Conference provides updates on COVID-19 in Madison Co.

JACKSON, Tenn. — The third positive COVID-19 patient in Madison County is a 73-year-old who traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin within the last couple of weeks.

“She is self-isolated, self-quarantined at home. She’s doing well. Which we expect 80 percent of the population to do,” Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department director, Kim Tedford said.

The 23-year-old who tested positive at home is also self-isolated at home and recovering. The 77-year-old positive patient is still being treated at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital.

“As long as we’re seeing new cases that come up across the state and in our community, we’ve got to be vigilant about staying home and social distancing,” Tedford said.

She says the drive-thru testing site ran very smoothly on Thursday, and they were able to test 67 people.

“Do I expect to get some positives? We saw some sick people come through there that were very symptomatic. Several people even had masks on in their car, so they knew they were symptomatic,” Tedford said.

Madison County Deputy Mayor Tony White says he wants employees to know their rights during this pandemic.

“One thing we want employers to know is there could be employees that are affected here, but we don’t want the employee to be afraid to let the employer know because they’re going to be terminated,” White said.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act does provide paid leave for an employee who is quarantined, an employee who is taking care of someone who is quarantined or an employee needing to take care of a child because their school or day is closed because of the pandemic.

The hospital is also expanding their times at the University of Tennessee Medicine north clinic, located at 31 Physicians Drive, to let people have more opportunities to be tested.

“The hospital is safe. Our staff is trained to take care of these patients, and wearing personal protective equipment, and our staff is cleaning constantly,” said Amy Garner, with West Tennessee Healthcare.

The clinic will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.

A fourth case was confirmed just before 5 p.m. Friday by the Jackson-Madison County Health Department.