DENTON — On Monday morning at 10 a.m., the Caroline County Health Department announced the detection of two additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the county’s total to nine.

Acknowledging the public’s desire for as much information as possible about these and other cases, officials also passed along the reasons for the release of certain information, while other facts are kept confidential. The full statement follows:

“There have been two additional positive cases of COVID-19 in Caroline County since our last update. The total number of positive cases now stands at 9. The new cases are a male in his 50s and a female in her 30s. These two cases are related. However, contact tracing has shown that all previous cases have been unrelated.

“Please note: Due to our close communication with local healthcare providers, we may be aware of positive results before the lab data reaches the State. As a result, the number on our website may be higher than what is reflected on the State map. Be assured that any data we announce is accurate, it may simply take a day or two for the state’s data to catch up with what we know locally.

“We are not permitted by the State to release location information. We know that frustrates people, but the most important thing to understand is that the first seven cases were unrelated.

“This means the disease has reached broad community spread in Caroline County. We once again emphasize that this underscores the necessity to obey Governor Hogan’s Stay at Home Order and limit time outside of your home and interaction with anyone who does not live with you to the greatest extent possible.

“As cases increase, we are no longer able to provide notification on a rolling basis. Going forward, we will update on the number of cases daily at 10:00 AM. This notification will be made on the Department of Emergency Services Facebook page and the County’s COVID-19 website.

“The Maryland Department of Health has determined that local Health Departments will stop doing contact tracing for each positive case when a county reaches 10 cases. This enables the local Health Department to focus staff time and resources on preparing to address outbreaks and provide greater direct support to long-term care facilities, group homes, and other similar facilities.”