Patti Wohlfeil, Waushara County Public Health Officer, is the first to tell you that dealing with COVID-19 took over the Waushara County Health Department for the past year. It has included more meetings, more testing, more research, more vaccinations, and of course more time and more people. Through it all the department responded in the best way they knew how using training they thought they would never have to implement.
Indications about COVID-19 actually began in late 2019, but it was in February and March of 2020 that COVID-19 in the United States became a reality to the residents of the nation, the state, and Waushara County. A Safer at Home shutdown by Governor Tony Evers in March was only the beginning of what the Health Department would be dealing with. In April Waushara County saw its first positive COVID-19 case and by June the number of cases began to increase significantly. The county hired limited term employees to help with investigations and contact tracing.
The county health department has 13 full time equivalent employees, but certainly under this pandemic that was not enough to provide the added services needed. Of those 13 three have been in schools full time through the pandemic. It is with the help of the nurses that the three county schools, Tri-County in Plainfield, Wild Rose, and Wautoma, were able to have in person learning all year long.
Wohlfeil said for the first cases in the county, the state had them calling the positives every day to check on them. In addition there was also the contact tracing. After so many positives to keep track of that process was soon dropped. She said today they generally call on the first day of quarantine and the last day of quarantine with a form of electronic monitoring the rest of isolation.
More testing sites would soon be underway. Mobile drive-thru testing sites were set up throughout the county to test as many residents as possible. The testing included those with symptoms and those that just wanted to be tested to make sure they did not have COVID. From May through July the Health Department ran their own test sites and then through October the health department assisted with a multi-county testing event with the National Guard in Montello. The National Guard began providing testing in areas of the state close to Waushara County so the department no longer did routine resident testing.
In November the death rate and hospitalization rate began to increase. ThedaCare started providing mobile testing sites in Wild Rose and Wautoma. It was in November when the Waushara County Health Department applied to be a COVID-19 Vaccinator.
In December vaccine became available in Wisconsin, but it went to hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and those that did face to face care and testing. At that time the department hired a few additional LTE’s to assist with vaccinations.
Just to give an idea on what the health department was dealing with in the last year – in 2015 they followed up with 247 communicable disease reports and in 2019 they had 239. In 2020 and to date they have had 12,130 cases to follow up on just with COVID. Of those cases, 2074 were positive and 10,056 negative. They did test 532 residents for COVID May through July with 53 positive cases out of 532 tested. To date they have administered 6921 Moderna vaccinations and 601 Johnson & Johnson. Wohlfeil said her department had been working 6-7 days a week since last March and it was after this March that she said they were able to have weekends off. She added that the morale in her department did not waver – they were up to the task and were able to handle whatever came their way. She said that in the healthcare field you must be flexible.
Wohlfeil believes in the masking and the social distancing, she is passionate about the vaccination as she said with herd immunity it is our only way to get through this. Vaccinations have been assigned to groups and now the 65 and over group is nearly complete the vaccine is open to anyone over 16. Waushara County ran clinics four to five days a week to get the most people vaccinated they could with the supply of vaccine allocated by the State. She said to date in Waushara County about 58 percent (the state is at 75 percent) of the 65 and over have been vaccinated, but in the county as a whole, we are way behind the state average and are at only 25 percent of the county population for vaccinations.
The county has an adequate supply of vaccine to begin the vaccination of everyone over the age of 16 and appointments can be made by calling 920-787-6590 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Wohlfeil believes that anyone who wants a vaccination should be able to receive one and we plan to have those vaccinated by the end of June which will help open up the county for the summer. She believes social distancing should continue and supports masking in public places.
Possibly mid-summer the Waushara County Health Department can get back to planning community events such as Injury Prevention/ Bike Helmet Rodeos, Baby Shower, and more. These will be reviewed, as revisions will be made so they can be done in a safe manor. Wohlfeil said that they are even looking at doing a drive through Baby Shower as the event gives much needed items to new mothers.
This pandemic is nothing we ever thought we would see in our lifetime. It has taught us patience and creativity and given us patience to take every day and make the most of it. For Waushara County – it did not shut down – it made it possible to work from home, in the office, or whatever it took to make sure our needs were met. The Health Department worked with Human Services and other county agencies plus they worked with ThedaCare and Family Health LaClinica. Whatever it took, they made it happen so we look forward to the day when we can put all this in the rear view mirror.
Just remember – if you need a vaccination – call Waushara County Health Department at 920-787-6590 and we will be one step closer to putting this behind us.
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Patti Wohlfeil, Waushara County Public Health Officer