Health District: Cassia County Has Community Spread of COVID-19
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KLIX)-Cassia County reportedly has at least one confirmed case of community spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
The South Central Public Health District (SCPHD) announced Tuesday evening that one person caught the virus without a direct connection to where or who they caught it from. Community spread is when the transmission of the virus cannot be determined by investigation of direct contact with an individual known to have the illness or travel to an area known to have community spread.
The report comes in a little more than a week since Minidoka County had its first confirmed case of community spread of COVID-19. According to the Health District, Cassia County is the fifth area within the eight county health district to report community spread. According to data from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, there have been 49 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Cassia County, 35 of which are still being monitored by health care.
The Health District said in a statement that people living in Cassia County should expect to see numbers increase and encouraged people to continue social distancing, keeping group numbers below 10, and wear masks in public.
SCPHD Director, Melody Bowyer said during an update on social media that the Magic Valley had seen a spike in confirmed case numbers on May 22, after a mass testing events at food processing plants in Jerome and Cassia counties. She also noted that many of the people tested had been asymptomatic, meaning they didn't exhibit any signs of COVID-19, watch the video below: