Milam County now has 28 cases of COVID-19

Milam County Judge Steve Young announced a 28th case of COVID-19 late yesterday afternoon.

“We just learned of the 28th confirmed case of the virus in Milam County,” Young said. “The person is a Milam County resident, located in the central part of the county. The individual has mild symptoms at this point, is self-quarantined and is expected to recover.”

Young also said that two of the 28 cases in the county have been employees of Wal-Mart in Rockdale. Both are self-quarantined and will not return to work until after the quarantine period and the individuals are asymptomatic. 

“Wal-Mart is taking extra pre-cautions to make the store safe, by screening the employees at the beginning of each shift; by sanitizing the carts, freezer doors and common areas more frequently; by requiring employees to wear masks and by making aisle traffic directional,” he said. “The infected employees had little contact prior to infection and therefore we suspect the virus was spread by a patron who did not wear a mask. We thank Wal-Mart for going the extra mile to make the store safe.”

Young said Milam County has more cases than any of our neighboring rural counties.

Lee County has six, Falls County has seven and Burleson County has 20. None of the three have a death from the virus. 

“We currently have 28 confirmed cases, one death, nine active cases, one hospitalized and the health department is monitoring about 11 individuals,” Young said.

The Milam County Health Department has determined that five of the infected individuals had no symptoms or very few symptoms. Each could have infected others and never suspected they were infected. 

“This makes the point that anyone, even those that appear healthy can spread the virus,” Young said. “So please keep your distance, wear a mask and wash your hands.” 

Thirty-one individuals were tested in Milano on Monday, May 18. However, there are no results from those tests as of Friday.

“With the upcoming holiday and graduations ceremonies people want to gather and celebrate,” Young said. “Remember, this virus is very contagious, and it has no friends. It will attack anyone.”

Robert Kirkpatrick with the Milam County Health Department said earlier this week that approximately 66 percent of the cases in the county are between the age of 20-60 years of age.