COVI D-19 Update Copyrighted
J uly 20, 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:
TO: Mike Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Specialist
SUBJECT: COVID-19 update
DATE: July 20, 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 4 pm on July 20, 2020, 504 new cases were added to Dubuque County’s
total since I last gave a report to the City Council on July 6, 2020. As of July 20,
2020, Dubuque County has 1204 positive COVID-19 cases. To date, we’ve had a
total of 23 deaths in Dubuque County. Currently, Dubuque County has 18
COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized. Over 17,300 people have been tested
in Dubuque County. About 7% of the cases tested have been positive, which
has increased slightly since my last several reports. 471 people or about 39% of
Dubuque County positive cases have recovered to date. Dubuque County has
the 4th highest cases per 100,000 in counties with cities over 50,000 population
and the 9th highest among all counties. We are experiencing increased cases in
the young adult population, as is the rest of the state and the country.
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 State has 39,166 cases, up 7506 from 31,660 positive cases on July 6,
2020. About 9% of individuals tested statewide continue to be positive. The
community- wide spread has increased in the young adult population and in
those 0-17 years old. The 18-40 year- old age group has the greatest number of
cases with 48%, followed by the 41-60 year- old group with 31%. A total of 797
Iowans have died due to COVID-19 illness. Those who are >80 years old have
48% of all Iowa COVID-19 deaths followed by the 61-80 year-old group with
40%. Overall, the rate of deaths occurring in Iowa continues to be fairly stable –
70% of deaths were in people with underlying health conditions. Currently, 221
cases are hospitalized. Over 28,000 or 75% of Iowans have recovered. Keep in
mind that hospitalizations and deaths have at least a 10-day lag time from the
date the case was reported.
• Community Testing: The TestIowa clinic began in Dubuque on June 29, 2020 at
Epic Health and Wellness on Cedar Cross Road. In addition to the Monday
through Thursday clinics that were offered at this location, Epic Health and
Wellness did several satellite clinics, including one at Crescent Community
Health Center on Saturday, July 11th, to provide greater access to this testing in
our community. However effective tomorrow, Tuesday July 21,2020, the Iowa
Governor’s office has directed changes to the operations of the Dubuque
testIowa local clinic. Testing is now limited to 100 tests per day and the Dubuque
VNA will no longer be allowed to assist residents without a computer or internet
access to register for testIowa. (The VNA has assisted 87 individuals with this
process as of today.) Therefore, the testIowa site at Epic Health and Wellness on
Cedar Cross Road will operate Monday through Thursday, 6 AM to 7 AM or until
the maximum of 100 tests is reached.
In addition to the TestIowa sites, clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes all
continue to test on an expanded basis in conjunction with testing guidelines. For
individuals with a known exposure to a positive or symptomatic case, testing may
be warranted, but will be offered at the discretion of the health care provider, who
takes into account the circumstances of the exposure and if you have an
underlying condition that puts you at greater risk for severe illness from COVID -
19- such as lung or respiratory issues, diabetes, obesity, immune suppression or
if you are a smoker. As labs become extremely busy and often may be
overwhelmed, along with the availability of test supplies, prudent testing is still
warranted.
Currently, of Iowa’s 99 counties, Dubuque County has the 2nd highest number of people
tested, among counties with cities over 50,000 population, (7th among all Iowa
counties)
• Contact tracing: The Iowa Department of Public Health is conducting the contact
tracing of positive cases. VNA continues to phone/contact all new positive cases
to provide a local connection and assess isolation and shelter needs.
• 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 6
LTC/Independent living facilities. LTC facilities receive test kits directly from the
State Hygienic Lab for their staff and residents.
• July has shown increased numbers of cases – including in the state of Iowa and
Dubuque County. Our overall epidemiological curve continues upward, and this
is not solely due to having more testing available. The positivity rat e is relatively
stable in Iowa and Dubuque County. As I stated in my last update, the increased
cases most likely were at first the effects of decreased restrictions proclaimed by
Governor Reynolds beginning in mid and late May. However, increased
community spread is also the result of proper isolation and quarantine guidelines
not being followed. Not only can these guidelines be complicated, they do
periodically change. For instance, today one of the three isolation requirements
changed from being fever free for 72 hours, to now 24 hours. And of course there
are different requirements for healthcare workers and critical infrastructure
workers, depending on their exposure and whether they are symptomatic. So this
is not easy, particularly for the general public. Since the early July surge was
largely comprised of young adults, aged 18-40, we continue to see increased
cases in this age group, which now comprise 54% of all positive cases. In
addition, the number of cases in the 0-17 year old population is also increasing.
On July 6, 0-17 year olds made up 6% of all positive cases and today that has
increased to 8%. We are also beginning to see an increase in cases and
exposures related to the childcare setting.
• City staff executed the agreement for cost sharing and management of the
shelter in order to allow county residents to utilize the housing isolation facility. In
addition, the county staff management, VNA provides daily cleaning/building
check, patient laundry, patient room cleaning, Patient case management, and
daily follow up calls to each patient.
• Public information efforts created by Public Information Officer Randy Gehl in
conjunction with the public health incident management team continue with daily
updates featuring 24-hour changes in positive cases, recoveries, testing, deaths,
recoveries, hospitalizations and long-term care facility outbreaks in Dubuque
County. These daily updates also include announcements and alerts related to
local testing options, new or modified guidelines from local public health officials,
IDPH, and the CDC, and links to 2-3 update videos per week from the incident
management team. The updates continue to be emailed or texted directly with
more than 1,200 people including all local and reg ional media. The updates are
also distributed through all of the City's social media channels.
• The Public Health Incident Management team is providing guidance with the
local colleges and universities in conjunction with the IDPH along with K-12
schools. Schools, colleges and universities will all be having flexible plans, in
order to address the local, state and national situation status c loser to their start
dates. The chances of schools, particularly K-12, increasing transmission is likely
to be considerably higher when there's major activity occurring in the community,
workplaces, households, etc. This will have an effect on the childhood cases.
Children do not get infected easier than adults, or even older children, but they
do get infected as we’re seeing in our own numbers and consequently they can
transmit the virus.
• Dubuque VNA continues to operate the public call center for Dubuque County 7
days/week. To date VNA has fielded 14,236 calls/contact from the community. In
addition, they have provided thermometers, food assistance and other human
needs referrals.
Looking ahead
• Continue to work with county groups, organizations, schools, facilities, and
businesses on planning for events and openings and assisting with providing
guidance for when they have a positive case.
• Conduct food inspections and assist special event 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
areas for which we are lacking definitive answers and information. So the
guidance from local, state and national experts will continue change as time goes
on.
What you can do now
• Continue to stay home as much as possible and practice physical and social
distancing.
• 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 July 20, 2020
Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Specialist
July 20, 2020
July 20, 2020
Iowa trend line
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
3/10 3/30 4/19 5/9 5/29 6/18 7/8 7/28CASES
DATE
Dubuque County Epi Curve
8%
54%
24%
11%
2%
5%
41%
35%
15%
4%
0-17 (CHILD)18-40 (ADULT)41-60 (MIDDLE AGE)61-80 (OLDER ADULT)>80 (ELDERLY)
Dubuque County Positive Cases
by Age Group -July 20 vs. June 26