Iowa surpassed the 1,000 mark for confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday and Washington County has 57 of those. Iowa has had 26 deaths due to the virus and three of those have been in Washington County. Washington County Hospital and Clinics confirmed that an outbreak of the virus was identified in McCreedy Home. The Iowa Department of Public Health defines an outbreak in a facility if more than three residents test positive for COVID-19. WCHC states that these residents have received medical treatment and are in isolation. In an effort to protect residents and staff there have been visitor restrictions issued for the hospital and McCreedy Home, as well as screening of all staff daily for symptoms, screening patients entering the facility, isolating symptomatic residents and patients, and implementing a respiratory triage clinic.

Washington County Public Health Director Danielle Pettit-Majewski continues to urge people to practice social distancing to help slow and prevent the spread of COVID-19. At Tuesday’s county board of supervisors meeting metrics the governor is using to determine shelter in place orders were discussed and Pettit-Majewski explained how what we do now will impact the future outcomes, “I just want to remind people, you know, whether we get to a nine or a 10 is not based on what we did today. That’s based on what we did to two week ago. So, we may already be getting to that point, but what we can do is try to reduce where we are in two weeks by our behavior today.” Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, cover coughs and sneezes, limit trips out in public, limit contact with people who are outside of your household, and stay home when you’re ill.

As of Tuesday, Iowa has 1,048 confirmed cases. Of those cases 57 are in Washington County, Johnson County has 134, Louisa County has 20, Henry County has 13, Iowa County has six, Jefferson County has three, and Keokuk County has two.