The Cass County Health Department (CCHD), the City of Logansport, the Cass County Commissioners, and Logansport Memorial Hospital (LMH) held a joint press conference earlier today to discuss the state of COVID-19 in Cass County.
As of today, Cass County has 1,025 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19. This number is now reflected on the Indiana State Department of Health's website. This situation is evolving quickly and the Cass County Health Department anticipates the number of positive cases to continue growing rapidly.
The severity of this public health situation will exceed the hospital's capacity to care for all individuals affected. As individuals present to Logansport Memorial Hospital with various symptoms, either due to COVID-19 or to other illness or injury, they will be triaged and directed appropriately for the care they need.
Based on this information, and because of the current state of COVID-19 in Cass County, the Cass County Health Department, the City of Logansport, the Cass County Commissioners, and Logansport Memorial Hospital are declaring a public health emergency.
The City of Logansport is issuing a new Executive Order 20-02 and the Cass County Commissioners are issuing Ordinance No. 2020, to enforce additional safety precautions throughout the community as a result of this new information. A summary of those directives is below:
This has been a coordinated effort and united community response in addressing how COVID-19 is impacting Cass County. Each of these organizations sincerely asks the community to closely follow these directives. Now more than ever, it is critical that citizens STAY HOME and minimize contact with others outside of their immediate family living in the same household, as much as possible.
Other important points of information shared at the press conference included:
As stated before, this is an evolving situation and our response is changing quickly - daily, hourly, by the minute in some cases - based on the needs of the patients and the needs of the community at large. Each of these organizations is working very closely together to support one another during this time. Local health officials from the CCHD and LMH are working closely with the Indiana State Department of Health, to make the most informed decisions that we can, with the safety and the best interest of all Cass County citizens in mind.
Additional updates will be shared with the community as the situation changes going forward.