Recent coronavirus trends are concerning to Lyon County Public Health Emergency Preparedness Director Jennifer Millbern.
On KVOE’s Newsmaker segment Thursday, Millbern said there is an obvious increase in overall numbers with a handful of clusters at this time. However…
Millbern says Wednesday night’s decision by the USD 253 Emporia Board of Education to increase the number of students at Emporia Middle School and Emporia High — and the frequency of their attendance — went against the recommendations of the district’s COVID-19 advisory committee, which she says was almost unanimously in favor of keeping the current attendance policy.
As overall numbers rise, Millbern says more Lyon County residents are getting tested — and she says that is a good thing. Lyon County Public Health can test asymptomatic close contacts, thanks to state guidelines, and Millbern says the goal here is to break the transmission cycles. This availability comes at the expense of the Lyon County High Consequence Close Contact Testing Collaborative, a partnership involving Public Health, Newman Regional Health and the city of Emporia. Millbern says the partnership was a great way to meet the need when it was rolled out three weeks ago, but state guidelines changed to allow that testing without the need for a collaborative partnership.
