MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: "Alarming" Spike in Local COVID-19 Cases Heading into the Holiday Season

BY: DAVID SHEPHERD, NEWS DIRECTOR

JASPER -- Memorial Hospital in Jasper has released a statement on the "drastic increase" in local COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.  

The statement calls the rise "alarming," and say they are concerned about the coming holidays, where people are more likely to gather indoors.

39 new cases of COVID-19 and another death were reported Tuesday afternoon in Dubois County. Our death toll stands at 39.  This is our county's third death in three days.

Dubois County remains under a CODE RED designation.  Our seven day positivity rate is 20% today.  That’s up from yesterday’s 18%.

Read the full statement from Memorial Hospital below:

As Memorial Hospital Physicians and Nurse Practitioners fighting this battle from the front lines, we strongly encourage residents of Dubois and surrounding counties to continue their vigilance in taking EVERY precaution possible to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

The drastic increase in confirmed COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths over the last few weeks and the continued rise is alarming. We are seeing the effects of the Thanksgiving holiday and are concerned about the coming holidays, where people are more likely to gather indoors.

Given the high level of community spread, our physicians, nurse practitioners and nurses need the public’s help in stopping the spread of COVID-19. Now more than ever, the community has joined us in the front lines in the fight against this pandemic. We know a lot has been asked of you thus far, but we desperately need your help. We know that masking, social distancing, and hand washing will help us ensure that we have the resources to care for the patients who are most in need. These things are easy to do and help curb the spread of illness, while allowing us to keep vital businesses operating and our economy strong.

But even more is needed at this moment to reduce community spread.  We urge you to reconsider large family holiday gatherings during this time. Please consider avoiding travel and not mixing households.

You can help us better care for our community. We humbly ask you to join us in this fight.

Nick Werne, MD                            Eric Hartman, MD

Joe Elhoujairy, MD                           Maggie Schnarr, ACNP

Mike Johns, MD                                Terri Hamilton, FNP

Carlos Garrido, MD                          Deb White, FNP