MARSHALL — Regional and city of Marshall officials are raising the level of concern over COVID-19 as the number of confirmed cases in Lyon County rose from zero to three this week.

The Minnesota Department of Health reported three cases on Thursday in Lyon County, up from two on Wednesday. Both Yellow Medicine County and Lincoln County have one confirmed case as of Thursday. Renville County is reporting two and Cottonwood 5.

“We’re definitely in the response stages now,” said Lauren Mellenthin, emergency preparedness coordinator for Southwest Health and Human Services. Mellenthin said SWHHS continues to meet with its area partners on issues related to COVID-19 preparation and response. Lyon County Emergency Manager Dan DeSmet said area responders are continuing to monitor the situation.

The Minnesota Department of Health reported the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Lyon County on Tuesday. After that, the number went up two days in a row.

DeSmet said Thursday that it doesn’t look like the number of COVID-19 cases in Lyon County are spiking more than in the rest of Minnesota, where numbers of confirmed cases are continuing to grow. At the same time, DeSmet and other area officials say it’s important to keep taking precautions to limit the spread of COVID-19, like frequently washing hands and obeying the governor’s stay-at-home order. While Lyon County hasn’t had confirmation of community spread of coronavirus so far, Mellenthin said that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.

Marshall Mayor Bob Byrnes said it’s also important to remember that not everyone is tested for COVID-19, so the number of people who have it is likely bigger than the number of reported cases.

“We want to continue to encourage people to practice social distancing,” and take the stay-at-home order seriously, Byrnes said. The goal is to keep from having a large number of people becoming seriously ill at the same time, he said.

Byrnes said local responders and health care providers like Avera Marshall have been putting a lot of planning into being prepared to deal with COVID-19. And so far, he said, local residents have been doing pretty well in avoiding close contact and crowds.

“I think the vast majority of people have been good about keeping their distance,” Byrnes said. However, he said local prevention could still face challenges — for example, if the weather gets nice, there may be more temptation for people to congregate outside.