COVID-19 UpdateCity of Dubuque
City Council Meeting
ITEM TITLE
SUMMARY:
SUGGESTED
DISPOSITION:
Copyrighted
September 6, 2022
Presentation(s) # 1.
COVID-19 Update
Public Health Director Mary Rose Corrigan will provide an update on the
COVID-19 pandemic and response activities.
TO: Mike Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Director
SUBJECT: COVID-19 City Council update
DATE: September 6, 2022
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Dubuque County Public Health Incident Management (IMT) team consisting of City
of Dubuque Health Services Department (Mary Rose Corrigan) VNA (Stacey Killian)
and the Dubuque County Emergency Management Agency (Tom Berger), along with
both hospitals continue monitoring the pandemic and providing guidance. However,
members of the IMT and community healthcare partners continue to gradually resume
“pre-pandemic” activities. The IMT also consists of City of Dubuque Health Services
Department Environmental Sanitarians Tim Link and Sydney Moquin who are spending
much less time on the pandemic response. The Iowa Department of Public Health
(IDPH) provides information via Health Alerts and their website. Randy Gehl continues
to serve as the Public Information (PIO) officer for the IMT.
CURRENT INFORMATION
Iowa Coronavirus dashboard with case counts and other related COVID -19 data can be
found at
https://idph.iowa.gov/Emerging-Health-Issues/Novel-Coronavirus/COVID-19-Reporting
Case and Vaccination Data Via CDC:
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home
Vaccination scheduling and access information:
https://www.cityofdubuque.org/2965/COVID-19-Vaccinations
and at https://vaccinefinder.org/
Dubuque VNA
VNA continues to operate the public call center for Dubuque County 7 days/week for
general COVID questions along with quarantine and isolation specifics. To date VNA
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
has fielded over 48,635 calls/contacts from the community and continues to administer
vaccines. Along with free vaccinations, VNA distributes home TestIowa COVID test kits
to anyone needing a test, free of charge.
Emergency Management Agency (EMA)
The state stockpile of PPE will be moving from Iowa Homeland Security and EMA to the
Department of Administrative Services (DAS) to maintain and rotate stock. We continue
to assist local healthcare facilities with requests as they need them. We continue to
maintain a 30 day, emergency supply in storage available for an emergency.
Hospital Capacity Planning
Although COVID-19 hospitalizations remain steady, the IMT meets bi-weekly with
hospitals to assess local capacity, capability and patient load. Local hospital data can
be accessed via the Health and Human Services Public Health Protect Website:
https://protect-public.hhs.gov/pages/hospital-utilization
The IMT will continue to monitor hospital capacity and capability and communicate
with MercyOne and UnityPoint Finley Hospitals as needed. Hospitals continue to be
very busy with a variety of conditions and illnesses. Few of the COVID -19 patients are
in the ICU.
Public Information
The City Public Information Office (PIO), in conjunction with the Incident Management
Team (IMT), continues to produce and distribute weekly County COVID updates with
important messages to residents as well as new data on new cases, hospitalizations,
deaths, and vaccinations. The PIO office responds to news media requests for
interviews and information and assists the IMT with general messaging/communication
needs. The PIO continues to track multiple metrics for the IMT and update the COVID -
19 webpage on the City website. Videos featuring Public Health Specialist Mary Rose
Corrigan are produced when needed and distributed through all available channels. In
addition to continued marketing of vaccinations, PIO staff are promoting booster dose s
and clinics where they are available. We will be deploying targeted messaging and
information for children and teens vaccinations.
COVID- 19 Vaccination
The IMT continues to manage the IDPH vaccine allocations and distribution, primarily
through the VNA.
As of today, Sep 6, 2022, Iowa providers can administer bivalent formulations of the
Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines for use as a
single booster dose at least two months following primary or booster vaccination. The
Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent, is authorized for use as a single booster dose in
individuals 18 years of age and older. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine,
Bivalent, is authorized for use as a single booster dose in individuals 12 years of age
and older.
According to the August 31, 2022 FDA release, the bivalent vaccines, which we will also
be referred to as “updated boosters,” contain two messenger RNA (mRNA) components
of SARS-CoV-2 virus, one of the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and the other one in
common between the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages of the omicron variant of SARS -CoV-2.
As of August 31, 2022, 57.9% of Dubuque County is fully vaccinated with at least one
booster dose. This is a slight increase from the 64.5% reported on June 6, 2022. The
percentage of fully vaccinated citizens increased by .2% since August 10, 2022 from
65.3% to 65.5%
In addition to multiple vaccine providers in Dubuque County, Ongoing walk-in VNA
clinics at 660 Iowa St are available on:
3rd Monday 3-6pm-WALK INS: Sept 19. 2022
Fridays 8-430pm-WALK INS: September 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 2022
Testing
Local providers providing COVID-19 tests continue to have adequate test supplies and
availability. Testing providers report less demand for COVID-19 testing. In addition to
isolating when you have COVID symptoms, the Dubuque County Public Health Incident
Management Team encourages residents who are symptomatic for COVID-19, but test
negative with a rapid self-test, to follow-up that test with a Test Iowa PCR test.
Test Iowa test kits are free and available for pick-up at multiple locations in Dubuque
County, for a complete list, visit https://www.testiowa.com/en#find-a-pick-up-site
Currently, the average time for Test Iowa results (email confirmation) after being
received at the lab is 12-24 hours.
Federal test via mail: https://www.covidtests.gov/
Dubuque County in home testIowa pick-up sites include:
https://www.cityofdubuque.org/2940/Local-COVID-19-Testing-Options
Testing options are updated regularly and posted at
https://www.cityofdubuque.org/2940/Local-COVID-19-Testing-Options
The Variants, Cases and Transmission
Omicron and its sub-variants continue to account for 100% of the positive COVID tests
in Dubuque County during August. August variant picture consists predominately of
BA.5.2.1. The CDC transmission rate remains at “high”, however it is not an accurate
indicator of the spread since negative cases are not reported along with home, rapid
tests etc. The CDC transmission indicator is used by health care organizations and
indicates the presence and spread of SARS-CoV-2. Dubuque County moved from high
in earlier/mid August to no a Medium “community” level category.
After Action Report
The IMT has contracted with Emergency Preparedness Consulting (EPC) LLC, to
conduct the COVID-19 pandemic after action report (AAR). Dubuque County executed
a contract with the consultant, which will include a separate component to evaluate City
of Dubuque COVID -19 response operations, specifically public education regarding
COVID-19 and municipal service delivery, safe workplace guidance and employee
safety, and Departments Continuity of Operations Plans. The AAR is expected to be
completed in December, 2022. Community partners, health care organizations and
some appointed and elected officials will be surveyed and/or interviewed for their input.
Looking ahead
• Modify the IMT COVID-19 response based on the case transmission, CDC
Community Level and community needs and new vaccine availability.
• COVID-19 After Action Report: Begin with data gathering and planning for
community input in conjunction with Emergency Preparedness Consulting (EPC).
• Roll out Bivalent booster vaccines: Create and disseminate vaccinations
educational materials for parents and families of children 6 months though 4
years of age to disseminate via childcare providers.
• Provide ongoing education and access for COVID -19 testing, vaccination, and
other guidance to all populations, with the assistance of the Equity Immersion
Committee and many community partners.
• Continue community vaccine education and administration as eligibility and
availability changes.
• Implementing and distributing ever changing guidance from CDC, IDPH.
• Monitor and provide community education on SARS CoV2 variants.
• Provide COVID-19 guidance for special events and activities
• Continue assurance of COVID 19 testing access and in-home kit distribution as
supplies and testing providers are available
• Monitor county transmission rates and community level status to provide up to
date information on masking and other mitigation strategies.
• Currently approximately 30% of my time is devoted to COVID-19
DUBUQUE CITY COUNCIL
COVID-19 UPDATE
Sept 6, 2022
Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Director
Positive Cases -Rolling 14 Day Volume Dubuque County
Mar 1, 2020 -Sep 5, 2022
Positive Cases by Age Group Dubuque County
Aug 23, 2022 -Sep 5, 2022
COVID-19 CASES & HOSPITALIZATION IDPH DATA
CDC COMMUNITY LEVEL
DUBUQUE CO: MEDIUM
Weekly Metrics Used to Determine the COVID-
19 Community Level
Case Rate per 100,000 population 125
New COVID-19 admissions per
100,000 population 14.8
% Staffed inpatient beds in use by
patients with confirmed COVID-19 4%
Aug 30, 2022
All Variants by Month Dubuque County: Omicron BA5.2.1
Jan 1, 2021 -Aug 26, 2022, by Month
Dataset last updated: September 06, 2022
●CDC data Aug 31, 2022:
●IDPH no longer reporting vaccination
data
VACCINATIONS
IOWA VACCINATION RATES: AUG 31, 2022
Age in Years At Least
One Dose
Fully
Vaccinated
First
Booster
Second
Booster
All Ages 68%63%
< 2 4%0.7%
2-4 6%1.2%
5-11 30%26%15.5%
12-17 56%50%30%
18-24 63%54%34%
25-49 72%65%44%
50-64 84%78%62%25%
65+95%94%80%46%
IOWA VACCINATION RATES: AUG 31, 2022
Age in Years At Least
One Dose
Fully
Vaccinated
First
Booster
Second
Booster
All Ages 68%63%
< 2 4%0.7%
2-4 6%1.2%
5-11 30%26%15.5%
12-17 56%50%30%
18-24 63%54%34%
25-49 72%65%44%
50-64 84%78%62%25%
65+95%94%80%46%
UPDATED BOOSTER
Pfizer & Moderna Bivalent
●One dose for those fully vaccinated
●Targets BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants
●Administered at least 2 months following primary or booster vaccination
●Pfizer for individuals 12 years of age and older
●Moderna for individuals 18 years of age and older
•Can be administered with influenza vaccine
VACCINES MOVING FORWARD
Boosters
●12 years and older-Bivalent mRNA booster Moderna or Pfizer
●Monovalent mRNA vaccines no longer authorized for 12 years and older
●Children 5-11 years, continue with monovalent booster
VACCINATION INFORMATION
57.9% of the County’s total 5+population is fully vaccinated with a first booster
82.3% of the County’s total 65+is fully vaccinated with one booster
59.8 % of residents 12+who are already fully vaccinated, now have a booster dose.
Vaccination information available at:
www.cityofdubuque.org/sleevesup
Ongoing walk-in VNA clinics at 660 Iowa St
•Every 3rd Monday: 9/19 3 -6 pm WALK INS
●Every Friday:9/2, 9/9, 9/16, 9/23, 9/30 8 -4:30pm WALK INS
SleevesUp Phone Line: (563) 690-6253
VNA Phone Line: (563) 556-6200
BIVALENT VACCINE ROLLOUT
Beginning this week
●National supply of Moderna and Pfizer Bivalent vaccines is robust
●Initial allocations are limited
●Appointments for Bivalent vaccine-check health care provider websites
●NO priority groups
Exposure:
●Quarantine no longer required.
●Wear mask 10 days and test on
day 5
COVID-19 positive:
●Isolate 5 days, mask for an
additional 5 days if symptoms
improved
●Avoid immunocompromised
●Moderate/severe illness -isolate
10 days
CDC UPDATED GUIDELINES: REDUCE SEVERE ILLNESS
CONTINUE VACCINATIONS
GUIDANCE SIMILAR REGARDLESS OF VACCINATION
LOOKING AHEAD
•After Action
Report underway
•Bivalent vaccine
rollout
•Monitoring cases
as school starts
QUESTIONS?
Next update: Oct 3, 2022
Thank-you