COVID-19 county case that wasn’t

Eyebrows raised a bit in Perkins County over the weekend when a COVID-19 case showed up in the state reporting. The case would be first in Perkins County since the pandemic was declared.

County residents can breath a sigh of relief because it wasn’t really a case in Perkins County. 

Myra Stoney, health director at the Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department in McCook, said an 80-year-old man living out-of-state tested positive for COVID-19. 

While the man hasn’t lived in Nebraska for some time, his medical records indicated he was still a resident of Perkins County.

Since the person’s medical records had not been updated, the case was counted as occurring in Perkins County.

Stoney said her staff worked with the State of Nebraska to get the case removed from Perkins County and counted in the correct state where the patient now resides. 

She said her staff spends considerable time sifting through data to make sure cases are counted in the correct county. 

Stoney said a number of counties in the district have expressed concern that cases are reported and counted correctly. 

That has been a particular concern in Keith County due to the amount of out-of-town and out-of-state traffic the lake receives. 

She said if a person tests positive at a Keith County site, that case gets counted in the county of residence of the patient, not Keith County. 

The same rule applies in the Perkins County instance.

Stoney said three more cases have been reported—a female in her 80s in Keith County through community spread; and a male in his 60s and a female in her 70s, both in Red Willow County who contracted the virus through travel.

This brings the total to 27 confirmed cases in the health district. Of those, 19 have recovered along with one death reported.