Guthrie County’s recent COVID-19 case rate and its proximity to densely populated counties has local health officials concerned about the spread and the increased use of medical resources.

Guthrie County added about 80 new cases in the last week, bringing their total to at least 540 residents testing positive with 199 of those remaining active, and a 20.1% 14-day positivity rate. While this percentage crept down to about 10% a couple weeks ago, Guthrie County Public Health Director Jotham Arber explains what may have contributed to the sudden spike, “If you go back a couple of weeks you’re into that Halloween time, right? That week of Halloween there were a lot of events happening, fall parties, fall festivals, people were meeting and gathering. And unfortunately I don’t know that we always see the most effective use of public health recommendations in some of our parties, and we get a little bit comfortable with those people that we’re around even though they’re not in our house. And I think that that’s probably part of what we are seeing in this uptick there are some of those coming through.”

Arber adds it’s important to note how the flow of commuters to and from counties like Dallas and Polk can attribute to case increases. Though as of Thursday there are no long term care facility outbreaks or COVID-19 hospitalizations in Guthrie County, Arber states that there recently was an uptick in those hospitalizations, and as Des Moines hospitals are at or reaching patient capacity, they are communicating about the possibility of moving patients out to rural counties. Guthrie County Hospital stated this week that they remain committed and ready to provide their community with urgent and emergency care and are capable to continue seeing patients in need of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 care. GCH and public health continue to encourage residents to follow social distancing guidelines, and to get a flu shot to prevent the spread of other viruses this time of year.