Brown County Commissioners met Monday morning, November 9, and received an update on the rapid increase of COVID-19 cases in the county.

Lisa Dick of the Brownwood/Brown County Health Department (shown speaking to Commissioners) said the number of active cases has doubled in the last week or so.

“If you look back a week and a half, before that, we were at 78 (active) cases, so in a week to 10 days, we doubled the number of active cases,” Dick said.  “That doubles the opportunity that you, as an individual, could come into contact with someone that is positive,” she said.

As of Monday, November 9, the health department reported 14 local hospitalizations and 161 active cases.

“We are trying to make sure our numbers are not to where they affect our hospitals ability,” Dick said, adding that the health department strongly encourages everyone to wear masks.

In other business, the Burn Ban remains off in Brown County but Commissioners said they will have to take a hard look at possibly reinstating the ban when they meet next week, due to continued dry conditions.