WESTMORELAND — Pottawatomie County is phasing out COVID-19 related limitations and restrictions, despite the health officer’s recommendation to extend the county’s public health order for another 10-14 days.
At a Friday morning meeting the Pottawatomie County Commission, acting as the Board of County Health voted 3-0 to not extend Public Health Order No. 6. The reasoning was due to the county still having zero hospitalizations and zero deaths, indicating the steps taken have worked to keep the hospitals from being overwhelmed. Commission Chair Dee McKee says the vote intends to make people responsible for their own health rather than trying to do otherwise.
“We still want people to take personal responsibility, wear masks and so on, as was recommended by Dr. Welch,” she said.
Health Officer Lisa Kenworthy recommended an extension of the order which would have limited large gatherings, due to at least one cluster and possibly more in the county.
As of Friday, the county reported 13 active cases of COVID-19, as well as four probable cases with 23 pending tests. McKee says going forward they will reach out to area newspapers about creating a “Covid Corner” for weekly updates and recommendations.
“It may sound political, but it’s not, we just want to ensure our citizens are informed,” she said. “We cannot expect the pandemic won’t continue for quite a while until there’s an actual vaccine for it and many people say there won’t be one.”
That’s why she says they decided to let the order expire and instead put the burden on personal responsibility rather than government mandates.
All COVID-19 tests administered at the county jail Wednesday for selected inmates and employees came back negative.
