Forsyth County commissioners imposed a “stay-at-home” order after getting a grim update from a local infectious disease expert.
Officially the number of cases of the disease in Forsyth County stood at 17. But David Priest, a senior vice president at Novant Health, painted a much darker picture of what health care workers are seeing.
“Locally, meaning Forsyth County, in Novant Health facilities only, we have more than 50 patients in the hospital we're investigating either having the infection or could have the infection,” he says. “And we've seen significant increases over the last few weeks.”
Priest said Novant had been monitoring the spread for weeks and their specialists weren't caught off guard when it finally arrived here. But he says shortages of testing capabilities hampered the ability to identify cases nationwide and to isolate patients to prevent the spread.
With limited testing available, keeping distance from each other and staying put are the best options available, Priest said.
He said he's hopeful that the summer temperatures may help drive the rates down, but he isn't sure.
The order is similar to one passed this week by the city of Winston-Salem and applies only to the unincorporated parts of the county. Other local municipalities can join. Some had expressed an interest in doing so while others said they would not.
The order goes into effect at 5 p.m. Friday.
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