As a flurry of numbers on COVID-19 come out from various governmental agencies each day, it’s easy to get confused about what is important and what isn’t.  Hood River County Health Department Health Officer Dr. Christopher Van Tilburg suggests positive test rates are the most accurate indicator of the pandemic within a community.  Van Tilburg says Hood River County has stayed at a positive test rate of about 3.5% for some time, and that shows it’s still in the community, and we need to continue to need to follow coronavirus precautions.  A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates the effectiveness of wearing a face covering to prevent COVID-19 transmission.  It said that among 139 clients in Springfield, Missouri exposed to two symptomatic hair stylists with confirmed COVID-19 while both the stylists and the clients wore face masks, no symptomatic secondary cases were reported, and among 67 clients tested for COVID-19, all test results were negative.  The report says adherence to the face-covering policy likely mitigated spread of the disease.