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Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley announced the county now has a total of 24 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases since its first case on May 6.

Of the 24, there are six active cases, 16 recovered and two deaths associated with the virus.

The six active cases include a 17-year-old male (asymptomatic; quarantined), 33-year-old female (asymptomatic; quarantined), 70-year-old male (symptomatic; quarantined), 56-year-old female (symptomatic; quarantined), 19-year-old female (asymptomatic; quarantined) and 64-year-old male (asymptomatic; quarantined).

Mosley said four of the six active cases are from the same geographical area of the county involving Cumberland, Benham and Lynch, noting only two are symptomatic and live in the same household.

Mosley is encouraging locals to monitor for symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever, cough and loss of taste and/or smell.

“If we have those symptoms, we need to call our health care provider about getting tested or what level of care we need. If you are sick, please stay home,” he said.

As of 5:30 p.m. on June 29:

• 1,987 tests have been conducted in Harlan County.
• 1,917 of these tests have been conducted on Harlan County residents.
• 49 tests have been conducted on people from other counties.
• 21 tests have been conducted on people from other states.
• 1,885 tests have been negative.
• 78 tests are currently pending.

Mosley said 6.8 percent of the county’s population has been tested, with 1.2 percent testing positive. This does not include tests that were negative and conducted out of the county.

“Although I’m still concerned about COVID-19 and the potential for community spread, I feel better about the situation in Harlan County today with the virus than I have in a few weeks,” he said. “We have seen less cases connected to the Tri-City area than we did a few weeks ago, which tells us that community spread is starting to decline. Two of our last three cases are connected to people who work out of county and were tested out of county, not the Tri-City area.”

Mosley commends locals throughout Harlan County for their diligent work toward flattening the curve and stopping the spread of COVID-19, including the Harlan County Health Department and other first responders.

If you were a close contact of any of the positive cases, the health department will reach out to you directly as part of its contact tracing and will instruct you on what measures are necessary to protect you and your family.

“I will continue to provide you a weekly COVID-19 update each Monday,” he said. “If at any time during this pandemic, we have another confirmed positive case in Harlan County, I will provide that information to you with an update whenever that occurs, no matter what day that is as I’ve done the last four weeks.”