COVID-19 Update Copyrig hted
February 1, 2021
City of Dubuque Presentation(s) # 1.
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:
F:\Users\Health Department\Administration\COVID19\city council COVID\2021.2.1. City Council Update.docx
TO: Mike Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Specialist
SUBJECT: COVID-19 City Council Work Session update
DATE: Feb 1, 2021
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Dubuque County Public Health Incident Management (IMT) 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. The IMT also consists of county Health Department Assistant Director,
Samantha Kloft and City of Dubuque Health Services Department Environmental
Sanitarians Tim Link and Sydney Moquin. 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. Randy
Gehl serves as the Public Information (PIO) officer for the IMT.
CURRENT INFORMATION
Current case counts and other related COVID -19 data can be found at
www.coronavirus.iowa.gov.
New features include information on vaccines distributed and vaccine provider
information.
Long Term Care facility status: Dubuque County currently has only one long term
care facility (LTC) outbreak, with the facility having 13 cases in the last 14 days. All LTC
facilities have agreements with pharmacies for vaccination of residents and staff which
is substantially complete.
Schools
The Public Health Incident Management team continues to provide guidance and
planning assistance with the county colleges and universities and the K-12 districts. The
IMT continues to meet bi-weekly with preK-12 school s and higher education institutions.
PreK-12 schools, are planning with the IMT for vaccinating school teachers and staff in
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
F:\Users\Health Department\Administration\COVID19\city council COVID\2021.2.1. City Council Update.docx
priority group 1b. Approximately 2385 teachers and staff will need vaccination. The
VNA continues to work closely with the preK-12 schools on notification of positive cases
and starting the contact tracing process as soon as possible. Dubuque County K12
schools has had 152 positive cases since January 1, 2021.
The Dubuque County higher education institution representatives also meet bi-weekly
with the IMT. VNA provides similar contact tracing and assistance with the higher
education students as they do with preK-12. Dubuque County colleges have had no
positive cases since January 1, 2021. All school and higher education nurses, and
health staff are scheduled or have received vaccine as part of priority group 1a.
Dubuque VNA Continues to operate the public call center for Dubuque County 7
days/week. To date VNA has fielded 33727 contacts calls/contact from the community,
an increase of 1783 since the January 19, 2020 report. VNA staff is partnering with
UnityPoint Finley to vaccinate those individuals prioritized in Phase 1a.(850 total.) VNA
will continue to provide both nursing and non-medical staff to work vaccine clinics.
In addition, they continue to provide thermometers, food assistance and other human
needs referrals. VNA will be adding additional staff nurses to focus on the pandemic
response. VNA staff continues to reach out to all cases 28 days after testing positive to
promote plasma donation for the convalescent plasma treatments being used by
hospitals reaching a total of 1,337 people on this issue. VNA staff are contacting 13
facilities daily to assist with COVID-19 management.
Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Tom Berger reports they travel to
the regional node in Cedar Rapids to pick up requested PPE. Increased supplies were
delivered last week to local healthcare and other institutions needing PPE.
Hospital Capacity Planning The IMT continue to monitor hospital are communicating
hospital capacity and capability and communicate with MercyOne and UnityPoint Finley
Hospitals. This includes closely monitoring new cases, outbreaks and other data points
to assure that hospitals continue to plan for surges while maintaining services for other
non-COVID-19 patients.
As we continue to meet with hospital management and human resources staff, and plan
for an alternate care facility site, the hospitals’ census has remained manageable. The
Incident Management Team will continue planning and meeting on the issue, but the
hospitals are not experiencing the level of urgency they were in November.
Public Health Mitigation measure enforcement in restaurants and bars- The Iowa
Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) requires licensees to complete a COVID-19
Compliance Checklist to assist in the implementation of the Governor’s proclamation
requirements.
Health Services Department environmental sanitarians continue to respond to citizen
complaints at food and alcohol establishments not following the Governor’s
proclamation or the city face covering ordinance. Health Services environmental
sanitarians have done compliance related inspections on 106 food establishments-
F:\Users\Health Department\Administration\COVID19\city council COVID\2021.2.1. City Council Update.docx
there were 14 total Covid complaints with 7 verified, and 3 warning letters along with 16
referrals to ABD. For tattoo and swimming pool facilities, they’ve done a total of 11
inspections.
Public Information The IMT, in conjunction with the City Public Information (PIO)
Office, continues to provide daily COVID-19 updates along with social media posts and
fielding and responding to a variety of news media requests. A COVID-19 Vaccination
mailer was developed by City PIO staff with input from the incident management team
and joint information system group. The mailer was s ent to over 47,500 addresses last
week, covering every zip code in Dubuque County. The PIO Office will be launching a
Dubuque County vaccine logo to compliment vaccine information dissemination.
COVID- 19 Vaccination The IMT is receiving ever changing and evolving information
and vaccination planning tools from the IDPH. To date, 58 local providers have
indicated their interest in administering vaccine through including eight pharmacies and
their multiple sites. The IMT determines the allocations to the approved vaccine
providers as we receive weekly vaccine allocations. The IMT further prioritizes within
the priority groups on who the vaccine will be administered based on numerous factors.
The Dubuque County vaccination plan, now includes a community point of distribution
(POD) for vaccine providers to administer vaccines. This will minimize disruption at
provider facilities, while allowing for easy access to and safe vaccine administration for
the community.
The location selected for the community POD/clinic is the former Younkers women’s
store on the north side of Kennedy Mall in Dubuque. The location was selected by a
committee of county incident management team members and representatives from the
local healthcare providers approved to administer vaccines. The indoor location
provides adequate space and convenient parking, is accessible by public transportation,
and is a known location to most county residents.
The clinic will operate as a joint vaccination site for multiple local healthcare providers
who will offer their patients COVID vaccinations at the site by appointment
only. Appointments will be required for all COVID vaccinations. “Walk-ins” will not be
accepted. County residents age 65 and over will be contacted by their healthcare
provider when vaccines are available and vaccination appointments can be
scheduled. Healthcare providers will contact their patients through a variety of channels
including telephone, text, email, and letter. Detailed information on how to schedule
appointments will be provided by each healthcare provider. Each provider will have
dedicated space at the POD for their patients.
POD appointment sign up information will be disseminated widely, in conjunction with
the Joint Information Center, which is coordinated by City of Dubuque Public
Information Officer, Randy Gehl
Looking ahead
F:\Users\Health Department\Administration\COVID19\city council COVID\2021.2.1. City Council Update.docx
• Planning for Phase 1b tier 2 vaccinations: Frontline essential workers in food,
agriculture, and manufacturing sectors who live or work in non-social distanced
settings and Individuals with disabilities living in home settings and their direct
care staff
• Plan for additional community vaccine distribution and administration sites and
methods
• City Public Information Office staff, in conjunction with the IMT and the joint
Information Center (JIC), will be providing messaging and community education
for vaccine education and administration along with a multi-media plan for
dissemination
• Insist on public health mitigation strategies continuing
• Implementing and distributing ever changing guidance from CDC, IDPH and
DOE.
Mary Rose Corrigan, Public Health Specialist
Health Services Department
Public Health Incident Management Team
City Council COVID-19 update
February 1 , 2021
Dubuque County Public Health
Incident Management Team (IMT)
Mary Rose Corrigan Stacey Kilian
City of Dubuque VNA
Randy Gehl, City of Dubuque
Public Information Officer
Patrice Lambert Tom Berger
Dubuque County Dubuque County
Health Department EMA
57
19
50
1930
87
34
8474
45
10
334441
27
46
182525
47
67
494959
1930
14
69
202625
5
JAN. 1 -FEB. 1 NEW COVID-19 CASES IN DUBUQUE COUNTY
988 1,059
1/1/20211/2/20211/3/20211/4/20211/5/20211/6/20211/7/20211/8/20211/9/20211/10/20211/11/20211/12/20211/13/20211/14/20211/15/20211/16/20211/17/20211/18/20211/19/20211/20/20211/21/20211/22/20211/23/20211/24/20211/25/20211/26/20211/27/20211/28/20211/29/20211/30/20211/31/20212/1/2021ACTIVE COVID-19 CASES
DUBUQUE COUNTY:
JAN. 1 -FEB. 1
18 22
3 8
COVID-19 HOSPITALIZATIONS DUBUQUE
COUNTY RESIDENTS:
DEC. 30 -JAN. 30
10.4%12.5%
9.3%
9.8%
14-DAY AVERAGE OF
PERCENT OF POSITIVE CASES
Influenza update
•No local activity
•Iowa activity remains low
COVID-19 Variants: B117(UK) B1351(S Africa)
P1(Brazil)
COVID -19 Vaccination Update
Expected
Allocation Date Pfizer Moderna Total
12/14/2020 1,950 0 1,950
12/21/2020 0 400 400
12/28/2020 0 400 400
1/4/2021**1,950 0 1,950
1/11/2021 0 1,000 1,000
1/18/2021**0 400 400
1/18/2021 0 800 800
1/25/2021 0 500 500
Total in 7 weeks 3,900 3,000 7,400
Previous Allocations This Week’s Allocations
Expected
Allocation Date Pfizer Moderna Total
2/1/2021**0 1,000 1,000
1/29/2021 1,950 700 2,650
**Note: Allocation is booster only.
Total COVID-19
vaccinations
provided to date:
7,700
**Note: Allocation is booster only.
Dubuque County Vaccination Planning
●IMT will follow IDPH Vaccine Strategy and priorities
●IDPH additional allocations come with little advance notice
●Vaccine administered by IDPH Approved Vaccine Providers
●IMT will require vaccinations by appointment while the vaccine
supply is limited
●Utilize Iowa’s Immunization Registry Information System (IRIS)
●Priority group information gathering ongoing
Local Vaccine Allocation & Distribution Considerations
●Age
●Estimated population within the priority group/sub-groups vs vaccine
allocation
●Vaccine provider capability
●Vaccine supply
●Practical logistics
●Local business/industry systems and climate, vulnerable populations, access
to healthcare
●COVID -19 disease trends
●Actively seeing vulnerable populations, Medicaid and uninsured
●COVID-19 risk factors within priority groups
13%
22%
18%
13%12%9%6%7%
0-17 18-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80+
NEW DUBUQUE COUNTY COVID-
19 CASES BY AGE GROUP:
Last 14 Days as of Jan. 29
6 3 11 14 21 20 30
71
50-54
(MIDDLE
AGE)
55-59
(MIDDLE
AGE)
60-64
(OLDER
ADULT)
65-69
(OLDER
ADULT)
70-74
(OLDER
ADULT)
75-79
(OLDER
ADULT)
80-84
(ELDERLY)
85+
(ELDERLY)
Dubuque County COVID-19 Deaths to
Date by Age Group as Feb. 1, 2021
Phase 1b Balancing Vaccine Priorities
Phase 1b Groups Estimated Population
All Residents Age 65 and up 17,819
Tier 1 Subgroups
•First Responders 300
•PK-12 Staff 2,385
•Early/Childhood &
Childcare
350+
Total 20,854
Phase 1b Balancing Vaccine Priorities
17,819
300 2,385
350
Estimated Phase 1b Populations: Total = 20,854
Residents Age 65+
Tier 1: First
Responders
Tier 1: PK-12 Staff
Phase 1b Tier 2
●Frontline essential workers in
food, agriculture, and
manufacturing sectors who
live or work in non-social
distanced settings
●Individuals with disabilities
living in home settings and
their direct care staff
Where will I get Vaccinated?
•Kennedy Mall -Community Point of Distribution
(POD)-
•Clinics/medical providers offices
•Hospitals
•Pharmacies
•Public Health Clinics
•Work Sites
Point of Distribution (POD)
●Kennedy Mall-former Younkers Women’s store
●Go live goal: Monday Feb 8, 2021
●Logistics and IT underway
●Vaccinations by appointment only!
Additional POD sites may be established
Vaccine supply
Workforce
Demand
Federal retail pharmacy parternership
9
2
Tattoo Establishments Pools
Social Distancing Compliance
Inspections
106
14 16 7 3
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Food
Establishments
Total COVID19
Complaints
Referred to ABD COVID19
Complaints
Verified
Warning Letters
Issued from city
City of Dubuque COVID19 Compliance
Inspections
September 24, 2020-February 1, 2021
Additional COVID -19 Activities
●Schools, preK -12 and higher ed
●Long Term Care
●Dubuque VNA call center and other functions
●Emergency Management Agency (EMA)
●Vaccine public information/education
Questions