Chapel Hill Review

Town of Hillsborough issued the following announcement on April 24.

Note: This compiles some information the Orange County Health Department has issued this week.

Did you know Orange County has its own public health strike team?

Anticipating the need for a quick response and ongoing support at the local level for congregant living facilities, Orange County’s health and emergency services departments created a public health strike team in early April. Long-term care facilities, nursing homes and group homes are at high-risk for COVID-19 infections.

The strike team is comprised of staff from the Health Department and Emergency Services, as well as representatives from UNC and Duke University hospitals. The team brings expertise in public health, community para-medicine, communicable disease prevention and epidemiology to high-risk facilities. The team members also provide ongoing education and guidance to those who work at these facilities.

“This team enables us to respond in the moment and to be proactive as we move through this crisis,” Orange County Health Director Quintana Stewart said.

Orange County’s boots on the ground are community paramedic Landon Weaver, Orange County Health Department public health nurse Zin Lyons, and Orange County EMS training coordinator Jim Gusler.

Their work has been noticed at the state level. On April 10, the director of North Carolina Emergency Medical Services, Dr. Tripp Winston, asked Orange County Emergency Services to document its model to share with the rest of the state.

“This is the ideal team to respond to the crisis. I call them my energizer bunnies,” said Kim Woodward, Orange County’s emergency medical services division chief. “They’re prepared to be in this fight to protect the residents at these facilities as well as any resident or visitor to Orange County.”

The team’s goals are to assess, educate, test, and support. Initial contact includes a visit to a facility to assess its operations and provide guidance on sanitation and social distancing if needed. This includes fit-testing of N-95 respirators, a type of personal protective equipment to protect the wearer from airborne particles and from liquid contaminating the face. When a facility has two confirmed cases of COVID-19, testing of all residents and staff may take place. All efforts are in line with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The communicable disease and epidemiology team at the Orange County Health Department prioritizes visits with facilities that have been deemed to be at higher risk.

“During our initial visit we do a baseline assessment of the facility,” Lyons explained. “Do they have what they need in the way of information and personal protective equipment or other supplies? If not, we provide both education on the spot and we work to get the supplies they need. Even if they seem well prepared, we want them to know that we’re here to support them. This is all about getting the right resources to the right place at the right time.”

Orange County Emergency Management Coordinator Kirby Saunders explained, “Being a member of the strike team has its risks, but the team members have each other’s backs. They supervise each other to make sure they are using best-practice safety with their PPE, suiting up before entering and decontaminating upon leaving.”

The strike team members are tired. Yet they remain hopeful and their morale is high.

“We’re lucky the county had community paramedics in place and already connected to community before all this hit,” Lyons said. “That’s made it easier for us to do our jobs: give peace of mind of mind to employees, families and residents. And, we’re here for the duration.”

Weekly COVID-19 data

The Orange County Health Department now provides a weekly summary of confirmed COVID-19 cases on Fridays. As of 9 a.m. today, April 24, the data shows 188 confirmed cases and 8 deaths. The summary shows confirmed cases by age, gender, race and date of specimen collection. This week’s summary is available on the Orange County website and is attached to this news release.

Note that data for the weekly summary is based on the North Carolina Electronic Disease Surveillance System, which is a day behind the case count provided by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The Electronic Disease Surveillance System has more comprehensive demographic data.

The state updates its COVID-19 case count dashboard daily at 11 a.m. Currently, the state shows 200 cases and 8 deaths for Orange County.

The county and state stay at home orders have been extended through May 8. See the news release.

Original source can be found here.