Liz Copan / ecopan@summitdaily.com
DILLON — An eighth person has tested positive for COVID-19 in Summit County.
Summit County Public Health reported the new positive case just after noon Friday on the county’s daily COVID-19 update page. Of note, the county will no longer be reporting the number of negative or pending test results on its website, citing the fact that individuals are being tested in other counties and so the data no longer represents what’s happening locally.
Officials also said the eight positive cases to date likely severely underestimates the real spread of the disease in Summit County.
“We believe this greatly under-represents what we believe is happening in the community,” Summit County Public Health Director Amy Wineland said in a news release. “We are certain that more people have contracted the virus and have not been tested. Now that we’ve seen community spread — that is, the virus has moved from person to person within Summit County and is not solely being introduced by infected outsiders bringing it to the population — we have moved our approach from containment to mitigation.”
Residents are being asked to monitor themselves for symptoms of COVID-19 — fever, cough and shortness of breath — along with engaging in social distancing.
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