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MCHD reflects on COVID pandemic
Taylor Six
tsix@richmondregister.com
This time last year, the world as we knew it was changing forever.
The coronavirus pandemic was taking hold of the world, and forcing change in every aspect of life.
The same could be said for the Madison County Health Department, who shifted priorities, while attempting to maintain their everyday services.
On March 21, Madison County confirmed the county’s first case of the novel coronavirus according to a previous Madison County Health Department release.
At that time, the Madison County Health Department Response Team was activated.
According to the same release, the Madison County Health Department has a team of staff dedicated to disease investigation. Their focus in the first days was for readiness and response.
“This team has been preparing for weeks to respond in the case we received a positive test result in Madison County. Local health care workers and health departments are taking action, behind the scenes,” Madison County Health Department Director Nancy Crewe said previously.
As the days rolled on, the health department aimed to keep the public updated by posting daily social media graphics which included different information such as the number of active
See MCHD, page A2
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cases, those hospitalized, new cases, the number of deaths, and the incident rate. Numbers could fluctuate anywhere from one new case a day, to double digit numbers.
On Nov. 6, 2020, the entity announced they were now following “red zone” protocols, as they had an incident rate of 25 cases or higher per 100,000 population.
In late December, the health department reported their highest one-day total of 154 confirmed cases as of Dec. 21. This was ten more cases than the previous highest one-day case count of 144 on Nov. 16.
At the time, this surge in case numbers placed a strain in public health resources needed to effectively contain the spread of this disease, and MCHD modified their contract tracing efforts.
At its onset, nine contact tracers were hired specifically for the COVID-19 pandemic, but not all of them were full time, and hours varied.
“No local health department can keep up with the pace along with the increasing number of cases and contacts,” Crewe stated previously.
Now, exactly one year later, the health department is still working to offer services — contact trace those who are positive, and offer vaccines to individuals who desire them.
According to Kelley McBride, public information officer with MCHD, the first vaccines arrived on Dec. 21, 2020. She stated the department received 1,000 vaccines that day, but did not begin administration until Dec. 29. Less than a month later, MCHD said, all of those doses had been given to participants in the 1A and 1B phases of the rollout designed by the state Public Health Department.
Additionally, the tax payer-funded facility continues to partner with other entities such as Baptist Health Richmond, Eastern Kentucky University, CHI St. Joseph Berea, and healthcare clinics around the county, to administer tests, as well as vaccines.
In a statement from Baptist Health Richmond on Feb. 8, the hospital said they had received and administered 300 vaccines transferred from the health department to “ensure we collaboratively administer the vaccines.”
Officials at St. Joseph in Berea, agreed in a similar statement.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have worked collaboratively with the Madison County Health Department, and other health care providers in the community, to ensure patients can get the care that they need,” said Sandra Rose, vice president of operations at the Berea facility. “Public health has been invaluable throughout this pandemic, from facilitating the sharing of information to being involved in planning for the different phases such as testing, contact tracing, and vaccine administration.”
Not everyone was pleased with the health department’s partnerships, and thought more could have been done at the facility itself.
From first responders, Madison County School employees, city officials, and community members — many expressed a sense of lack of emergency from the MCHD in terms of vaccination rollout.
One first responder wrote to The Richmond Register and shared: “...Today I went to the Madison County Health Department to receive this vaccine, and everyone who helped me was extremely pleasant, kind, and professional,” they began.
“However, something I learned didn’t make sense. They received 800 doses more than two weeks ago and still have more than half remaining. We are in a pandemic, I personally know healthcare workers who still haven’t received their vaccine, and the local health department seems to be taking their time in responding. I’m sure this is a complex process, but it seems there have been months to prepare for this. Our community deserves better....This may not be the last public health crisis we experience, and we need more competent leadership at the health department.”
In addition, one staff member within Madison County School system stated the health department “left them with no choice but to rely on another entity” to vaccinate teachers and staff.
Erin Stewart, education director for Madison County Schools, said separately, that while they could have used the health department, they pursued other avenues for the sake of time.
“(The health department) took over and did vaccines for first responders and healthcare workers and folks like that, so they were busy doing that when we needed to get our vaccine clinics up and running and so we went ahead and did the partnership with Kroger,” , said. “It was just so we could get that done faster.”
But despite some detractors, the health department has continued vaccination clinics and is beginning to see numbers decline.
On Feb. 26, the health department reported good news and took a sigh of relief, when they dropped into the orange county category with an incident rate below 25 cases. Then, on March 18, the news continued to sweeten when Madison County was deemed a yellow county on March 18 with an incident rate of 10.0.
As of March 22, 2021, Madison County has an incident rate of 10.3 cases per 100,000 population. That same day, the county surpassed 100 COVID-19 related deaths, and had an active case count of 109. Since the first case, the county has had a total of 8,891 cases. This time last year, the world as we knew it was changing forever.
The coronavirus pandemic was taking hold of the world, and forcing change in every aspect of life.
The same could be said for the Madison County Health Department, who shifted priorities, while attempting to maintain their everyday services.
On March 21, Madison County confirmed the county’s first case of the novel coronavirus according to a previous Madison County Health Department release.
At that time, the Madison County Health Department Response Team was activated.
According to the same release, the Madison County Health Department has a team of staff dedicated to disease investigation. Their focus in the first days was for readiness and response.
“This team has been preparing for weeks to respond in the case we received a positive test result in Madison County. Local health care workers and health departments are taking action, behind the scenes,” Madison County Health Department Director Nancy Crewe said previously.
As the days rolled on, the health department aimed to keep the public updated by posting daily social media graphics which included different information such as the number of active cases, those hospitalized, new cases, the number of deaths, and the incident rate. Numbers could fluctuate anywhere from one new case a day, to double digit numbers.
On Nov. 6, 2020, the entity announced they were now following “red zone” protocols, as they had an incident rate of 25 cases or higher per 100,000 population.
In late November, the health department reported their highest one-day total of 144 confirmed cases as of Nov. 16. This more than doubled the previous highest one-day case count of 71 on Aug. 27.
At the time, this surge in case numbers placed a strain in public health resources needed to effectively contain the spread of this disease, and MCHD modified their contract tracing efforts.
At its onset, nine contact tracers were hired specifically for the COVID-19 pandemic, but not all of them were full time, and hours varied.
“No local health department can keep up with the pace along with the increasing number of cases and contacts,” Crewe stated previously.
Now, exactly one year later, the health department is still working to offer services — contact trace those who are positive, and offer vaccines to individuals who desire them.
According to Kelley McBride, public information officer with MCHD, the first vaccines arrived on Dec. 21, 2020. She stated the department received 1,000 vaccines that day, but did not begin administration until Dec. 29. Less than a month later, MCHD said, all of those doses had been given to participants in the 1A and 1B phases of the rollout designed by the state Public Health Department.
Additionally, the tax payer-funded facility continues to partner with other entities such as Baptist Health Richmond, Eastern Kentucky University, CHI St. Joseph Berea, and healthcare clinics around the county, to administer tests, as well as vaccines.
In a statement from Baptist Health Richmond on Feb. 8, the hospital said they had received and administered 300 vaccines transferred from the health department to “ensure we collaboratively administer the vaccines.”
Officials at St. Joseph in Berea, agreed in a similar statement.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have worked collaboratively with the Madison County Health Department, and other health care providers in the community, to ensure patients can get the care that they need,” said Sandra Rose, vice president of operations at the Berea facility. “Public health has been invaluable throughout this pandemic, from facilitating the sharing of information to being involved in planning for the different phases such as testing, contact tracing, and vaccine administration.”
Not everyone was pleased with the health department’s partnerships, and thought more could have been done at the facility itself.
From first responders, Madison County School employees, city officials, and community members — many expressed a sense of lack of emergency from the MCHD in terms of vaccination rollout.
One first responder wrote to The Richmond Register and shared: “...Today I went to the Madison County Health Department to receive this vaccine, and everyone who helped me was extremely pleasant, kind, and professional,” they began.
“However, something I learned didn’t make sense. They received 800 doses more than two weeks ago and still have more than half remaining. We are in a pandemic, I personally know healthcare workers who still haven’t received their vaccine, and the local health department seems to be taking their time in responding. I’m sure this is a complex process, but it seems there have been months to prepare for this. Our community deserves better....This may not be the last public health crisis we experience, and we need more competent leadership at the health department.”
In addition, one staff member within Madison County School system stated the health department “left them with no choice but to rely on another entity” to vaccinate teachers and staff.
Erin Stewart, education director for Madison County Schools, said separately, that while they could have used the health department, they pursued other avenues for the sake of time.
“(The health department) took over and did vaccines for first responders and healthcare workers and folks like that, so they were busy doing that when we needed to get our vaccine clinics up and running and so we went ahead and did the partnership with Kroger,” , said. “It was just so we could get that done faster.”
But despite some detractors, the health department has continued vaccination clinics and is beginning to see numbers decline.
On Feb. 26, the health department reported good news and took a sigh of relief, when they dropped into the orange county category with an incident rate below 25 cases. Then, on March 18, the news continued to sweeten when Madison County was deemed a yellow county on March 18 with an incident rate of 10.0.
As of March 22, 2021, Madison County has an incident rate of 10.3 cases per 100,000 population. That same day, the county surpassed 100 COVID-19 related deaths, and had an active case count of 109. Since the first case, the county has had a total of 8,891 cases.
“In the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Madison County Health Department has had to adapt and adjust to all operations in multiple areas all at once: in response to the impact of the virus as a threat to public health, to the impact on the services still to be provided, and to the health and safety of its workforce,” the health department said of their year.
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