-3
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April 01, 2020 at 1:49 pm, jim said:
Lol. He’s trying to compare the response of a tiny nation, in terms of size and population, to the US and asking why they cannot be the same? Taiwan is also not exactly the Mecca of international travel. Fool
April 01, 2020 at 1:56 pm, Mark said:
> The virus started there the SAME way it started here- WITH ONE PERSON you dumbass. And this is why you can’t have an intelligent conversation with morons like you.
April 01, 2020 at 1:53 pm, UUSEEBEESEE said:
This place is always great for enlightened and measured discussion.
April 01, 2020 at 1:55 pm, jim said:
How did a small, already isolated island country that nobody goes to prevent COVID-19?
April 01, 2020 at 1:57 pm, Mark said:
> You may have to look and see if you can find the article on an audio tape, as it’s clear you can’t read or comprehend simple basics.
April 01, 2020 at 1:58 pm, UUSEEBEESEE said:
Taiwan Population Density: 640 people/KM^2
US Population Density: 36 people/KM^2
So, it is literally MORE DIFFICULT to social distance in that tiny country than it is here, yet SOMEHOW they managed it, bud.
April 01, 2020 at 2:00 pm, Mark said:
> This is just TOURISTS, plus millions of business people, families, etc travel in & out. Thanks for showing us all how ignorant you are about other nations! LMAO “The total tourist arrivals in Taiwan in 2016 was 10.7 million people.”
April 02, 2020 at 12:41 am, Dana said:
Republicans blame the Chinese, the Democrats blame Trump, but neither blame the real sadistic beast behind C-19. God did this and keeps doing it. Eff God……Satan totally gets my vote this year. Satan/The Beast with a Thousand Mouths Yet Just a Single Butthole 2020!!!!