Mix-Up Leads to High COVID Count, Dubois County's Numbers Are Still Significantly Higher Than Before

FROM LOCAL SOURCES / PHOTO: WIBC 

JASPER -- The Dubois County Health Department reported another resident has died from COVID-19.

The announcement came Monday afternoon.

It brings the county’s death toll to 22. Two deaths were reported last week; one on Thursday, another on Friday.

The death comes after health officials reported 81 new cases coronavirus over the weekend. The health department says part of the increase was from tests that were administered on October 1st and 2nd. A mix-up caused the samples to be delayed arriving at the lab.

I reached out to the Health Department to see if that delay led to our high numbers. In a statement, a spokesperson for the county Health Department responded...

“It is safe to assume that the Saturday number (which was 57) should have been results spread out over 2-3 days from last week due to the delay.  However, if you add 19 or so cases to those daily numbers, it would still be higher than we have seen in a long time.”

In addition to the 57 cases reported Saturday, there were 11 new cases on Sunday and 13 on Monday.

The Health Department released the following statement..... 

To set the record straight, the Dubois County Health Department wanted to let the public and those waiting on their Covid-19 test results from October 1st and October 2nd know exactly what happened.  The cooler containing all those tests were pickup by a State hired courier at 5:00 pm.  By the time the cooler made it to the Lab, they were closed.  The cooler was then taken to the courier’s warehouse for proper storage.  The next morning, the cooler was pickup and then taken to the wrong lab.  After many phone calls with the courier, the lab and ISDH the cooler was finally located. Most of the samples have been run and results should have been sent to the individuals effected.  Although this misfortune was beyond our control, we are truly sorry for any inconvenience this may have cause.

For individuals who use the County Covid-19 testing site in the future there are a few things you should be aware of.  Most results should be available in approximately 3-4 business days (this does not include weekends or Holidays).  Your results should come to you by a phone call or text message, please answer the call when it comes.  The ISDH is behind on both results notification and contact tracing, so please stay home if you are sick to help slow the increase spread.   If 72 hours have passed, please contact the ISDH for information about your results at 1-877-826-0011.  

Due the overwhelming workload and call volume the Dubois County Health Department has been experiencing, we are asking anyone who has been tested positive for Covid-19 to please contact their employer or school IMMEDIATELY.  We have been doing our best to notify businesses with this information but cannot guarantee this will happen in a timely manner if this trend continues.