Kendall County Health Department chief provides update on coronavirus spread

YORKVILLE – The head local health official for Kendall County addressed other county officials about the status of coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak and what county health officials are recommending in the meantime during a county government meeting this week.

Dr. Amaal Tokars, executive director for the Kendall County Health Department, said during the Tuesday, March 3 County Board meeting that health officials have been working with community members as the spread of the coronavirus continues. She said local health officials aren't aware of any cases in the county currently.

"And I say those words very carefully," Tokars said. "We don't know of a case, because you can see cases coming up in the country where people don't know where those originated from."

Tokars said the potential for COVID-19 infection is especially a concern for those with ties to the Chicago metropolitan area. She said it's a close community to begin with and there also are many Kendall County residents who commute closer to Chicago for work.

"So we really have to be prepared for these cases when they come," Tokars said.

According to a data map maintained by the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, there are more than 93,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide and more than 3,000 deaths worldwide as of 10 p.m. Tuesday, March 3. There also have been 124 cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. so far, with four confirmed cases in Illinois.

Tokars echoed precautionary measures like covering sneezes and coughs, frequently washing hands and avoiding touching eyes, nose and mouth – which is a similar approach those could take of the flu – like she last reported in her comments to County Board members during their Feb. 4 meeting.

"This is a good time for people to be reviewing their plans and taking a look at what's in their own preparedness plans, thinking about the sanitation in their buildings, thinking about making sure that people are staying home when they're sick and really being prepared for this possibly getting worse," Tokars said during the Tuesday, March 3 meeting.

The update comes after the Illinois Department of Public Health and Cook County Department of Public Health on Monday announced a fourth Illinois patient tested positive for COVID-19. The presumptive positive result for the coronavirus still has to be confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab, according to a Monday, March 2 news release from state health officials.

State health officials said in the release the fourth infected individual is a woman in her 70s and is the spouse of the third case – a man in his 70s who is being treated at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights. This fourth case is quarantined at home and is complying with health officials, according to the release.

Out of the four confirmed cases in Illinois, two patients have recovered, according to state health officials.

Symptoms of COVID-19 may include fever, cough and shortness of breath and they may appear between two and 14 days after exposure, county health officials said in a Monday, March 2 release. The coronavirus may be transmitted by infected individuals who show no apparent symptoms and there currently is no vaccine to prevent COVID-19 infection, according to the release.

When looking at potential work or community policy plans, Tokars said, people should consider disease quarantining practices, asking people to stay home from school and work if they're sick, and sanitizing frequently-touched surfaces like doorknobs.

Tokars said there are no different kinds of cleaning procedures being prescribed for schools in particular related to COVID-19 outbreak concerns at this time. She said what is important is bathrooms should always have enough soap by the end of the night and current cleaning standards should continue to be kept.

However, Tokars said policies social distancing – meaning keeping people away from one another as sickness is spreading – might need to be considered by not creating large events where poeple are going to be in close proximity to one another or by postponing or canceling those events altogether, should it come to that.

"So we're not there yet," Tokars said. "We're not there yet, and I would like not to get there, but those are the things we really want to exercise our minds about and make sure that we are ready for that."