3rd COVID-19 local positive

By GREG SCELLIN
Signal Editor

A third person has tested positive for COVID-19 in Fillmore County, according to a press release from Kim Showalter with Public Health Solutions (PHS). The third novel coronavirus positive is believed to be a resident in the northeast portion of Fillmore County. PHS recently reported 365 COVID-19 positives in its five counties. Of these, 317 residents live in Saline County (87 percent) and 40 (11 percent) live in Gage County—with the majority of the positives taking place in two assisted living facilities in Gage County. Unfortunately, a male in his 80s with underlying health conditions from one of these nursing facilities passed away after a hospitalization for COVID-19 related illnesses. He was the fourth person to die in the PHS area.
New testing in the Crete area have been coming back with a 25-percent positivity rate. Jefferson County has five (one new) positive cases with Thayer County still reporting no positive results. Adding in Fillmore County’s three positive cases, these three counties combine for 2.19 percent of the cases in the PHS area.
“If it wasn’t for Saline County, we would be in good shape here,” said Larry Cerny, a member of the PHS governing board, at the Geneva City Council meeting last week.