HUDSON — Three Columbia County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, health officials said Friday.
The individuals are a woman in her 30s in the northern part of the county, a woman in her 40s in the northern part of the county and a woman in her 60s in the southern part of the county, said Victoria McGahan, a public health educator for the Columbia County Health Department.
All three are under mandatory isolation at home, county officials confirmed.
“I can’t speak directly to the positive cases, but it is CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and NYSDOH [New York State Department of Health] guidance that household contacts are placed under quarantine, as well,” McGahan said.
A team of nurses working for the Columbia County Department of Health has begun to trace people who may have come into contact with the infected individuals.
“They interview the patients and follow up on whatever information is shared with them,” McGahan said.
The individuals were tested for COVID-19 at a facility in the Columbia Memorial Health Network, but officials declined to identify which of the three facilities performed the tests. Columbia Memorial Health is conducting tests at Columbia Memorial Hospital and at two rapid care facilities — one at 283 Mountain View Road, Copake, and the other 2827 Route 9, Valatie.
Columbia County Public Health Director Jack Mabb contacted Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Matt Murell to inform him of the positive cases.
Murell then informed all of the town supervisors of the three positive cases, the county health department confirmed.
The town supervisors were not told the locations of the individuals living under quarantine. “I don’t even know their locations,” Murell said Friday.
The county has plans to activate an emergency operations center in the event of a large-scale outbreak, Columbia County Emergency Management Director David Harrison Jr. said last week. The emergency operations center was not activated as of Friday, Murell said.
Citing privacy laws, the health department said it cannot disclose the names or locations of the individuals who tested positive.
“Although there is a confirmed case in Columbia County, and patient confidentiality prevents specific details about the individual case, the risk to our community remains low,” Mabb said in a statement posted to the county health department website.
The county has been preparing for weeks for a positive COVID-19 case, Murell said.
One hundred and eighteen Columbia County residents were tested for COVID-19 as of Friday. The three most recent cases are the first tests to come back positive.
Thirteen people are under mandatory quarantine and 46 people are under precautionary quarantine in Columbia County.