Just because many more venues and businesses have opened up as Gov. Kim Reynolds has eased COVID-19 restrictions across the state, doesn’t mean the coronavirus has gone away.

That’s the message Shelby Kroona, Hamilton County Public Health administrator, gave to the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning.

“COVID-19 is going to be with us for a very long time, so we need to learn how to navigate with this new system,” she said in her briefing to the board. Her department is seeing between 8 to 12 new cases each day.

About 1,500 people have been tested for COVID-19 in Hamilton County with 169 testing positive as of Tuesday morning.

“We have 169 positive cases as of this morning,” she said. “Fifty-one percent of them are male and 47 percent are female. There are 99 people who have recovered.

“We had three hospitalized individuals who all now home,” she said.

Kroona said of the positive cases, 45 percent are in the 14 to 40 age range, which has overtaken the numbers for those in the 41 to 60 age group, now at 33 percent. Thirteen percent are 61 to 80 years of age and just four percent are over 80.

Sixty-four percent of the COVID-19 cases have symptoms while 13 percent are asymptomatic.

“That pretty much follows the national average for asymptomatic cases,” Kroona said.

She added that there are a number of people her department has yet to contact trace, and there are still others who have been identified, but not located.

Kroona said the county is also seeing many cases related to familial transmission.

“That’s not to say it’s not spreading out in the community as well, but a lot of our cases are directly linked through family transmission,” she said.

There are also a certain number in the county who are ill and have chosen not to be tested, as well as some that are asymptomatic.

“So, people still need to be mindful of wearing a mask, avoiding large crowds, washing hands frequently and doing all those good public health measures,” she said.

Amy McDonough, chief nursing officer at Van Diest Medical Center, said the hospital is still screening patients as they arrive for appointments.

“We’re still not opening up for visitors,” she said.

The hospital continues to monitor its supply of personal protection equipment and testing supplies. Employees in clinical areas are wearing face shields in addition to masks, she said.