Health Officials Respond to Rumors of Coronavirus Case in Hopkins County

Everyone is on edge as new reports of people around the world becoming infected with the deadly Coronavirus seem to happen on a daily basis. The Hopkins County Health Department is letting everyone know that rumors of a case being in their county is not true.

Denise Beach, Public Health Director for the Department took to their Facebook page Sunday night to squash rumors that they have quarantined a patient due to the virus.

The post reads,

There is a rumor circulating that Hopkins County has a case of coronavirus. The Coronavirus from Wuhan China is the Novel Coronavirus 19. There have been no confirmed cases, nor cases under suspicion or quarantine in Hopkins County of this virus. This would be reported to the Health Department as a reportable disease. The Hopkins County Health Department will notify the public if there is a case. Denise Beach, Public Health Director.

Baptist Health in Madisonville also responded to the rumors in a Facebook post of their own.

Their post reads,

Baptist Health Madisonville has been made aware that there is misinformation out in the local community. Our Emergency Department is not under quarantine for the Coronavirus. We do not have any patients that have tested positive for the Coronavirus that is currently in the international news media. We do have screening protocol in place that help us to assess the risk levels of our patients for this and many other conditions.

This incident serves as a good reminder that just because something is said on social media, doesn't mean it's true. If you read something that looks a little suspicious, do your due diligence and make sure it's true before hitting that Share button.

[Source: Hopkins County Health Department / Baptist Health Madisonville]