COVID-19 UpdateCopyrighted
April 20, 2020
City of Dubuque Presentation(s) # 1.
ITEM TITLE: COVID-19 Update
SUMMARY: City staff will provide an update on COVI D-19 pandemic
situation and response activities.
SUGGESTED DISPOSITION:
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
Dubuque
All -America City
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2007*2012*2013
2017*2019
TO: Mike Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Specialist
SUBJECT: COVID-19 update
DATE: April 20, 2020
CURRENT INFORMATION
Health Services Department
City Hall Annex
1300 Main Street
Dubuque, IA 52001
Office (563) 589-4181
Fax (563) 589-4299
TTY (563) 589-4193
health@cityofdubuque.org
www.cityofdubuque.org
• The Dubuque County Public Health Incident Management team consisting of City
of Dubuque Health Services Department (Mary Rose Corrigan) Dubuque County
Health Department, (Patrice Lambert) VNA (Stacey Killian) and the Dubuque
County Emergency Management Agency (Tom Berger), along with both hospitals
continue in full activation. We are coordinating our response efforts in
conjunction with the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) and with guidance
from CDC via weekly webinars and direct contact with our regional
epidemiologist.
• 6 new cases have been added in Dubuque County since Friday:
46 Total Confirmed Cases
• 1 death (61-80 years)
• Child (0-17 years)- 1 case
• Adult (18-40 years)- 7 cases
• Middle aged adult (41-60 years)- 25 cases
• Older adults (61-80 years)- 11 cases
• Elderly adult (81+ years)- 2 cases
• The state added 257 positive cases today for a total of 3159. 4 additional
deaths are reported in the state today for a total of 79 (2.5% mortality rate.) 48%
of the deaths in Iowa are from long term care facilities. 39% of Iowans have
recovered and 214 are hospitalized. In all 25820 people have been tested, 22661
negative. Just last Wed the state reported 146 cases for a total of 2141- so you
can see that our numbers are increasing at a faster rate.
• 261 or 67% of cases reported on Sunday are due to meat processing facilities.
That includes over 500 completed surveillance tests of Tyson employees and
over 500 completed surveillance tests of National Beef employees, for a total of
84 positive and 177 positive respectively.
The outbreaks reported from meat packing facilities have brought a heightened sense of
awareness to work sites, especially large employer work environments involved in
manufacturing and production. In conjunction with GDDC and the Chamber we will be
working with local work sites, particularly the large employers to make sure they have
the information they need for their worksite health and so they also understand new
absenteeism reporting requirements. IDPH has released new guidance for business to
prevent, detect and manage outbreaks.
• Preventing Outbreaks - implement measures to enable social distancing as much
as possible. • Encourage flexible work -from -home and leave policies. • Consider
staggering shifts to reduce worker population at any given time. • Stagger breaks
to reduce staff interactions. • Review procedures to identify ways to increase the
physical separation of staff. Businesses should prioritize hand hygiene and
respiratory etiquette among employees. • Businesses should provide or allow
employees to wear their own homemade cloth facemasks. • Businesses should
provide hand sanitizer or handwashing opportunities as frequently as possible.
IDPH has also set up a reporting system for employers to report >10%
absenteeism for their worksite utilizing COVID-19 screening recommendations
If a worksite outbreak does occur, IDPH will work with our local PH IMT to
conduct testing and contact tracing for that worksite.
These guidelines can be found at the IDPH website under the COVID-19
business section.
https://idph.iowa.gov/Portals/1/userfiles/7/1Guidance%20for%20businesses%2000VID%200ut
break%204 9 20%20%281%29.pdf
GDDC has already sent out the guidelines to area employers.
• Joint Information System is lead by PIO Randy Gehl - the JIS still very active. I
continue with Facebook live updates
RMCC- Region 6 is still rated a 10 risk level
Community test site. The community testing site is in its final preparation- and will be
training staff this week. I will review this plan in more detail at the Wed city council work
session.
Future updates
• Long Term Care status and planning
• Business connection and prevention efforts
• Community test site. Features of new website
• Future outlook on when we will peak
• Updates of the City staff
What you can do now
• Continue to stay home as much as possible, Practice social distancing
• Limit trips to grocery stores and for other necessities — for example, once a week
at the most
• Adhere to the Region 6 mitigation measures prohibiting gathering with others
outside your own household