Cook County begins contact tracing following second confirmed case of COVID-19

With the Fourth of July weekend over, Cook County officials say it could take a week or more should there be a spike in local confirmed cases of COVID-19. That being the case, Grand Marais and other parts of Cook County have been very busy with tourism traffic dating back to Memorial Day in late May. Even with the high number of visitors to the region, the case count for the new coronavirus in Cook County remains low.

Just prior to the holiday weekend, a second case of COVID-19 in Cook County was confirmed. This was reported Friday, July 3. This news came from North Shore Health, the local hospital in Grand Marais. Health officials said the person identified with the second confirmed case is not a full-time resident of Cook County. That being the case, there are many seasonal residents who live here for part of the year, or through the summer months, for example. Cook County Public Health Supervisor Grace Grinager told WTIP during an interview July 6 that local health officials are making a push to do contact tracing on all confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Cook County, regardless of their place of residence.

WTIP’s Joe Friedrichs spoke with Grinager about the second confirmed case of the new coronavirus in Cook County, contact tracing and about the busy start to the summer of 2020.