COVID-19 Update Copyrighted
August 17, 2020
City of Dubuque Presentation(s) # 2.
City Council Meeting
ITEM TITLE: COVID-19 Update
SUM MARY: Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Specialist for the City of Dubuque,
will provide an update on the COVI D-19 pandemic and response
activities.
SUGGESTED
DISPOSITION:
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TO: Mike Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Specialist
SUBJECT: COVID-19 update
DATE: August 17, 2020
CURRENT INFORMATION
• 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.
• As of 3 pm on August 17, 2020, 279 new cases were added to Dubuque
County’s total since I last gave a report to the City Council on Aug 3, 2020. As of
August 17, 2020, Dubuque County has 1814 positive COVID-19 cases. To date,
we’ve had a total of 31 deaths in Dubuque County. Currently, Dubuque County
has 12 COVID-19 Dubuque County patients who are hospitalized. Over 22,000
people have been tested in Dubuque County. About 8% of the cases tested
since March have been positive. Yesterday’s positivity rate was 7.7% The
current average 14-day positivity rate is 10.3%. 1211 people or about 67% of
Dubuque County positive cases have recovered to date.
• The State has 52,631 cases, up 6796 from 45,835 positive cases reported on
Aug 3, 2020. About 9% of individuals tested statewide continue to be positive
overall. The State’s 14-day average positivity rate is 7.3%. The 18-40 year- old
age group continues to have the greatest number of cases with 48% (Dubuque
County is 49%), followed by the 41-60 year- old group with 29%. A total of 979
Iowans have died due to COVID-19 illness. Those who are >80 years old have
47%, of all Iowa COVID-19 deaths followed by the 61-80 year-old group with
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
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41%. Currently, 293 cases are hospitalized. Over 40,000 or 77% of Iowans have
recovered.
• Community Testing: The TestIowa clinic continues at Epic Health and Wellness
on Cedar Cross Road along with free testing offered at Hartig Drug locations and
Union Family Pharmacy. Those wanting testing at these locations must register
on the websiteTestIowa.com or DoINeedACovid19Test.com and receive a
voucher number to be eligible to schedule an appointment for a drive- up test.
In addition to these sites, clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes all continue to
test in conjunction with testing guidelines. I continue to meet with representatives
from major health care providers weekly to assess their needs and testing
capacity. Local testing capacity includes TestIowa and HHS testing, the
physician and health care provider clinics who are for the most testing according
to State Hygienic Lab guidelines and both hospitals. Hospital testing includes all
patients admitted for surgeries and procedures, OB admissions and symptomatic
patients. Hospitals must use rapid test supplies prudently since these are in
higher demand and more difficult to source.
The Public Health Incident Management Team is providing additional testing of
individuals identified through contact tracing and referred by the VNA.
Currently, of Iowa’s 99 counties, Dubuque County has the 8th highest number of people
tested, among Iowa counties.
• Contact tracing: The Iowa Department of Public Health is conducting the contact
tracing of positive cases and has hired their own contact tracers since the Iowa
National Guard has been relieved of those duties. VNA continues to
phone/contact all new positive cases to provide a local connection and assess
isolation and shelter needs along with testing information.
• Long Term Care facility status: Dubuque County currently has no long-term care
facility outbreaks. VNA provides guidance daily to long term care facilities
experiencing positive cases and is currently providing daily follow up to several
LTC/Independent living facilities. LTC facilities have not begun phased opening
due to the amount of cases and trend lines locally.
• Face coverings- with the passing of the City of Dubuque face covering ordinance,
the Health Services Department, along with Police, Legal, Public Information and
the City Clerk’s office continue to answer questions and provide guidance.
• Public information efforts created by Public Information Officer Randy Gehl in
conjunction with the public health incident management team continue with daily
updates featuring a variety of COVID-19 metrics. The updates continue to be
emailed or texted directly with more than 1,200 people including all local and
regional media and are also distributed through all the City's social media
channels.
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Schools
• The Public Health Incident Management team continues to provide guidance and
planning assistance with the local colleges and universities and the K -12 districts.
The K-12 schools must use the IDPH 14- day positivity rate posted on the
coronavirus.iowa.gov site as one of the indicators that determines maintaining in
person school attendance. The IDPH and Department of Education guidance for
schools rely heavily on local public health to provide ongoing data and
information, along with advising on exposures, absenteeism, and many other
factors. The State will begin supplying PPE to school districts for their start up.
The VNA will work closely with the K-12 schools on notification of positive cases
and Mary rose Corrigan is the contact for general school related questions.
• Dubuque VNA Continues to operate the public call center for Dubuque County 7
days/week. To date VNA has fielded 16,596 calls/contact from the community. In
addition, they continue to provide thermometers, food assistance and other
human needs referrals. The VNA also provides guidance to childcare providers.
In addition, the VNA provides daily services for the maintenance of the isolation
shelter, such as cleaning and a check in with residents.
• Public Health Mitigation measure enforcement in restaurants and bars- the
Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals (DIA) and the Alcoholic Beverages
Division (ABD) will be conducting enforcement on social/physical distancing and
other required public health measures for establishments serving food and
alcohol. An on-line portal for citizens to submit concerns and complaints on
specific establishments will be available this week. Once a complaint is received,
DIA and/or ABD will follow up with investigation and enforcement. Neither DIA or
ABD has notified us of any Dubuque establishment complaints.
Looking ahead
• Continue to focus on to plan for opening and ongoing operation along with other
organizations with providing guidance for when they have a positive case.
• Conduct food inspections and assist special events and food stands in meeting
recommended COVID-19 public health measurers.
• The Governor’s proclamations continue to require physical distancing for groups,
events, retail and other businesses, along with public health measures in place to
reduce the spread of COVID-19. The reason to continue all these measures is
because the pandemic continues, both in the US and around the world,
especially in light of recent increases in testing. In addition, research continues
on vaccine development, transmissibility of the virus, (including pediatric
transmission) mask use and their effectiveness, risk factors and many other
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areas for which we are lacking definitive answers and information. So the
guidance from local, state and national experts will continue change as time goe s
on.
What you can do now
• Continue to stay home as much as possible and practice physical and social
distancing.
• Implement the recommendations from The White House Task Force report; such
as
a. Continue to promote social distancing and wearing of cloth face masks when
outside the home, especially in indoor environments and in counties with high
(>100cases/100k population) or increasing case rates.
b. Limit social and other gatherings to fewer than 10 people
c. Specific, detailed guidance on community mitigation measures can be found on
the CDC website.
• Assist IDPH contact tracers by “answering the call.”
• Encourage citizens to quarantine for 14 days from an exposure to a confirmed or
suspected COVID-19 case. If you are not sure whether you have been exposed,
start quarantining anyway.
• Isolate for 10 days if you test positive or have COVID-19 symptoms, including
having improved symptoms and no fever for 24 hours without the use of fever
reducing medications.
• Limit trips to grocery stores and for other necessities – for example, once a week
at the most
• Utilize curbside pick-up, carry-out and delivery for food and other purchases
• Consider your own personal risk factors before venturing to retail stores and
places of business or for personal or recreational services. Risks to consider
include age, underlying and/or chronic health conditions – especially respiratory
and cardiac conditions, diabetes and if you smoke, are obese or live with
• Follow the 3 C’s - (clean, cover, contain) and emphasize handwashing- which is
ideal. When handwashing is not available, use hand sanitizer.
• Encourage citizens to continue to seek and utilize factual information from the
city of Dubuque, IDPH and CDC websites and postings, being mindful that this is
an ever changing and emerging pandemic.
• Do research before traveling- so you are totally prepared for other communities’
risk, and potential illness.
• For community groups, plan ahead for events and cancellations.
Health Services Department
City Council Meeting Aug 18, 2020
Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Specialist
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
3/10 3/30 4/19 5/9 5/29 6/18 7/8 7/28 8/17 9/6CASES
DATE
Dubuque County Epi Curve
Aug 17, 2020
4.9%
10.8%
11.9%
8.3%
14.2%
6.2%
9.3%
6.9%
9.9%
12.0%
9.0%
15.0%
8.3%
7.7%
8/3/20 8/4/20 8/5/20 8/6/20 8/7/20 8/8/20 8/9/20 8/10/20 8/11/20 8/12/20 8/13/20 8/14/20 8/15/20 8/16/20Percent of Positive TestsDubuque County COVID-19 Test
Positivity Rate: Aug 3-16, 2020
Iowa
680
813
2,613
2,002
3,127
1,935
1,105 1,155 1,145 1,069
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
June 8-14 June 15-21 June 22-28 June 29-July 5 July 6-12 July 13-19 July 20-26 July 27-Aug 2 Aug 3-9 Aug 10-16
Weekly Totals of Dubuque County Residents Tested: June 1 -Aug. 16
10.8%11.1%11.4%11.1%10.9%10.7%10.5%10.4%10.5%10.4%10.3%10.1%10.0%9.6%
8/3/20 8/4/20 8/5/20 8/6/20 8/7/20 8/8/20 8/9/20 8/10/20 8/11/20 8/12/20 8/13/20 8/14/20 8/15/20 8/16/20
14-Day Average of Dubuque County
Test Positivity Rate & Trend Line
2
8
13
15
22
24
19
15
7/1/207/2/207/3/207/4/207/5/207/6/207/7/207/8/207/9/207/10/207/11/207/12/207/13/207/14/207/15/207/16/207/17/207/18/207/19/207/20/207/21/207/22/207/23/207/24/207/25/207/26/207/27/207/28/207/29/207/30/207/31/208/1/208/2/208/3/208/4/208/5/208/6/208/7/208/8/208/9/208/10/208/11/208/12/208/13/208/14/208/15/208/16/20Dubuque County COVID-19 Hospitalizations
July 1 -Aug. 16, 2020
1
0 0 0 0 0
1 1 1 1
2
1 1
2
3
2
1 1 1
0
1
0 0 0 0
1
0
1
2 2
1
2
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
3/24/203/26/203/28/203/30/204/1/204/3/204/5/204/7/204/9/204/11/204/13/204/15/204/17/204/19/204/21/204/23/204/25/204/27/204/29/205/1/205/3/205/5/205/7/205/9/205/11/205/13/205/15/205/17/205/19/205/21/205/23/205/25/205/27/205/29/205/31/206/2/206/4/206/6/206/8/206/10/206/12/206/14/206/16/206/18/206/20/206/22/206/24/206/26/206/28/206/30/207/2/207/4/207/6/207/8/207/10/207/12/207/14/207/16/207/18/207/20/207/22/207/24/207/26/207/28/207/30/208/1/208/3/208/5/20Dubuque County COVID -19 Deaths