New Butler County coronavirus cases may be false positives

The Butler County Health Department is keeping its number of positive COVID-19 cases at 28 until further testing can be done.

Since Missouri Governor Mike Parson reopened businesses throughout the state more than two weeks ago, Butler County has added two confirmed cases, with the most recent one occurring this past weekend.

However, the state number for the county was 32 cases on Tuesday and 34 cases as of 4 p.m. Wednesday, and the discrepancy may be attributed to false positives, said Emily Goodin, Butler County Health Department administrator.

"The reason for that is there were basically four tests that went out, and the thinking is, they might be false positives," Goodin said of Tuesday's number of 32 cases. "But since they did come back positive, the state has to go ahead and mark them as positive until they get that negative result. So those four people are being tested again, and until we hear otherwise, we're just going to keep it at 28 for our numbers."

Goodin could not say when results from additional testing would be available.

Regionally, the state currently lists 61 cases and two deaths in Stoddard County following a recent outbreak at a care facility. Stoddard County had reported 24 total cases on May 10.

Pemiscot County has 70 positive cases and three deaths, and Dunklin County has 26 cases and two deaths.

Carter County and Ripley County each added a new case over the weekend, bringing Carter County's total to four the Ripley County's to seven.

It was Carter County's first positive case since March 30, while it was Ripley's second in the past week.

The state of Missouri is now up to 11,232 positive cases and 631 deaths.

Also, during the emergency management meeting, Boys & Girls Club of Poplar Bluff CEO Chris Rushin said that in conjunction with Poplar Bluff R-1 School District and Chartwells, they have handed out 312,887 grab-and-go meals to area kids during the pandemic. That meal service will continue through June. They will not be handing out meals during Memorial Day, meaning the those who pickup meals the Friday prior will get four days worth of meals instead of the usual three.

The Boys & Girls Club will also be opening up its Summer Learning Program on June 8. Details and registration information can be found at bgcpb.org.

The camp will run Monday through Thursday this year, with the workers performing a deep clean of the camp each Friday. The summer camp will run through July 2 with Poplar Bluff summer school running from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. from July 6-31.

"Currently, the first day of school is still scheduled for Monday, Aug. 24," Rushin said. "Like everything else, depending upon what the governor says, that could change a little bit."

The Poplar Bluff Municipal Library, which is closed until further notice, started curbside pick-up on Tuesday. People can reserve items online or by calling the library, and the library will notify you when your items are ready for pick-up. Pick-up hours will be from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Thursday and Saturday this week, and the library will reassess conditions next week.