Ellis County- Tonight, Ellis County posted on their Facebook page the updated numbers for Ellis County, with a total of 13 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The following is what they provided:The Local Health Authority has confirmed three additional cases of COVID-19 in Ellis County. This increases the countywide total to 13 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
The Ellis County “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order is in effect through 11:59 p.m. on Friday, April 03, 2020, unless extended.
For more COVID-19 information and a full outline of the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order please visit https://co.ellis.tx.us/2019novelcoronavirus
Todd Little, Ellis County Judge & Emergency Management Director
However, there’s some confusion and well as discrepancies in the numbers. Last night the COVID-19 Ellis County map was showing 11 cases when Ellis County reported 10.
Last night on Facebook we came across a post claiming four Dart Container employees have been tested presumptive positive for COVID-19. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), a “presumptive positive” result is when a patient has tested positive by a local public health laboratory, and those results are still pending confirmation at a CDC lab. In a release from Dart they identified four “presumed positive” cases of COVID-19. Notice this can be misleading when distributed to the public as it is similar to “presumptive positive”. To ensure the accuracy of information distributed to the public, we have reached out to Dart and they were able to clarify their information.
Sources said, “in consultation with Dart Executive Leadership, they have opted to enact their “Positive Case” protocol for each case. It is important to note that there has been no positive test results that would label any case as presumptive positive stemming from Dart.”
This was from Dart’s press release on 3/25: “Unfortunately, the CDC has issued no guidance to essential industries like ours on how we should handle situations like this,” said Dart Container CEO Jim Lammers. “Four COVID-19 cases represent less than 1-percent of our 800-employee workforce.
“We are aware that many other companies remain open for business after having positive COVID-19 cases,” Lammers said. “But we’re not comfortable doing that, as the health of our employees and their families is our No. 1 priority. We felt the need to take this extraordinary step to temporarily halt production to ensure our workplace is safe for our staff.”
Our source emphasized at the moment, NO Dart employee has tested positive. Since their press release was issued, Dart was notified one of the tests was negative. That leaves two cases involving unrelated diagnoses that will continue to be monitored. Currently, the last case is pending test results. The four cases are classified as persons under monitoring. Ellis County is no longer reporting on the total number of persons under monitoring.
