From Paris Mayor Steve Clifford:

Due to our inability to test, we do not have accurate numbers on exactly how many people in the Paris area are infected with COVID-19. However, we do have an indirect measurement of how fast this virus might be spreading throughout the community. Those people who do not have a doctor often call the Lamar County Health Department. They speak with a staff member who assesses their symptoms.

If the health department staff person believes that there is a significant risk that the person might be infected with COVID-19, the person is instructed to self-quarantine and is monitored daily by the health department. This does not include those who have been quarantined on the advice of their physician. Many of these people are not infected with the virus, but many almost certainly are.

The exact number of people infected with the virus cannot be known, but what we can know is the general trend of people being placed in quarantine as this should fairly, accurately represent the trend of the rate of infection in our community. Attached to this post is a graph of the total number of people being monitored in quarantine by the Lamar County Health Department on four separate dates.