COVID cases notching up; Tabor recovering

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A male in his 30s and two females in their 40s and 60s with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases are the latest of 106 cases in Marion County.

The three were placed in isolation.

Six new cases have been confirmed this past week. In addition to Monday’s three cases, a male in his 60s and female in her teens were identified Friday and a woman in her 60s was identified Wednesday.

The teen apparently was a Centre School student. The school district posted on its website Thursday that a student tested positive for COVID-19 and other students were in quarantine.

As of Tuesday, the county had six active cases with 1,842 tests given and 1,736 negative test results.

Contact tracing of the latest two cases is under way.

A close contact is defined as being within 6 feet for 10 minutes or longer.

Tabor College, which established an on-campus testing center and an isolation unit before students returned to campus for the fall semester, has no students in isolation or quarantine at the moment.

Dean of student life, learning and formation Emir Ruiz Esparza said Monday the efforts of the staff, faculty, and students have mitigated spread of the virus.

Two weeks ago 55 students —10.9% of the on-campus student body — were either in isolation or quarantine.

The health department recommends people stay home when they are sick, wear a mask in public and wash their hands.