Active case counts, cases per population and hospitalizations are just among a few of the factors which Lyon County Public Health utilizes to track local COVID-19 case trends locally.
During KVOE’s Talk of Emporia, Monday morning public health emergency preparedness director Jennifer Millbern detailed the county’s process for tracking trends and detailed how each factor helps the county decide the best steps to take moving forward. Along with the aforementioned list of factors, Millbern says another important statistic to have on hand is the number of COVID-19 related deaths in the local area.
Millbern says having those numbers in hand allows the county to gauge the severity of cases in the community and the impact on local resources. According to Millbern, if the county were to begin seeing upwards of 5 to 7 deaths per at any one time, this could place a significant strain on the county’s mortality management.
Once public health has identified any positive cases the next vital step in the process is conducting a contact investigation. This includes gathering information such as basic demographic data, individual symptoms, and, in some cases, previous medical history according to Flint Hills Community Health Center COO Amanda Dreasher.
The next step according to Dreasher is contact tracing in which public health works to identify any and all individuals a COVID patient may have had prolonged contact with two days before becoming ill. Dreasher says the number of individuals a patient may have come into contact with can vary drastically.
Dreasher adds if you belive you have come into contact with an individual who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 it is important to contact public health so proper quarantine and precautionary measures can be taken. For more information on local trends and case numbers visit Publichealth.Lyoncounty.org or KVOE.com.
