To the communities of Saline, Gallatin and White Counties, Egyptian Health Department would like to say 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔 for looking to and following us for your daily COVID-19 updates as this pandemic has gone on for nearly two years. In the past two years, Egyptian Health Department has sent out over 650 COVID-19 updates! We know many of our community members appreciated those updates, and we are extremely proud of all of our employees who have shown their dedication to our communities.
Due to the recent change in contact tracing, and the IDPH Centralized Surge Center taking over case investigations, Egyptian Health Department will no longer provide a daily COVID-19 Update. However, at this time, we do not feel comfortable in letting go entirely. Instead of a daily COVID update, we will provide a weekly update with total numbers of positive lab-confirmed tests in Saline, Gallatin and White counties. We will also include any additional deaths cause by COVID-19 in these updates. The new weekly update will not include demographics- such as gender and age- just the total number of positive lab-confirmed test results for each county. With that being said, we would like to note that these updates will not include the number of unreported home tests. While we feel that home tests are a great resource our community has access to, it does impact our ability to provide accurate data.
With the recent surge of COVID infections we are seeing, we would like to reiterate the importance of preventative methods you can take to protect you and your family. Currently, our vaccination rates are: 43.29% fully vaccinated for Saline County, 44.27% fully vaccinated for Gallatin County and 41.55% fully vaccinated for White County. Individuals ages 5+ are eligible to receive their COVID vaccine. Our Eldorado Office and our Gallatin County Wellness Center both offer vaccinations Monday-Friday and our Carmi Office offers vaccinations on Thursdays. Preventative methods you and your family can take include: Getting your COVID-19 Vaccine, getting your booster shot, wearing a mask properly, practicing social distancing and frequent hand washing. We also advise you to test before gathering- whether it be a home test or a lab-confirmed test. And as always-- please stay home if you are sick.
Again, we would like to say thank you. Thank you for sharing our COVID updates and up-to-date guidance.