MCPHERSON -- The McPherson County Health Department today reported four new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the county total to 121.The newest confirmed cases are as follows, according to the health department.Positive case No. 118 was identified late Tuesday, July 21st evening, and is a symptomatic female in her 20s with unknown exposure and is recovering at home.Positive case No. 119 was identified late Tuesday, July 21st evening, and is a symptomatic male in his 20s with known exposure and is recovering at home.Positive case No. 120 is a female in her 30s with known exposure and is recovering at home.Positive case No. 121 is a male in his 30s with known exposure and is recovering at home.Of the 121 confirmed cases, 100 have met Kansas Department of Health and Environment recovery guidelines, the health department reported. Additionally, no current cases are hospitalized and the county has reported no COVID-19 related deaths, the health department noted.The McPherson County Health Department reminds county residents of the following.McPherson County continues to have an uptake in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases. If you are notified by the Health Department of being a contact of someone who is positive for COVID-19, you MUST quarantine at home for 14 days. This means that a negative test will not return an exposed person to work/sports/daycare/etc. sooner than 14 days. If you are a contact, decide to be tested, and it comes back negative, you STILL have to finish your 14-day period because you may become contagious anytime during the rest of the 14 days. We do NOT routinely recommend testing contacts unless symptoms arise or a high risk individual is involved. People who have not had direct exposure to someone with COVID-19 do not need to quarantine and are not excluded from work/sports/daycare/etc.If you are being tested for COVID-19, you are considered a Person Under Investigation (PUI). The PUI MUST isolate while waiting on results. The PUI should isolate away from anyone in their household. If they are not able to isolate away from the household members by staying in their own room, the entire household must quarantine while awaiting results to reduce exposure.If a person in quarantine does not develop any COVID-19 symptoms, then they are released from quarantine at the end of 14 days. If symptoms do develop during those 14 days, the person is to contact their primary provider for further evaluation and/or testing. People who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 may be released from isolation at the direction of the Health Department when it has been 10 days since the onset of symptoms AND 72 hours since symptoms have resolved. This symptom-based method of returning people to work is preferred to a testing-based method of returning people to work because tests can still remain positive long after the virus is no longer active.

McPherson County reports four new cases of COVID-19