Sheriff’s Officer, Campers Among Latest Positive Cases for Covid
As of Monday morning, June 29, there were 78 cases of coronavirus in Fayette County. Of those, 27 people have recovered, leaving 44 active cases. There have been two deaths officially attributed to the virus since the pandemic began. The Record learned of another death over the weekend that may have been from the virus, with confirmation expected later this week.
An officer of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office also tested positive for coronavirus last week. Lt. David Beyer of the Sheriff’s Office said the officer reported a slight fever before they were supposed to come to work last Sunday, June 21. Beyer said the employee is isolating at home. He said the employee’s symptoms were mild.
“After we found out this person tested positive, we got the entire building tested,” Beyer said. Those tests revealed one more person with the virus, Beyer said. That person works for a different agency with an office inside the Justice Center and did not have contact with the Sheriff’s deputies, Beyer said. Five other tests were deemed inconclusive. Those people were retested, Beyer said, but the results were not back at the time of this publication.
“We planned for this already,” Beyer said. “We’re going to be here no matter what. We put some guidelines in place when the coronavirus first hit, and we’ve never relaxed anything. We moved some schedules around, so we’re not worried about being short-handed. We’ll be able to meet the law enforcement needs of Fayette County.”
Camp Lone Star in La Grange announced Friday that it would close for two weeks after learning that three campers tested positive for the virus.
The three youth attended camp during the week of June 14- 19. Camp Lone Star said two of those campers stayed in the same cabin; the other camper was in a different cabin. In a letter posted to Facebook on Friday, Camp Lone Star said it implemented many protocols aimed at keeping the virus out of camp. For example, camp staff were quarantined on-site for two weeks before summer camp began this season. Campers were screened for symptoms before they were allowed to attend camp. Cohorts of campers and staff were segregated to minimize virus spread.
“Despite all precautions, several campers have notified us on testing positive for COVID-19,” said a statement from the camp. “Therefore, as a result of these positive cases, it’s impact on our staff, and out of an abundance of caution moving forward, we made the difficult decision to cancel our next two weeks of camp.” The camp will test all staff
The camp will test all staff members and isolate them for two weeks before making a decision about reopening. The campus will also undergo a deep cleaning and sanitization during that time.