COVID BRIEFING for March 28: Ripley County sees second case, no change in other counties

Editor's note: This is a daily briefing updating the latest information on the COVID-19 pandemic at 4 p.m. each day.

There are no positive test results in Butler County for COVID-19, Emergency Management Director Robbie Myers said Saturday afternoon.

"That could change at anytime," he said.

Other area counties are facing positive cases.

Ripley County saw a second positive COVID-19 case on Saturday morning after the first was detected late Friday afternoon. Ripley County Health Center Director Jan Morrow said through social media that the first patient is recovering nicely and continues to be isolated. No other information would be provided about the patients, she said.

Carter County also has two positive cases that were detected earlier in the week. On Wednesday, officials announced the first confirmed patient was hospitalized, but no additional information about the patient was released.

The second identified is a 44-year-old man who lives near Ellsinore is quarantined at home, officials said, and the case does not appear to be a contact of the county's first case.

Stoddard County announced the area's first positive case on Wednesday. The patient is a male in his early 40s and the case is contact related and is currently quarantined at home, officials reported.

On March 20, a case was located in Dunklin County and another in Scott County. Since then, two additional Dunklin County tests have come back positive.

Statewide there's been 838 positive cases with 10 deaths as of Saturday afternoon.

The U.S. now has the highest number of COVID-19 with 115,547 confirmed positives, followed by Italy with 92,472 and China with 81,999.

A statewide COVID-19 hotline also operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 877-435-8411.