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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHealth Board - Minutes - 12/8/2020Bayfield County Health Department 117 East Sixth Street - P.O. Box 403 - Washburn, WI 54891 Phone: 715/373-6109 Fax: 715/373-6307 Sara Wartman, BSN, RN, CLS Director / Health Officer BAYFIELD COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING Tuesday, December 8, 2020 – 5:00 PM Present: Fred Strand, Jeremy Oswald, Mary Dougherty, David Zepczyk, Terri Kramolis, Deb Dryer, Ellen Braddock, Tom Snilsberg, Elaine Kopp Staff: Amy Jarecki, Sara Wartman 1. Call the Meeting to Order: The meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m. by Chairman Oswald. Roll Call was done as this meeting was being held remotely. 2. Approval September 8, 2020, Meeting Minutes: A motion to approve the September 8, 2020 meeting minutes was made by Kopp; motion seconded by Kramolis. Motion carried. 3. Public Comment: Mary Motiff, Mayor of Washburn, expressed interest on hearing the community wide effort being taken to stop the spread of COVID-19. Health Director, Sara Wartman responded that she was agreeable to working with any Bayfield County community in that capacity. Jeff Silbert, County Board Member, voiced his support for the community wide discussions. 4. Situational Update for COVID-19: Health Director, Sara Wartman, shared some local statistics regarding the COVID-19 response. The number of positive cases have been going up, although not as much as a few weeks ago, but the speed in which the numbers have gone up has increased since the last Board of Health meeting. However, this was expected due to the hunting season and the Thanksgiving holiday. The number of people getting COVID-19 testing has dropped lately, possible due to the fact that people are unwilling to quarantine over the holiday seasons. Health department employees have been working around the clock to ensure that the positive cases in Bayfield County are contacted by telephone in a timely manner. Wartman shared a number of graphs illustrating the breakdown of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Bayfield County. The testing done by the Wisconsin National Guard has been extended thru March 2021. Bayfield County will continue to host a testing site in Iron River every other Friday. Dr. Deborah Dryer talked about the strain COVID-19 has put on the medical facilities. Mary Dougherty, BOH member, voiced her concern over the current gathering ban and would like to see the ban get stricter and all bars and restaurants shut down due to the number of COVID-19 cases. Elaine Kopp and Ellen Braddock, both BOH members, shared their support for a stricter gathering ban in the county. David Zepczyk, BOH member and local bar/restaurant owner shared how COVID-19 has impacted his business and how a bar/restaurant shutdown would impact his and his Bayfield County Health Department 117 East Sixth Street - P.O. Box 403 - Washburn, WI 54891 Phone: 715/373-6109 Fax: 715/373-6307 Sara Wartman, BSN, RN, CLS Director / Health Officer employee’s lives. The majority of the BOH members voiced their support of the Health Department during the pandemic. 5. Discussion Regarding COVID-19 Response and Planning: Vaccine planning has become a priority. The Health Department has applied with the State of Wisconsin to become a Phase 1 vaccinator which would include vaccinating frontline healthcare workers. There are two vaccines that are being considered for emergency use authorization. Wartman estimates that the Health Department would be ready to receive vaccine sometime in January. Wartman is working on a COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan. 6. Update on Health Department Programs and Services: There is continued diversion of staff time towards COVID-19 response. Wartman will be bringing staff together to plan a recovery phase; getting staff back to working on normal programs going forward. The water lab program has finished water sampling for the season in Bayfield, Washburn and Taylor counties. The environmental health program has been actively inspecting tourist rooming houses during the pandemic. The WIC program has been working with clients remotely via telephone. 7. Update on Health Department Staffing: James Kollross, new full time Public Health Nurse started. There was a part-time nurse that was hired working two days a week to assist with communicable disease investigation. We have started using these new employees to help with weekend work. The number of contact tracers has expanded as well. 8. Discussion Regarding 2021 Programming and Grant Outlook: Level funding is expected for those grants that renew each year. There is expected grant funding for the next year for COVID-19 related expenses, which could be in the $250,000.00 (Two hundred fifty thousand dollar) range. We have opted to keep the Taylor county well water sampling program through the Wisconsin DNR, as it was a fairly quick and easy job to complete even with the amount of mileage needed to complete the job. 9. Other Issues or Concerns: None. 10. Next Meeting Date: Next meeting set for Tuesday, February 9, 2020, 5:00 pm, remotely. 11. Adjourn: The meeting adjourned at 6:17 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Amy Jarecki Amy Jarecki, Office Manager