COVID-19 cluster identified within Health Department

Another COVID-19 cluster has been reported in Wayne County — this time, within the department responsible for contract tracing and tracking the virus in local schools and businesses.

A “minimum of five” Health Department employees with a “plausible epidemiologic linkage” are quarantined at home after testing positive for the virus, but county officials said none of them were involved in the free testing events being offered to local residents.

A news release issued by county public information officer Joel Gillie also noted that the number of positive cases throughout the county have increased in the last week and encouraged local residents to remain vigilant about washing their hands, maintaining social distance and wearing a mask in public.

Clusters at Wayne Christian School and North Drive Elementary School remain on the state Department of Health and Human Services “COVID-19 Ongoing Clusters in Child Care and School Settings” report, which was last updated Tuesday.

Wayne Christian remains the largest cluster of its kind in the state.