LIVE OAK — The seventh confirmed case of COVID-19, the novel Coronavirus, was announced Thursday morning for Suwannee County.

The patient is a 60-year-old female that is hospitalized with the virus and comes after being in close contact with an existing confirmed case.

The Florida Department of Health in Suwannee County is now conducting its contact investigation and working on identifying and notifying individuals who will need to self-monitor for symptoms for a 14-day period. Contact investigations are a critical way for staff epidemiologists to track and prevent the spread of disease.

As the number of confirmed cases in the county continues to increase, Kerry Waldron, the administrator of health in the county, continues to stress social distancing and other mitigation efforts to try and reduce the spread.

“If we work together using smart mitigation practices, we can reduce COVID-19’s impact on our community,” Waldron said. “We must practice social distancing, stay home when sick, frequently wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, cover coughs and sneezes and follow CDC prevention guidelines to stop the spread of the virus.”

Three new cases were announced Wednesday for the county, all having been in close contact with an existing case, including an 80-year-old that was hospitalized, the first hospitalization in the county.

Waldron said at a special called meeting Thursday morning of the Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners that one of the two hospitalized from the county was at Shands Live Oak Regional Medical Center with the other at a hospital outside the county. Both hospitalized are from long-term care facilities.

Statewide, there are now 8,010 confirmed cases with 7,717 in Florida residents. According to the health department, the virus has hospitalized 1,058 people with 128 deaths. There were more than 1,000 cases in the state Wednesday.

In Suwannee County, 95 people have been sampled to be tested with 78 negative results and 10 still awaiting the testing.

Hamilton County, which has had no confirmed cases, has had 28 tested with 25 returned negative and three still awaiting the results. One of the negative tests in Hamilton County involved a non-Floridian.

There also have been no confirmed cases in Lafayette County where 12 people have been tested, all returned negative.

Madison County has had two confirmed cases and there have been three in Columbia County.