By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Some counties have given up on contact tracing for COVID cases. But Wood County Health Department is continuing to tread water.
“We are drowning in cases,” Wood County Health Commissioner Ben Robison said at Thursday’s board of health meeting.
In 2021, Wood County never broke 200 new COVID cases in a day. This past Monday, there were 350 new cases, followed by about 250 a day since then.
“It’s just infecting more people,” Robison said of the Omicron variant. “You should assume pretty much everyone is going to get COVID.”
The board approved the hiring of more staff to contact people who test positive for COVID, to walk them through safety measures for themselves and for those they may have come in contact with.
But some areas, like neighboring Henry County, just couldn’t keep up and stopped contact tracing efforts.
“There are counties that are having to throw in the towel,” Robison said.
To try to keep up with cases, in addition to the specially hired contact tracers, all health department staff are spending one hour each workday making case calls.
The numbers of actual cases are far higher than the numbers being reported, Robison said. Very few people testing positive at home are reporting their status to the health department – so the 350 peak hit Monday is artificially low.
“There are a lot of tests right now that we don’t know about,” Robison said. While healthcare providers are required to report positive tests, individuals are not required to do so.
Health board member Cathy Nelson concurred, saying that she is aware of about 20 people who have had COVID in recent weeks. “I don’t know any of them who called into the health department,” she said.
Robison stressed that the virus is still dangerous.
“It’s still not behaving like the flu,” he said, noting the continued high number of deaths among older populations.
He also said that boosters are greatly improving the chances of people avoiding serious symptoms.
“If there is any good news,” Robison said, the Omicron surge may leave as quickly as it arrived. And he predicted that antiviral medications will become more accessible in the next three months.
“I think we are coming to the cusp of a change,” he said.
“We hope that on the other side of this, there is relief,” Robison said.
At the beginning of Thursday’s meeting, the health board again listened to public comments.
The board was chided for forcing injections, was told to fear God, and was thanked for their courage during COVID. This was the first meeting in some time when a member of the public spoke in support of the health board’s efforts to protect local residents from COVID.
David Desser, of Perrysburg, objected to the idea that his religious rights were being infringed upon.
“It’s not up to my doctor what treatments I choose,” Desser said. “And it’s not up to you guys.”
Desser said the medical community has been wrong in the past about medications and treatments. “What if you’re wrong?” he said.
A woman, also from Perrysburg, read verses from the Bible to the board.
“Fear God more than you fear any fraudulent mandate,” she said.
But former health board president Frank McLaughlin, of Bowling Green, praised the board and its leadership for standing up for public health during a very difficult time. He assured the board that the very “vocal and angry contingent” that shows up at health board meetings each month does not reflect the majority of Wood County residents.
“Most of us want to do the right thing,” McLaughlin said. And that includes getting the vaccine and wearing masks – “the best things for the community.”
The lobby of the health department was again crowded with residents who refused to wear masks. As a county building, the health department falls under the Wood County Commissioners’ order requiring masks in the building.
However, when Health Board President Tom Milbrodt asked those in the lobby to wear masks that were provided for them, no one complied. Milbrodt, a retired physician, stated that a health department policy required masks be worn, and cautioned about the highly transmissible nature of the Omicron variant of COVID now surging in the region. One man, who could be seen with a mask, wore it down on his neck.
When the board started its meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, some in the lobby yelled out the words. And repeatedly during the meeting, the crowd had to be asked to stop talking.
In order to allow for more space between people at future meetings, the board voted to change the location for their meetings to the atrium at the Wood County Courthouse Complex. Masks are also required in that building.
Also at the meeting, Milbrodt thanked past board president Cathy Nelson for her leadership “through some very challenging times.”
After an executive session on employee compensation, the board voted to give staff a 4% cost of living increase. Those who were hired in above the cap amount were given 2% raises. And individuals eligible for step increases were granted those raises.
