COVID-19 UpdateCity of Dubuque
City Council Meeting
ITEM TITLE
SUMMARY:
SUGGESTED
DISPOSITION:
Copyrighted
March 20, 2023
Presentation(s) # 01.
COVID-19 Update
Public Health Director Mary Rose Corrigan will provide an update on the
COVI D-1 9 pandemic and response activities.
TO: Mike Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Director
SUBJECT: COVID-19 City Council update
DATE: March 20, 2023
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),
Dubuque County Health Department (Allie White) and the Dubuque County Emergency
Management Agency (Tom Berger), along with both hospitals continue monitoring the
pandemic and providing guidance. 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.
CURRENT INFORMATION
Iowa Coronavirus dashboard with case counts and other related COVID -19 data can be
found at
https://hhs.iowa.gov/covid-19-reporting
Case and Vaccination Data Via CDC:
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home
Vaccination Status by Age NEW
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-demographics-maps
Vaccination scheduling and access information:
https://www.cityofdubuque.org/2965/COVID-19-Vaccinations
and at https://vaccinefinder.org/
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
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. Along with free
vaccinations, VNA distributes home TestIowa COVID test kits to anyone needing a test,
free of charge.
Hospital Capacity Planning
COVID-19 hospitalizations remain stable and seasonal.
The IMT continues 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. COVID-19 is discussed at Bi-
hospital Infection Control Committee meetings. Hospitals are expected to continue
required hospital COVID-19 reporting to CDC’s Nation Health Safety Network.
Public Information
The City Public Information Office (PIO), in conjunction with the Incident Management
Team (IMT), ended weekly County COVID updates January 18, 2023. PIO services
provided by Public Information Officer Randy Gehl and Mary Rose Corrigan from
August, 2022 through January 18, 2023 were billed to Dubuque County based on an
agreement executed with the Board of Health.
COVID- 19 Vaccination
The IMT manages the IDPH vaccine allocations and distribution, primarily through the
VNA. The Vaccine Emergency Use Authorizations (EUA’s) are not impacted by the
ending of the national emergency and public health emergency declarations on May 11,
2023. Vaccinations will continue to be available, distributed and administered. The
current COVID-19 Vaccination Standing Order will be updated as a result of the public
health emergency declaration expiration.
The bivalent formulations of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech
COVID-19 vaccines for use as a single booster dose continue to see low uptake
compared with other booster rollouts.
As of March 15, 2023, 20.5% of Dubuque County residents are fully vaccinated with at
least one bi-valent booster dose.
In addition to multiple vaccine providers in Dubuque County, Ongoing walk-in VNA
clinics at 660 Iowa St are available on Fridays 8 am -4:30 pm-
Testing
Local providers providing COVID-19 tests continue to have adequate test supplies and
availability.
The State Hygienic Lab will continue to maintain the Test Iowa program through
December 31, 2023 and is working to build a sustainable model for other at -home
testing for ongoing and future pandemic response needs.
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
The Variants, Cases and Transmission
Omicron and its sub-variants and sub-lineages continue to account for 100% of the
positive COVID tests in Dubuque County this fall. Dubuque County is in the “low”
community level and “moderate” for transmission.
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 almost completed
and we are now working on the Improvement Plan component.
Looking ahead
• Continue “wind- down” of IMT COVID-19 response.
• COVID-19 After Action Report: finalize including improvement plan and report out
• Continue to offer Bivalent booster vaccines
• Continue community vaccine education and administration as eligibility and
availability changes.
• 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 through March 30,
2023
DUBUQUE CITY COUNCIL
COVID-19 UPDATE
March 20, 2023
Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Director
Positive Cases -Rolling 7 Day Volume –Dubuque County
Mar 1, 2020 -Mar 19, 2023
COVID-19 CASES IDPH DATA
CDC COMMUNITY LEVEL
DUBUQUE CO: LOW
Weekly Metrics Used to Determine the
COVID-19 Community Level
Case Rate per 100,000
population 83.24 51.38
New COVID-19 admissions
per 100,000 population 9.3 7.7
% Staffed inpatient beds in use
by patients with confirmed
COVID-19
2.9%3.8%
Jan 31,
2023
Mar 16,
2023
VACCINATIONS-DUBUQUE COUNTY
% of population with a bivalent booster = 20.5%
16.3% US
●https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7206a3.htm?s_cid=mm7206a3_x
DUBUQUE
COUNTY
COVID-19
VACCINE
ACCESS
•https://www.dubuquecountyiowa.gov/567/COVI
D-19-Vaccinations
•Ongoing walk-in VNA clinics at 660 Iowa St
•Fridays:8-4:30 pm
•Other dates: walk in if staff is available
•SleevesUp Phone Line: (563) 690-6253
•VNA Phone Line: (563) 556-6200
•FAQ’s for vaccination and children
•https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-
ncov/vaccines/faq-children.htm l
PUBLIC HEALTH DECLARATION ENDS MAY 11, 2023
Iowa HHS Planning for unwinding
●COVID-19 mandatory reporting ends March 31, 2023
●TestIowa continues
●Wastewater testing available
●DOMO dashboard and COVID-19 data discontinued
●Medicaid Continuous Coverage ends https://hhs.iowa.gov/ime/unwind
INFLUENZA SURVEILLANCE
QUESTIONS?
Final update April 17, 2023
COVID -19 Pandemic
After Action Report