The Superior Express -

South Heartland District Health Department (SHDHD) is asking all Clay County residents to daily self-monitor for COVID-19, which includes taking a person’s temperature twice a day. A public testing clinic has been scheduled for Clay Center on Wednesday, May 27. SHDHD officials said TestNebraska will provide COVID-19 tests from 8 a.m.until 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., until 6 p.m., Tuesday, May 26, at the Adams County Fairgrounds, Hastings. Testing will be provided from 8 to 11 a.m., and 3 p.m., until 6 p.m., Wednesday, May 27, at the Clay County Fairgrounds, Clay Center.

To register for testing, go to testnebraska.com and complete the short risk assessment survey.

“We are encouraging people who are at higher risk to consider getting tested. TestNebraska events make testing more accessible,” Michele Bever, SHDHD executive director, said. “Anyone who has symptoms, anyone who had close contact with a known case, anyone who is a healthcare worker or first responder, anyone over 65 years of age, and anyone with underlying medical conditions may qualify for testing through TestNebraska.”

SHDHD previously reported community spread of COVID-19 in Clay County, which means SHDHD’s investigations have been unable to determine the source of exposure for some cases. Recent information shows spread in Sutton. SHDHD is asking all Clay Center residents to self-monitor for symptoms along with temperature checks twice daily.

Self-monitoring helps to identify early symptoms. Stay home (isolate at home) if you or a family member-household contact have any symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Contact your local provider or SHDHD for testing, said Michele Bever, SHDHD executive director.

If you have symptoms of COVID-19, follow-through on isolation for the full time period, not only until you feel better.

Many people have no symptoms of COVID-19, which makes it easy to spread the virus to others unintentionally. This makes it important to practice social distancing and to wear masks when it is difficult to be socially distanced or you are with people outside of your household unit. This includes young people, too.

SHDHD encourages residents of all communities, to practice social distancing and to wear masks if they are in locations where it is difficult to be socially distanced, such as any retail or other public and private enclosed spaces.

The health department encourages businesses in all communities to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 by requiring their employees to wear masks, and by putting measures in place to encourage space between customers, as well as between employees and customers.

Employers across the health district should encourage employees to stay home from work (isolate at home) if they have any symptoms consistent with COVID-19. For more information and recommendations for social distancing, cleaning-disinfecting and other prevention in businesses, visit https://southheartlandhealth.org/public-health-data/business-coronavirus-prepardness-materials.html.

“TestNebraska provides an opportunity to expand our local testing capacity for COVID-19,” said Bever, “More testing helps us know the level of the virus in our communities so that we can reduce the spread of the disease.

Bever reported seven additional lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Adams County, bringing the total number of cases in the 4-county health district to 289. By county, the totals are 260 in Adams County, 23 in Clay County, five in Webster County and one in Nuckolls County.

New cases in Adams County are six females (two in their 20s, one in her 30s, one in her 50s, one in her 60s and one in her 80s) and one male in his 40s

South Heartland continues to conduct contact investigations for individuals who test positive and live in Adams, Clay, Nuckolls or Webster counties.

SHDHD also reported that 207 South Heartland residents have recovered from COVID-19 since the beginning of the local outbreak. This includes 74 percent of cases in Adams County, 57 percent of cases in Clay County, 80 percent of cases in Webster County and 100 percent of cases in Nuckolls County.

South Heartland District case counts by county are updated daily on SHDHD’s COVID webpage: https://southheartlandhealth.org/public-health-data/corona-virus.html. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) provides daily updates to Nebraska’s coronavirus COVID-19 cases on their Data Dashboard at http://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/Coronavirus.