All four counties “remain pretty close” to Level 3, DeWine said. “Butler County is right on the line between red and orange levels at 97.88 cases per 100,000 residents (over the past two weeks).”
DeWine said Butler County’s cases meet the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s definition of moderately high incidence of COVID-19. Two weeks ago, Butler County was on the watch list for Level 3 counties at the risk of moving to Level 4.
The drop in the public health advisory level comes a day after Fairfield Lane Library posted on its website and Facebook page it would temporarily close for the second time this month with a second employee diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus.
Library officials were notified Wednesday evening, and said Thursday they are working to determine several things, including how long the branch will be closed and which employees were potentially exposed, said Lane spokeswoman Carrie Mancuso. She said they are working to notify patrons that may have been in the library on July 11, the last day the affected employee worked.
“We are looking very carefully at the situation and our staffing,” Mancuso said. She said the library system is reviewing its staffing history at the branch and is being “overly cautious to ask anyone to quarantine who may have had contact with (the employee) according to the health department’s guidelines.”
It’s also not yet confirmed if this new COVID-19 case is related to the previous one.
Fairfield Lane Library is the busiest of its three branches, which includes Hamilton and Oxford. There have been no confirmed cases reported at the Hamilton and Oxford branches, Mancuso said.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
There were 2,305 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases in Butler County, as of Thursday. In the weekly detailed epidemiology report, Fairfield’s ZIP code, 45014, has seen 22.7 percent, or 512, of the county’s total cases as of Tuesday.
A month earlier, the 45014 ZIP code had 27.4 percent of all cases in the county, or 349, according to the epidemiology report.
There will be a pop-up COVID-19 testing site from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on July 30 at 4601 Dixie Highway (where Goodwill and OhioMeansJobs are located) in Fairfield.
While Butler County dropped to Level 2, there are 23 counties at Level 3, and eight of them moved up this week to the higher level.
Ohio has passed the 80,000 mark in total coronavirus cases More than 3,200 Ohioans are reported to have died related to COVID-19, and 2,997 have been confirmed virus-related deaths.
A plan for reopening the Fairfield Lane Library hasn’t been set as of yet, Mancuso said, but any type of reopening — whether it’s a drive-through or allowing patrons inside — will depend on staffing levels.
Similar to last time the library closed, holds for library materials at Fairfield will be extended and books can always be returned at any time at any of the Lane branches.
About the Author
