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A Facebook post from the “Columbia County Department of Health” — the New York one — incited panic among local residents.
“What’s in a name?” It was a rhetorical question in Shakespeare’s case, but it turns out names actually do sometimes contain pretty important information.
For example, compare “Columbia County, Fla.,” with “Columbia County, N.Y.”
Astute readers may have spotted a vital clue to help tell the two similar-sounding places apart. In case anyone missed it, one is in Florida and the other is in New York.
It’s an understandable mistake. But when there’s a global pandemic going on, health officials really, really want the public to pay attention to those little two letters at the end.
A Facebook post from the “Columbia County Department of Health” — the New York one — incited panic among local residents.
“As of 3:30 pm, April 1, 2020, Columbia County has confirmed 45 positive cases of COVID-19,” the message reads. “Seven of the positive cases are hospitalized, four of those are in the ICU. We have received 387 test results completed for Columbia County residents. There are 59 under mandatory quarantine and 20 under precautionary quarantine. There are 9 residents with suspected, not tested cases. Eighteen Columbia County residents have recovered from COVID-19.”
Anyone who clicked on the profile’s “about” page would have seen that the post came from officials up north.
For the record, there are eight Columbia Counties in the United States, so it’s not a bad idea to double-check in these kinds of situations. “Columbia” has been used as a poetic nickname for America in honor of the famous historical figure who “sailed the ocean blue in 1492,” as the schoolhouse jingle goes.
There’s also Columbia County, Arkansas, Columbia County, Georgia, Columbia County, Oregon, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, Columbia County, Washington and Columbia County, Wisconsin.
The Columbia County Health Department in Florida sent out a statement urging people to help clear up the confusion.
“It has come to our attention that locally the picture below is being circulated on social media and community members think this is Columbia County Florida. This is NOT Columbia County Florida,” the statement says. “Our health department does not have a local Facebook page, however the Florida Department of Health (DOH) does have a page. If you see this information posted and portrayed as Columbia County, Florida, we ask that you let them know it is not Columbia County, Florida. COVID-19 has changed the way we do things recently and we know people are searching for information to share. We want to make sure that accurate information is shared within our communities. We continue to test and report positive cases for residents of Columbia and Hamilton County for COVID-19. Currently, there are four residents of Columbia County that have tested positive for COVID-19. There are currently NO residents of Hamilton County that have tested positive for COVID-19.”
Columbia County, Florida, had four confirmed covid-19 cases as of Friday afternoon.