Butler County officials warn of Labor Day weekend dangers for coronavirus: 'We have to be very, very careful'

Hamilton Journal News - 9/5/2020

Sep. 5--Health professionals and government officials are urging people to make good decisions during the Labor Day holiday weekend to avoid possible outbreaks of coronavirus.

Following the Memorial Day and Fourth of July holiday weekends, Ohio saw spikes in the spread of the novel coronavirus, many of which came out of family gatherings, said Gov. Mike DeWine.

"We know it takes about a week or two for people to develop symptoms after coming into contact with someone who is contagious," said the governor, adding that some people may not show symptoms but have the virus and be contagious.

"We can get together, we can have fun, but we have to be very, very careful," DeWine said.

Cases were up after the Memorial Day weekend, which also came as more of Ohio's economy reopened. Then as people gathered for the July 4 holiday, "we saw our cases increase even more," DeWine said.

By mid-July, Ohio saw upwards of 1,500 cases per day on average.

Health officials encourage the standard protocols outlined since the onset of the COVID-19 virus, which include mask-wearing, hand-washing and social distancing. Dr. Roberto Colon, associate chief medical officer at Miami Valley Hospital, emphasizes: "Don't go anywhere if you're sick."

"If you're going to a gathering, and you're feeling a little bit out of sorts, if you're under the weather, if you think it's the beginning of something, stay home," he said. "As much as it would pain everybody to miss out on those gatherings, it's going to be even worse if it turns out to be COVID and now you've spread it to all those people there."

The number of new cases has usually peaked about three to four weeks after the previous holiday weekends.

Combining the increase of cases at schools and colleges with the potential for a boost in cases following a long holiday weekend, "we could be seeing a peak beyond the records we've seen so far," he said.

Following the Memorial Day and July 4 holiday weekends, Colon said, there was never the chance for the numbers to "fully come down."

"If we start seeing the bump from the schools opening, and the jump again related to Labor Day weekend on top of each other, we really could be breaking the numbers that we had around the middle of July timeframe when we were really peaking really high," he said.

As of Thursday, Miami University reported 833 total COVID-19 virus cases, and 67.8 percent (565) were reported since Monday. The cases are mostly connected to off-campus parties and gatherings, Miami University President Gregory Crawford said Thursday during DeWine's press conference.

"The spread of this disease is driven by behavior. How we behave this weekend will determine how fast this virus spreads," said Butler County General Health District Commissioner Jennifer Bailer. "Not all infected people show symptoms. Any of us could be spreaders of the disease without knowing it. Each of us has a role to play in slowing the spread and making things better."

The concerns of a spike aren't limited to Ohio.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House Coronavirus Task Force top advisor, and Vice President Mike Pence also encourage people to celebrate safely and responsibly this holiday weekend, according to the Associated Press and other news outlets.

Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN this week, "We don't want to see a repeat of the surges that we have seen following the holiday weekends."

"We don't want to see a surge under any circumstances, but particularly as we go on the other side of Labor Day and enter into the fall," he said to CNN. "We want to go into that with a running start in the right direction. We don't want to go into that with another surge that we have to turn around again."

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