The Randolph County Health Department reports Tuesday there were nine new cases of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in the county since achieving 0 active cases only last Friday.
Three new cases were reported on Monday and another six were reported Tuesday, according to daily news releases put out by Health Department Administrator Angela Oathout.
All nine patients are isolated and recovering at home -- none are hospitalized.
"It is very important that we do not let our guard down during Phase 4," Oathout warned.
"Practice social distancing, continue to wear a mask when social distancing cannot be maintained, wash hands often or use hand sanitizer when soap and water are not available, clean and disinfect hard surfaces frequently."
The new cases brings the county's overall total to 288 confirmed cases, 272 of which have recovered and been released to normal activity. Seven patients have died.
The county has tested 3,271 individuals for the coronavirus and of those 2,983 have tested negative, making the positivity rate 8.8% for Randolph County (the state target is 10% or less).
According to the health department, people with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported, ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms like these may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus:
• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• Recent loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea
Visit the CDC website for more information at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html.
Other southern Illinois counties are also seeing small spikes in cases.
• In Williamson County, three new cases were identified Tuesday on top of five identified Monday and eight on Sunday, said the Franklin-Williamson Bi-County Health Department. Williamson has had four deaths.
• Perry County has gone from 44 cases to 51 cases and one death in about a week.
• In St. Clair County, which has been a COVID-19 hot spot for months, the number of cases is now 1,863 with 135 deaths.
For privacy reasons, Randolph health officials do not identify the patients by gender or age, but they offer the ZIP codes of where those patients or former patients reside: 62233 (Chester); 62237 (Swanwick); 62241 (Ellis Grove); 62242 (Evansville); 62261 (Modoc); 62272 (Percy); 62277 (Prairie du Rocher); 62278 (Red Bud); 62286 (Sparta); 62288 (Steeleville); 62292 (Tilden) and 62297 (Walsh).
Elsewhere in southern Illinois as of Tuesday, Jackson County has reported 329 cases and 19 deaths; and Union County had 184 cases and 19 deaths.
Jefferson County has 107 cases and 17 deaths. Pulaski County has 74 cases; Alexander County, 22 cases; Johnson County, 20 cases; Washington has 19; Franklin, 14; Massac, 11; Saline, nine; White and Hamilton have four apiece; Gallatin has two and Hardin and Pope counties have one apiece.
On Tuesday, Monroe County was reporting 126 cases and 13 deaths.
