Jump In COVID Cases Presents Real Problems For Elbert County Public Health's '2-And-A-Half Person Team'
KIOWA, Colo. (CBS4) - After the state announced over the weekend that 1,540 positive COVID cases in October hadn't been reported, officials in Elbert County were forced into action for more restrictions. The county implemented Safer at Home Level Two because the positivity rate is now above 5%.
"In the span of about 7 or 8 weeks we've nearly doubled what we had in the previous six months," said Dwayne Smith, the Elbert County Public Health Director. "We have had a significant uptick in the past couple of weeks and there are many factors that contribute to that. We know everyone has COVID fatigue."
Smith says he meets with other county officials every morning to discuss the COVID-19 response. On Monday, cases rose because of a reporting error between Kaiser Permanente and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
"With the recent bottleneck in the system of the data reporting. Some of the cases were a little bit old, a few weeks old. That eliminated our window of opportunity to respond to those cases and issue the necessary isolation orders."
Smith says he's part of "a two-and-a-half person team" at Elbert County Public Health. A part-time contact tracer can work through about six cases in one day. Since Friday, Elbert County has 21 coronavirus cases.
"We have moved to the Safer at Home Level Two designation on the Colorado dial framework. Locally what that means is we're not allowing as many people at outdoor events and indoor events," Smith said.
What really worries the public health director is the potential impact on first responders.
"In small rural communities where it's a challenge to have enough staff at a fire-rescue squad or an EMS agency. Just one person absent from that crew on a shift, that might be a paramedic responding to a heart attack or stroke, motor vehicle crash. We certainly don't want anyone to be shorthanded when resources are as scarce as they have been."