Ritchey: COVID cases currently looking good in Wyandot

By CALLAN PUGH 

City editor 

Case rates for coronavirus are currently doing well in Wyandot County Director of Environmental Health Jeff Ritchey told the Wyandot County Board of Health at its meeting Wednesday. 

Currently there are zero cases and no hospitalizations. The county is at 9.2 cases per 100,000 for the past two weeks, Ritchey said. Director of Nursing Jamie Crawford said there were two cases in the past two to three weeks that have not been counted as new cases because they were in patients who had already had coronavirus at one time. She noted that the patients have been ill, are exhibiting symptoms and are more than three months out from initially contracting the virus, though CDC guidance has not offered enough information to indicate if these cases can be counted as new infections. 

Ritchey explained that rural areas in the state continue to lag in vaccinations compared to urban and suburban areas, but among surrounding counties only Hancock County has a better rate than Wyandot County. Hancock County has around 42.76% of residents having started the vaccination process. Wyandot County is at 40.39% of the population with the first dose of the vaccine (38.55% have completed the vaccination process). Ritchey said he looks to surrounding counties — Crawford, Hardin, Seneca, Marion and Hancock counties — to see if there is an uptick in cases which may forecast an upcoming increase in Wyandot County. 

Ritchey said since May rough estimates indicate that cases in the county are occurring mostly among those under the age of 40. While that population is less likely to be hospitalized, he said concern remains that people could get sick and pass the virus on to older individuals who are unvaccinated. Among older age groups in the county, there still remains over 20% of the population that either hasn’t completed the vaccination process or hasn’t started it. 

Crawford said the Delta variant is on its way to becoming the dominant variant in Ohio increasing from a small percentage of cases at the end of April to making up over 50% of the cases by July 3. 

Regarding school guidance, Ritchey said the Ohio Department of Health has given only limited guidance so far as it is fleshing out the details after the CDC recently released guidance. Related to transport, Ritchey said he believes masking will remain mandatory for school children and employees on buses. He said the CDC is largely encouraging vaccination of those who are eligible (12 and up with Pfizer), and recommendations are continuing for those who are unvaccinated to continue to wear masks and social distance. Ritchey said vaccination will be especially helpful to students in school sports programs because exposure to the virus won’t necessarily require quarantining for those who are vaccinated and not exhibiting symptoms. 

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Crawford noted that Wyandot County Public Health is working with Wyandot Memorial Hospital to offer the Pfizer vaccine at schedule pick-up days and screening days for students so that those 12 and up can start the school year vaccinated if they desire. 

The health department also is continuing to offer walk-in appointments on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the general public to be vaccinated at the health department. While some have attended these clinics, they haven’t had a huge turnout, Crawford said, noting that having the clinics in the office allows staff to continue routine work between giving vaccinations. 

The health department also has been going to area dairy farms to vaccinate workers while they’re on the job because often the workers have limited numbers of days off. Clinics also have been held in small communities in the area, though those weren’t very highly attended either. Crawford noted the vaccine is widely available, but she is uncertain how else to get people to come in and get the vaccine. 

It was suggested that she consider reaching out to township trustees to spread the word additionally throughout the county as well. 

Also at the meeting, the board: 

— Heard updates to the goals of the performance management and the quarterly performance management and quality improvement report. 

— Scheduled a special meeting for noon Aug. 4 for the updating of the strategic plan to conform to PHAB requirements. 

— Heard updates to routine vaccine clinics. Clinics are currently allowing nursing staff to see 50 people weekly now that appointments are being scheduled 15 minutes apart. Additional days will be added weekly in August to accommodate around 75 people as demand for vaccines increases nearing the start of the school year.

— Approved entering the 2021 Union County EPI contract for $15,105 covered completely by the public health emergency preparedness grant.

— Approved the 2021-22 ODH Smoke-Free Investigation contract. Ritchey explained that the health department is compensated $125 per investigation into area complaints of smoking at businesses received by the Ohio Department of Health. Around 1-2 investigations were completed in the last year.

— Heard an update on WIC. The caseload is slowly increasing, and breastfeeding initiation rates continue to show positive growth.

— Approved Wyandot County General Health District combined financial reports, invoices, budgets, budget adjustments and transfers.

— Recognized the resignation of Shileigh Ricker and the subsequent hiring of Elaine McKee as a replacement. McKee started July 19.

— Opted to allow employees to take flex-holiday time in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. Because it was instituted as a national holiday this year, the county will observe the day Sept. 17, the Friday before the Wyandot County Fair. However, health department staff often are required to work at the fair on that day and so the board decided to allow staff to use the holiday time at their leisure by the end of the year.

— Voted to waive the 2020 audit exit interview because the audit was clean this year.