CCMH press release: Dr. Casey has Covid 19

On April 7, 2020, the Cedar County Office of Emergency Management announced Cedar County received notification of its 5th confirmed case of COVID-19.  Dr. Rick Casey, who is a member of the Cedar County Memorial Hospital Medical Staff and an employee at Mercy Clinic of El Dorado Springs, first exhibited symptoms of COVID-19 on Tuesday, March 31, and last had contact with patients on April 2.  Dr. Casey, a pillar of the local health care community, went into self-quarantine the evening of April 2.  Dr. Casey’s family has publicly acknowledged his positive test for COVID-19; and Dr. Casey agreed to the use of his name in this press release.

According to the Cedar County Health Department, at this time, it is believed that the infection was community acquired and not travel related.  The exposure timeline has been identified as March 29 (48 hours prior to symptoms) to April 2.

After being notified of this 5th positive case, Jenean Ehlers, RN, of the Cedar County Health Department contacted Dr. Casey to conduct a contact tracing to identify individuals he may have come into contact with March 29 through April 2.  Cedar County Memorial Hospital and Mercy Clinic of El Dorado Springs were also contacted by the Cedar County Health Department April 7 so that they could identify and contact staff and patients with potential exposure. Additional follow-up with identified individuals will be done by the Cedar County Health Department.  The Cedar County Health Department follows the contact tracing guidelines as directed by the Missouri Bureau of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention.

The Cedar County Health Department asks that if you have had direct contact with a known case of COVID-19 and you haven’t been contacted by the Cedar County Health Department, call 417-876-5477.  If you have had contact with a suspected case of COVID-19 who has been tested, quarantine yourself for 14 days or until their test results are back. Quarantine means stay in your home, away from other family members as much as possible. If you have more than one bathroom, restrict yourself to using one and the rest of the family use the other.

COVID-19 is thought to spread primarily person to person through respiratory droplets.  The best way to prevent illness is to avoid being exposed to the virus.  The Cedar County Health Department urges everyone to take measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Practice social distancing whenever possible, avoid crowds of 10 people or more and follow CDC guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19:

•Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

•Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

•Cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face cover when you are around others, but remember a mask is not a substitute for proper social distancing of at least 6 feet.   

•Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, or use the inside of your elbow.

•Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily.

•Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands

Lastly, the Cedar County Health Department works in collaboration with Cedar County Emergency Management to assure an accurate positive COVID-19 case count is available on the Cedar County Office of Emergency Management Facebook page.  We have received many inquiries as to why the count on the Emergency Management Facebook page is not the same as the one on the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) COVID-19 web site.  The answer is that MO DHSS is struggling with their process for sending out COVID-19 results in the face of the vast amount of information they are dealing with, and this is affecting multiple Missouri counties.  For example, the Cedar County Health Department has received from MO DHSS multiple copies of the same reports, copies of reports that should have gone to other counties and copies of reports labelled as positive COVID-19 that were in fact not COVID-19 tests at all.   The Cedar County Health Department is sorting through all of this and reporting actual positive COVID-19 results of Cedar County residents to Cedar County Emergency Management.

The Cedar County Health Department appreciates the support of the community as we all deal with COVID-19 and the ever-changing information associated with the virus.  Remember, we must work as a team in this battle to keep our community as safe as possible.  Thank you.