Shawnee County health officer Gianfranco Pezzino shared several nuggets of good news — at least, relatively speaking — at the health department’s weekly COVID-19 news conference Friday.
But Pezzino added an important backdrop to his hopeful update: Now is not the time to get complacent.
“I want to warn you: I decided to share these somewhat positive numbers with you, but also with some concern that they could be misinterpreted,” Pezzino said, “and could lead to people to lower their guard and think, ‘Oh, we are done. We don’t need to stay home anymore. We can just go out and get with our friends.’ We are not at that point yet. Those numbers can turn around in a matter of hours or a few days. It’s important that we keep monitoring those numbers in the next few weeks.”
Shawnee County announced 90 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among its residents, up eight from Thursday’s total. Of those individuals who tested positive, 43 remain active cases, 42 have recovered and five have died.
(Read more: Local – The Topeka Capital-Journal)
