BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

A doctor who is among public health officials leading St. Lawrence County’s fight against the coronavirus says the virus is spreading quicker here than anywhere else in the state. Also, the county’s public health director said through the contact tracing process, officials have determined that all of the county’s 63 cases are connected.

Dr. Andrew Williams commented on the local infection rate during the Monday, April 6 St. Lawrence County legislature meeting held online via the Zoom platform. He is president of the St. Lawrence County Board of Health and is medical officer of Community Health Center of the North Country.

“At least as of this morning, St. Lawrence County has the most rapidly growing coronavirus incidence in the entire state," Dr. Williams said.

“We double the number of cases every two-and-a-half to three days. New York City is doubling every six-and-a-half days,” he said. “Although the number (of infections) is small, the rate of increase is definitely concerning.”

He said those 63 St. Lawrence County people are most likely not the only cases, and there could be more who carry the virus and never get sick, but pass it on to vulnerable people at greater risk of complications.

“There’s a real concern that there are asymptomatic who are able to spread the illness. They become superspreaders. They have no symptoms but are able to spread the illness to multiple people. That’s where the social distancing and no non-essential travel comes in,” Dr. Williams said. “Younger people and healthier people are more likely to be asymptomatic.”

“We are asking people to socially distance and avoid unnecessary travel," he said.

He said because of the “superspreader” concern, the Centers for Disease Control are now suggesting everyone wear a mask in public.

“The recommendation is people should cover their face with a mask that’s homemade or a contractor mask or something like that,” he said. “If you were asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, you’d avoid spreading the disease to others.”

Dana McGuire, St. Lawrence County’s public health director, said officials have tracked down each coronavirus case and determined that every one is somehow connected to another known instance of the disease.

“All of the cases so far are linked to each other,” McGuire said. “That’s why we try to make quarantine and isolation the most important piece. That containment can help us decrease the spread.”

She said not all of those patients have been cooperative, some of whom won’t help public health figure out who they may have had close contact with, or won’t stay isolated for the required time period.

“We are finding difficulty with the isolation process and the quarantine process. We have people who do not want to maintain, who won’t give contacts to do all the tracing,” McGuire said. “We do need to have the public know this is a serious process. Isolation and quarantine are very important.”

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