Jefferson County Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar said she is working on a plan for a new messaging campaign to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
Vollmar held a meeting with community leaders on Tuesday to seek advice for a possible mitigation plan.
After the two-hour meeting, which included 38 people, the group advised against seeking a mask mandate, limiting the size of gatherings or other mitigation steps, Vollmar said.
However, she said, the group recommended enlisting the help of Sheriff’s Office spokesman Grant Bissell and school officials to better spread the message about the importance of taking preventive steps to limit the spread of the virus, including avoiding crowds, social distancing, wearing masks and hand washing.
Vollmar said some of those who attended the meeting on Tuesday included County Executive Dennis Gannon; Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak; state representatives Mary Elizabeth Coleman and Dan Shaul; Hillsboro Mayor Buddy Russell; and superintendent Desi Kirchhofer of the Northwest R-1 School District and Clint Johnston of the Jefferson R-7 School District, as well as representatives from Comtrea and long-term care facilities.
“They were very informative in terms of (what) they shared on the current status of how COVID has impacted their particular sectors, as well as the individuals they serve,” she said. “We also had some great brainstorming as far as ideas for moving forward as a community to address the issues.”
Vollmar said the meeting was designed to provide an opportunity for community leaders to speak freely about the pandemic and what the county’s response should be.
“This has been a tough topic for the community,” she said.
Vollmar said she will draw up a plan for a new messaging campaign and present it to the agency’s Board of Trustees for possible adoption.
“We are not going to be moving forward with a request for mandates,” she said.
The Health Department’s Board of Trustees voted 3-2 Sept. 24 to hold a special board meeting to discuss COVID-19 prevention measures. However, no date was set, and as of Tuesday, the meeting had still not been scheduled, said Brianne Zwiener, Health Department communications specialist
Vollmar said she hoped to have a meeting date set and an agenda released by the middle of this week.
Board members said the public would be given at least at least a week’s notice of any meeting and said it would be held in a venue that will allow members of the public to attend.
The board passed a mandatory mask ordinance on Aug. 28, but less than 24 hours later, before the order went into effect, it revoked the ordinance at an emergency meeting after questions were raised about whether the board followed proper meeting procedures.
Vollmar said the upcoming special board meeting would just be informative for board members and the public, no votes will be taken during the meeting. She said the meeting would have a public comment section.
“What we're going to be looking for from that public comment is ideas from the community, after we've been able to pull together this information and present it to the community, we were looking for ideas from community members for mitigation,” Vollmar said.
County COVID-19 stats
The Health Department reported 61 new COVID-19 cases today, including three at long-term care facilities.
That brings the total number of cases in the county to 4,904 since the first ones were reported in March.
Those cases are through midnight Monday (Oct. 5).
The county has had 65 COVID-19-related deaths since the pandemic began, and 3,847 patients have been released from isolation, which means the patients recovered enough to be released from case management, the Health Department reported.
Of the county’s total coronavirus cases, 610 have been at long-term care facilities, which includes residents and staff members who live in Jefferson County. Five new cases since the last report.
In addition, 47 of the county’s 65 deaths have been in long-term care facilities, the Health Department reported.
The county has had at least 19 COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, according to the Health Department.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) defines an outbreak as one or more residents testing positive for the virus or one or more staff members who have worked within a facility in the 14 days before testing positive.
Brianne Zwiener, Health Department communications specialist, said since Monday (Oct. 5) the Health Department has not posted its usual COVID-19 data graphics to social media and instead all data is being posted to the agency’s website and COVID-19 dashboard.
Zwiener said the Health Department is working to redesign the dashboard to include more data.
She also said the change will allow the Health Department to have one place for all data and will save staff members some time. The data can be found at jeffcohealth.org/covid19-data.
Color status
The county is at the red level on the Health Department’s four-color COVID-19 warning system. The red level is the highest level on the system and indicates widespread uncontrolled community transmission. The level calls for additional mitigation efforts to control the spread of the virus.
Jefferson County has been in red level since Sept. 13 and was also on the level during the week of Aug. 30 to Oct. 5.
The main indicator used to determine the color level is the seven-day rolling average of cases per day per 100,000 residents.
The red level indicates the county, which has a population of about 225,000, is seeing 25 or more cases per 100,000 people per day.
According to the Health Department, the seven-day rolling average per 100,000 people for the week of Sept. 20-26 was 28.13. The week before, the average was 31.56.
State, U.S. stats
Missouri had 134,583 positive cases of the coronavirus and 2,200 deaths related to the disease, the DHSS reported today.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the U.S. had 7,436,278 cases, and a total of 209,560 coronavirus-related deaths, as today.
Anyone who shows coronavirus symptoms or who has questions should call the Missouri State Hotline at 877-435-8411 or the Mercy Clinical Support Line at 314-251-0500. For more information about COVID-19, visit jeffcohealth.org/coronavirus-covid19.
