But the numbers are not encouraging.

“We have 580 positive cases of COVID in Martinsville and Henry County,” Bell said. “That’s higher than the state average, and there have been six deaths.

“We’re working with more than one long-term care facility having an outbreak and we barely have the capacity to deal with this on the back-end.”

Bell said her department has hired contact tracers, but due to the increasing caseload, some of the tracers are being transitioned into case managers.

“We’re hiring them as fast as we can get them,” Bell said.

The health department is appointed by the state to enforce mask use in public, but Bell said you will not see that happening.

“There has been an uptick in citizen complaints about businesses not enforcing the wearing of masks,” she said. “We received pictures of people at the Franklin County Speedway and no one was wearing masks.

“We don’t have the teeth or the time to enforce it.”

But make no mistake, you will be turned away at Sovah Health in Martinsville if you are not wearing a proper face-covering.

“If you visit you will have a mask or you will not be allowed to stay,” said Sovah Health-Martinsville CEO Dale Alward. “We’ve had a rise in numbers — an increase in the hospital, but we haven’t hit extreme numbers.”