Carbon County sees spike in COVID cases

Carbon County is seeing the highest spike in cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) since the pandemic began and a little over two weeks since the July 4 weekend. According to Carbon County Public Health, 11 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the last six days.

Jacquelin Wells, public information officer for the Carbon County COVID-19 Incident Management Team, confirmed to the Saratoga Sun that there had been previous cases either in the Valley or connected to the Valley. Additionally, there have also been recent cases in the Valley.

On July 15, the 17th case for Carbon County was confirmed in an adult male over the age of 40. Two days later, the 18th and 19th cases assigned to Carbon County were confirmed in an adult male over the age of 40 and an adult female over the age of 20. On Saturday, an adult female of the age of 30 was confirmed as Carbon County’s 20th case.

That same day, it was announced that Cedar’s Health Clinic had informed Carbon County Public Health of an adult male over the age of 20, who was not a local resident but working in the county, as testing positive for COVID-19.

Later that day, the 21st and 22nd positive cases were announced. An adult female over the age of 60 and an adult male over the age of 50 both tested positive  with two close contacts of the adult male reported being sick and having been tested.

On Sunday, the 23rd and 24th cases were announced. Two adult females, one over the age of 60 and another over the age of 50, had tested positive for COVID-19. Then, on July 20, an adult female over the age of 30 was announced as the 25th confirmed case for Carbon County. Additionally, an adult male over the age of 20 who is not a Carbon County resident tested positive at Cedar’s Health Clinic.

Between the cases assigned to Carbon County and the two cases in out-of-county residents, this accounts for a total of 11 cases within the county. According to Wells, it is unknown if the recent in-county cases are connected, though the second out-of-county case is considered community acquired.

On Monday, the Sun reached out to Wells to confirm if there had been any cases in the Valley. Over the weekend, on social media, she had explained that, due to the small size of towns in Carbon County, she would not mention specific communities. However, when asked, she did confirm that there had been past and recent cases in the Valley.