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The Lincoln County Health Department (LCHD) reported this week a total of 17 deaths of residents of the Stanford Care and Rehabilitation facility since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.

LCHD Director Diane Miller said the health department is currently monitoring 34 active COVID-19 cases in Lincoln County as of Tuesday, 10 of whom are employees of the long-term care facility.

Miller said a total of 88 residents of the facility have tested positive for COVID-19.

“As of today we’re monitoring 34 active cases and 10 of those are from the long-term care facility,” she said. “There’s been a total of 17 deaths with the long term care facility.”

The state’s COVID-19 website reports 73 positive cases in Lincoln County and one death, a disparity that Miller said is due to individual labs that are responsible for reporting results to the state.

With the overall state numbers continuing to rise, Miller said it is essential that the public listen to the health guidelines and continue to practice social distancing.

“I want to remind everyone that under the Governor’s most recent Executive order yesterday, social gatherings are back down to 10 or less,” she said. “If individuals would do what’s being asked in the guidance and wear face masks to help stop the spread. We’re going to be looking at it for the next two weeks to see if it makes a difference with the numbers.”