Henry County Public Health hold meeting to address coronavirus concerns

MT. PLEASANT - Henry County Public Health and Henry County Emergency Management held a joint meeting this week to address community concerns about the coronavirus.

Shelley Van Dorin, the public health director, and Walt Jackson, the emergency management coordinator lead the Tuesday meeting and answered questions.

Van Dorin opened the meeting by encouraging community members to seek information from the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH). She explained the website had talking points and advice on how to address the virus for long term care facilities, businesses and schools.

'Get on there often. I would recommend every day. This is an ever emerging virus. The response changes sometimes several times a day but specifically daily,” she said.

The public health director also warned against getting information from Facebook and other similar social media platforms.

'Make sure you're getting your information from a reputable source. If you hear a story that doesn't make sense, please call us so we can clarify it and get it taken care of. The worst thing that we can do is incite fear,” she added.

Jackson, who went over precautions people can take, said they're 'no different from any other flu or virus that we have.” This included frequent hand washing, staying home if sick and covering coughs and sneezes.

'For the most part, healthy people, if we're doing the things we're supposed to be doing anyway, we're going to be fine. It's the older generation that's having issues with it,” Jackson said.

For cleaning, Van Dorin suggested using Clorox wipes at least once a day to clean door handles, bathrooms, and hard surfaces like countertops.

'As employers, encourage people to stay home if they're sick,” she added, 'Some people are worried that they're going to lose their jobs, some of them might not have sick pay. Those are things to keep in mind because if we can keep the sick people home, we'll be better off.”

Van Dorin added that people who have traveled to Italy, Japan or South Korea are being asked to self isolate for 14 days. Mandatory isolation is required for those who have traveled to mainland China or Iran.

Following the presentation, several community members asked about availability of test kits and the process of self-isolation.

Van Dorin explained 'there isn't a lot of monitoring,” with regards to those who are suggested to self-isolate,

'We're using them on their own honor system. If you have a mandatory order, we call you twice a day,” she said

Angie Rhum, a nurse with the public health department, added the department is only notified if someone has traveled to either mainland China or Iran, otherwise public health is not made aware of other cases.

Rob Gardner, the chief executive officer for Henry County Health Center, said the center 'has the capability to do tests and if so, order” kits. Gardner added the center would work with IDPH should a situation arise.

'They have a very strict protocol. They only test on certain things. It's very specific, an algorithm based on symptoms, where you've traveled and how sick you are,” Van Dorin added.

Gardner also explained the concern around the coronavirus, explaining that overall exposure and death rate to it is over 3% as compared to the 1.5% of influenza.

'That alone, you're talking about a couple percent - that's a lot of people. We don't have any vaccines, we don't have any antivirals. With influenza A and B, we have antivirals that can be given to help soften the impact of that virus so that people can recover. And also too, it's a great impact for people who have a lot of health conditions,” he said.