SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — The Shelby County Health Department is hoping the next two weeks will help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus after multiple cities in the county ordered people to stay at home.
Health officials expect the numbers to grow and it may take a month or two before the efforts start having a significant impact on the pandemic.
Director of the Shelby County Health Department Dr. Alisa Haushalter said things could get a lot worse if people do not follow the ‘stay-at-home’ orders and practice social distancing.
There are 135 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Shelby County. The number is growing significantly now that private labs are running tests.
Haushalter says they saw a trend of people traveling and bring the virus back to the area, spreading it to family and social groups as well as the work place.
She says people are recovering.
“Many of our cases have recovered and have returned back to activities of daily living,” Haushalter said during the 2 p.m press conference. “One of the things, though, that will happen over time as we have more spread as the people in the vulnerable population, like seniors and those with chronic illnesses, it’s going to take longer for them to recover and we may also experience deaths. So, again, we are trying to be aggressive early on.”
Haushalter says one of the aggressive tactics is to stay at home which could get the area back to normal life faster.
The ‘stay-at-home’ order goes into effect at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
