The Monroe County Health Department released a statement Thursday, March 12, saying there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus/COVID-19 in the county.
The statement went further saying, “We understand that there is concern about the limited ability to test for the coronavirus at the Indiana State Department of Health Laboratory. Unfortunately, because of short supplies, tests have been triaged for those at highest risk. We are hopeful this situation will be resolved soon and testing will become more readily available. In the meantime, we should focus on what we all can do to protect ourselves and others from getting ill, such as using the everyday preventative measures to reduce the transmission of illness.”
The Indiana State Department of Health lists 12 positive test results in the entire state of Indiana with 0 deaths after the state tested 73 people. There are 1 positive test result (s) in Adams County, 1 in Boone County, 2 in Hendricks County, 1 in Howard County, 3 in Johnson County, 2 in Marion County, 1 in Noble County, and 1 in St. Joseph County.
A March 11th story on the Fox 59 news site said that county health departments in the state of Indiana don’t have the ability to test for coronavirus, but private companies will soon be providing tests.
The Bloomingtonian spent the better part of Thursday tracking down several tips about coronavirus cases in the Bloomington area, but was unable to find any information about confirmed positive cases. When asked about those cases, the Monroe County Health Department said if there was a positive coronavirus/COVID-19 result from a private company’s test that those results would be provided to the health department.
