PRESS RELEASE: Coronavirus COVID-19

July 2, 2020

Somervell County, Texas now has a total of 21 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 12 of our residents currently have active infections. We have 11 of the 12 active cases in home isolation, with 1 patient currently being hospitalized.  We have had 9 residents recover from this illness, including one that required hospitalization.  Contact tracer activity is ongoing.

All test results have been reported to Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Region 2/3 office in accordance with CDC and DSHS guidelines.

Every local resident should continue to follow Open Texas guidelines and make their best personal decision to protect themselves, their families, and businesses as we continue to work through this pandemic together.

In my opinion, people have a choice to make.  If COVID-19 infections continue to rise at this level, the government will have no choice but to shut more Texas businesses down.  The best way to avoid a repeat shut down is for people to wear masks, practice social distancing, and aggressively wash their hands.  This means wearing masks when in public, including churches, stores, and schools.  It also means wearing masks at social gatherings if indoors, and also out of doors for larger groups, if not following good social distancing practices.

Family and friends will gather this weekend to celebrate the 4^th of July, it is with the utmost importance that you wear a mask and follow social distancing guidelines if you attend any social gathering greater than 10 people. In our city and county, numbers are rapidly climbing, in large part due to social gatherings.  Wash your hands, use hand sanitizer. If you have had a known or potential exposure, please quarantine at home.

Please be mindful that we are all neighbors, respect the privacy of others and follow HIPAA guidelines.  It is Glen Rose Medical Center’s policy not to release any demographic or patient information due to HIPAA law.

Want to know more?

Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) website and Texas 2-1-1 remain the best sources of information for Somervell residents regarding COVID-19 testing and self-protection measures. DSHS updates their county-by-county tracking map daily at https://dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/.

As a community, we will continue to experience more disease, and eventually someone in our community will become our first death from this disease.  I believe that deaths in our community from COVID-19 are going to be unavoidable.  The only way to minimize these risks, is for people to look out for the safety and well-being of each other, especially the elderly and frail in our community.  This will be inconvenient for some to do.  I ask that we all do it anyway.

Thank you for your time and efforts in fighting this disease,

Steven Vacek, M.D.

Glen Rose HealthCare Inc.

Somervell County Local Health Authority