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While Covington County hasn’t yet confirmed a case of COVID-19, the Crenshaw Community Hospital, located in Luverne, released a statement regarding the first positive COVID-19 case in Crenshaw County on March 26. The full release is below.

“Keeping to our promise of maintaining transparency with our community we are issuing this statement to inform we have our first positive coronavirus test in Crenshaw County. First, the entire team here at Crenshaw Community Hospital wants to express our heartfelt concern for the patient who has been diagnosed positive for COVID-19. Our entire hospital and all our dedicated health care professionals are working closely with local, state and federal health officials to provide the best possible care for this individual, while also trying to make the patient as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. In addition, we are assisting authorities with as much information as possible, so that they can track down other potential persons who may have been in contact with the patient and who may now be at risk.

The patient is being isolated, as directed by protocols from authorities and specialists. All staff and personnel in contact with the patient is following all practices to provide the utmost protection for our staff and the patients. In addition to caring for this affected patient, our concern is also focused on preventing further spread to our staff and all other patients. To that end, we have suspended all visitations to patients in our facility, including family members. We have actually suspended all non-essential visitors to our facility since March 12, 2020 to proactively protect the lives of our patients and staff. While this is difficult, families may still communicate electronically with their loved ones and our health care staff will assist patients in doing so. However, the priority at this point is to mitigate any potential threatening exposure and only essential visitors to the operation of our facility are allowed for the foreseeable future. We will change this policy once the federal and state authorities advise it’s safe to do so, and after we review our own measures for additional safety and health.

We fully recognize how difficult this time is for our patients and their loved ones, but we are taking all measures in conjunction with all appropriate authorities, to minimize the threat to all of our residents and will continue to do so until the coronavirus threat has subsided.

It is our sincere hope that our patient will make a full recovery and we will be monitoring their situation continuously. We ask that you keep this patient, their family and our entire team in your prayers as we work together to address this situation. We again thank you for your support and patience. We ask everyone to remain vigilant and continue practicing social distancing and hand washing.

If you are having flu-like symptoms please call our ER at 334-335-1146 before you come in. If you have a medical emergency call 911.”