COVID-19 Mitigation Guidance for Shelby County Residents

COVID-19 Mitigation Guidance for Shelby County Residents

With the current surge of COVID-19 cases that Shelby County is experiencing, it is important that everyone in the county continues or begins to practice mitigation standards and follows guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH). Local Public Health offices follow direction provided by the Iowa Department of Public Health in applying preventative mitigation standards and isolation or quarantine actions to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Review of recommendations

Practice social distancing: By keeping six feet between yourself and others, you are staying outside the droplet spray range of infected people when they cough, sneeze, or talk. Social distancing is a primary method of reducing the spread of COVID-19 because it keeps droplets from infected people from reaching your face.

Wearing masks: By wearing facemasks, you reduce the droplet spray range when YOU cough, sneeze, or talk. Wearing masks primarily protects others; the more people who wear masks—cloth or surgical masks---the more you can reduce the spread of COVID-19 if you are infected with the virus.

Hand hygiene: Frequently washing your hands or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer (60% or more) reduces the germ load on your hands. Germs on your hands can be transferred to your mucous membranes when you touch your face, providing an infectious pathway into your body.

These few simple adaptations are evidenced-based preventative measures that will protect you, your family, your workplace, and community from an overwhelming surge of COVID-19.

When Prevention Fails

When prevention measures are not followed, the virus that causes COVID-19 begins to spread and infect people. Once you show symptoms of COVID-19, you should isolate from others to prevent the spread of illness to your family, workplace, and community. At this time, you should call the clinic at 712-755-5130 and talk to a nurse regarding your symptoms to determine if a COVID-19 test is recommended. If you have symptoms or test positive, you will need to stay home until:

• After 3 days have passed with no fever AND
• Your symptoms have improved AND
• At least 10 days have passed since your symptoms first appeared or since your positive test. Isolation keeps others around you from becoming ill.

People infected with COVID-19 can easily transmit this illness to those they have had close contact. Close contact is defined as being within 6 feet of an infected person for 15 minutes or more. Close contacts should self-quarantine from other members of their family, workplace, and community to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to others. Because the incubation period of COVID-19 is 14 days, you will need to stay home for 14 days after your LAST contact with a person who has COVID-19.

Isolation and quarantine are effective ways to stop the spread of COVID-19 from becoming an outbreak within a family, business, or community. Temporarily removing ill or exposed people from the community reduces the burden of circulating coronavirus and protects others in the community, including those who are most at-risk for serious illness.

Compared to the three simple prevention mitigation standards, isolation and quarantine involve a more restrictive means of controlling the spread of COVID-19. Please do your part to protect your neighbor, your loved ones, your workplace, and your community by practicing prevention. If you become ill with COVID or are exposed to persons who are sick due to COVID, please follow isolation and quarantine measures to stop the spread of this illness. We all have a part to play in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and stopping the surge of COVID-19 illness.