Margene Gunderson called it “good news” this week, when she reported no new cases of the severest form of conjunctivitis have been reported.

Also, Gunderson reported all cases of conjunctivitis “seem to be diminishing.”

That’s a far cry from the sense of urgency in Gunderson voice two months ago.

That’s when the “near outbreak” of the highly communicable “pink eye” disease caused her to issue public health warnings.

The Mower County community health services director stopped short of calling it a legitimate “outbreak,” but there were enough cases surfacing to cause her to be alarmed.

Two months ago, Gunderson received reports of cases of pink eye surfacing among the county’s population.

Because pink eye is not a “reportable” disease or one that the Mower County office must verify and report to the Minnesota Department of Public Health, the isolated reports were considered heresy.

At the time — late August — the prospect of the resumption of school classes caused Gunderson to alert all school districts how important it would be for students, faculty and others to practice good hygiene; particularly hand washing.

That advice was forthcoming again this week from the community health services director.

“Scattered cases are still being reported around the County,” Gunderson said Thursday.

“They are more of the viral pink eye variety, but more of the mild infection than anything else.”

“We are still seeing those cases among high school students, who after being detected to have the infection, are urged to stay home for a couple of days or more until it goes away,” she said.

“The very good news is there are no new cases of the most severe viral infection,” she said. “That’s encouraging for all of us.”

The highly communicable infection can be prevented by washing hands thoroughly or using a hand sanitizer.

Also, all tissues used must be thrown away after use.

Also, avoiding close contact is advised.

If the near outbreak has been broken, the community health services director still has a concern.

“The flu season is approaching us quickly,” she said, “and that also means good hand-washing hygiene is necessary.”