Reprinted From This Week’s

Hometown Oneonta, Freeman’s Journal

90-Year-Old,

Three Others

Off Ventilators

Bond Says COVID Seems Milder,

As Latest Victims Out Of Danger

By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

COOPERSTOWN – A 90-year-old hospitalized with COVID-19 last week is out of the hospital and recovering, Heidi Bond, Otsego County Public Health director, reported yesterday.

“All the people who were hospitalized have improved,” she said. “No one is on a ventilator anymore.”

After a quiet weekend – no cases were reported on Saturday, Sunday or Monday – on Tuesday, July 28, one new case was reported in the Village of Cooperstown and two were reported in the City of Oneonta.

“They weren’t travelers,” Bond said. “Two of them had close contact with someone who tested positive. There’s no trend that I can tell.”

On Friday, July 25, three cases more were reported in Laurens. Of those cases, one was an “index” case, where a direct source can’t be located, and two were from close contact.

“We don’t know where it’s coming from,” she said. “It’s not one active party; there is likely more disease in the community that we don’t know about.”

Currently, there are 10 active COVID cases in the county.

In all, there have been 30 cases of COVID-19 since June, with 21 so far in July. At the peak in March and April, there were 62 cases. Of current cases, 18 are women and 12 men.

“It’s not as bad now, but we still need to be concerned,” Bond said. “We don’t want people to get complacent, there is still an active disease.”

She said that the cases appear to be “milder” than they were in the spring. “It could be a different strain,” she said.

The fastest-growing age group of cases is 21-40, with 10 cases since June. “It’s hard to tell why that’s happening,” she said. “My only guess is that people are going back to work and are socializing more than they did in March and April.”

Five cases were reported in people under 20; the youngest current case is 12.

“In March and April, our youngest case was a year old,” she said.

In all, there have been 99 confirmed cases, with 84 recovered from the illness and five deaths, plus the current 10.

Though testing at the hospitals is reserved for those showing symptoms, the county DOH has set up a free testing site for those who feel they may have been at risk, but are not showing symptoms.

“If someone feels they are high-risk – their job put them at risk, or maybe they have traveled – they can come get tested, free of charge,” she said.

The testing will be held 9 a.m.-noon Friday, July 31, at the Exeter Town Barn. To register, call the DOH at (607) 547-4230.