Muskingum County Joint Unified Command Center conducts weekly conference

ZANESVILLE – The Zanesville Muskingum Health Department’s Medical Director Dr. Jack Butterfield took to the podium as he does each week. He feels, up to this point, the county is doing a very good job of keeping itself safe. The confirmed cases count is currently at nine but at the time of last Tuesday’s presser, the number was at eight.

“We were at eight for close to a week, we’re at nine. To be sure, there’s going to be more cases and once we open up businesses we’re increasing the risk of acquiring this so we will probably have small surges as businesses re-open. The key here is managing those small surges so that we don’t have huge spikes in people getting sick and overwhelming our medical services to take care of them,” Butterfield said.

State Representative from the 97th Ohio House District Adam Holmes was a featured speaker at the conference. He too is proud of how Muskingum County has worked to protect itself and he feels like local residents as well as the entire Buckeye State will carry the same resiliency when the Stay at Home order lifts on May 1st.

“The number one thing and which is also why we’re holding this conference is about restoring confidence. America has prevailed through adversity and the way we did is not by being afraid and we’re not going to be afraid now. It’s a return to normalcy. As we stick together like we have through history we will prevail and we’re going to do it again right now. So think of any action you can do, don’t make any action because you’re afraid, make a decision because we’re thoughtful and pragmatic and cooperative,” Holmes said.

Dr. Butterfield also said that he feels the public should wear masks or a face guard for months or perhaps longer after the Stay at Home order ends on May 1st.