With numbers on the rise nationwide, Sheboygan County is no exception to the resurgence of COVID-19, and the pandemic is far from over. That has the team at the Sheboygan County Division of Public Health preparing for the worst while hoping for the best.
In an interview earlier this month, the Director of the County DPH, Starrlene Grossman, said that they were encouraged initially by the decline seen a few months ago. Grossman told us: “Sure, we were hoping for a decline, we were really, really excited in May and June when we saw the numbers decreasing and, that was really a positive. I think everyone kind of took a collective deep breath and thought, oh – thank goodness we’re moving back to somewhat normal, but with these cases that we’re seeing now and the concern with the Delta variant we are moving back into a surge model for our public health team, really doing a lot of work with our health care systems. We continue to meet with them regularly to see how they’re doing and if they have any concerns or ways that Public Health could be of support to them, and we are working closely with our contact tracing team and outbreak team to make sure that we’re managing cases as they come in, and outbreaks as they are identified. So, certainly, on our end, preparing for that surge.”
Grossman said that although the numbers are up and they’re prepared for the worst, they’re also hopeful that things won’t return to conditions experienced during the peak of the pandemic so far, saying “At this point the cases that we have coming in the door are manageable based off of our current staffing pattern. And so we’re really thankful for that and hoping to avoid a situation like we had last fall when we had 200+ cases coming in a day.”
Grossman said that the most valuable tools to avoid that level of spread remain the familiar “vaccinations and masking”, especially as some experts say that the Delta variant of the coronavirus may be as infectious as Chicken Pox or the Common Cold.
“Yes, so that’s why we’ve aligned ourselves with the CDC and DHS guidelines related to masking based off of our level of community transmission. So as you mentioned we are in a high level of community transmission right now, and so we know that people who are vaccinated are offered a level of protection against the Delta variant. Those breakthrough infections that are being seen, people who have been vaccinated but do get sick end up with very mild case of infection or no symptoms at all, and so they could be inadvertently spreading the infection to other people without knowing it, so by wearing a mask they decrease the chance of spreading…inadvertently spreading illness to other people. As you mentioned, the viral load, so they did a sort of a case study where they did a comparison of individuals who had breakthrough infections who were vaccinated, and while they might have had mild symptoms, the viral load that they were carrying in their body was the same as you would see with unvaccinated individuals, which lead the CDC and DHS to make that recommendation related to masking. So we know that vaccines…first of all, breakthrough cases are still very rare – just not happening very often, but we do know that when it does happen that there’s a chance for spreading to other people, and when our level of community transmission is high, that chance increases. So that’s why we’ve aligned ourselves with that recommendation per masking at this point.”
Masking has become a hot-button issue for many, especially in school settings where some are concerned about the detrimental effects it could have upon young students who have been less likely to become ill in the first place. The Sheboygan Area School District Board for one has voted to encourage, but not require, masking, and while Grossman wouldn’t go on record saying that this was wrong, she did say it was at odds with current recommendations.
Grossman said: “So our recommendation to all of our school partners is to implement layered mitigation strategies for their schools, and that would include masking and encouraging vaccinations.”
(WHBL) So is the fact that they’re encouraging masking but not requiring it, is that of any concern?
(Grossman) “So, we would recommend that schools follow the CDC guidance and the DHS guidance and the American Academy of Pediatrics guidance that requires masking for students. That is our recommendation.”
While some cities and states are imposing mandates, Grossman said there aren’t any plans for that right now in Sheboygan County, and instead she’s hoping that people doing the right things will be enough, telling us: “At this point we do not have any plans to do any kind of mandates, and we are focusing on really individuals in our community acting together and making choices, personal choices and, to be part of the solution. So we really want people to lean into the resources and the recommendations from our partners – state and federal partners related to masking and vaccinating them, getting vaccinated, I think that that’s the best thing we can to to protect our community. And so that’s our current recommendation is really leaning into everyone being part of the solution. There are no plans at this point to do any mandates.”
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