The daily number of COVID-19 cases locally has been declining over the past two weeks.
In the past seven days, Butler County had a total of 564 new cases. Just two weeks ago, the county had 1,013 new cases.
Chief Medical Officer of the Butler Health System Dr. David Rottinghaus says the area saw its cases rise significantly as more people went indoors.
“We peaked in [Butler] just about the same time as our other regional partners and health systems right after Christmas and right around New Year’s,” Rottinghaus said. “So far luckily we have not seen a big bump since Christmas, but I think we still have to keep an eye on that.”
Rottinghaus also says it’s important to practice the health measures that prevent the spread of COVID-19 to help keep the cases low, especially with the arrival of a new COVID variant.
“Some of these new variants that are more contagious and more easily spread, and no doubt they’re in our area, but if they become dominant strains then the number of our cases will go up, which will result in more hospitalizations,” Rottinghaus said.
“So there’s reason to be optimistic, especially with the rollout of vaccine, but at this point in time it’s no reason to drop our vigilance and how careful we have to be.”
The running total number of cases for the county as of this morning was 12,263.
