St. Clair Today

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, local officials in St. Clair County are answering questions. 

According to Michigan.gov, as of May 21, there had been 422 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in St. Clair County, as well as 33 deaths, while the state of Michigan had experienced over 53,500 cases and over 5,000 deaths.

During a Facebook Live session, Dr. Annette Mercatante, who serves as the medical health officer at the St. Clair County Health Department and Justin Westmiller, St. Clair County emergency management director, answered questions that were sent in by residents of the county. 

“Data … has been an ongoing source of confusion, and as we talk about this, I want to try and relay a very important piece of information,” Mercatante said, according to The Voice. “Numbers are just one tool we’re using to try and identify and understand what’s happening to us locally. These numbers don’t represent actual numbers of everything that’s going on.”

Mercatante said that each case is unique when it comes to the coronavirus and that cities and villages were experiencing more cases due to the dense populations. 

“This virus doesn’t really care what your lifestyle is, whether you’re rich or poor,” Mercatante told The Voice. “It does care whether or not you’re close enough together for that virus to jump and spread.” The situation is being regularly monitored, Mercatante said.

“The official guideline is if you have gone seven days from the first day, we call it the onset of your symptoms,” Mercatante explained. She said that the recovery time varies from person to person, but the risk of contracting the virus twice is unlikely, though not impossible. 

“We are not out of the woods yet, so all those protections — masks, handwashing, cleaning — all still a go,” Mercatante said, according to The Voice. “It’s probably going to be a go for a long time, people. This is not going to be a short thing. We’re going to be talking, I think, for a very long time about what you need to do to protect yourself.”