MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Shelby County Health Department confirmed a fourth case of coronavirus in the metro area Wednesday.
The fourth patient came into contact with visitors from another state who were ill. The case is not related to any of the other confirmed cases in the area.
The patient is in isolation and receiving treatment at a local hospital, Dr. Alisa Haushalter with the health department said.
Haushalter made the announcement of the new case as she briefed members of the county commission on the COVID-19 situation Wednesday morning.
She said health teams are currently interviewing patient three, whose case was announced Tuesday, and patient four to get a better idea of where they’ve been and who they’ve been in contact with so they can be quarantined.
Haushalter says this most recent confirmed case is a “red flag,” which means things are shifting.
“The reason it’s a red flag is that these cases are now not directly related to each other,” she said. “They are all from travel or related to travel, but not from the same communities, so that essentially means we have three groups of travel-related coronavirus in our community.”
The board of commissioners asked questions concerning how this affects our local economy and businesses, and what we can we do.
The health department says it’s all on a case-by-case basis.
Right now, they don’t believe there has been community transmission, which is why restaurants and bars are still open.
Haushalter said if they have more cases that are revealed and not related to these four, then they will go back to the drawing board and change the approach to preventing a widespread outbreak.
Meanwhile, Shelby County Schools Superintendent Joris Ray said that schools would remain closed until April 6. The ACT test date has been postponed to June 13, and SCS testing has been postponed to a date to be determined, he said.
Officials still want to stress the importance of hand washing and staying home if you have any ill symptoms.
According to the Tennessee Department of Health, the state has 98 confirmed cases of COVID-19, as of 2 p.m. Wednesday.
