Is Lake County Prepared for Coronavirus?

Health Officials Report on Leadville Readiness

While state, federal and international health organizations crank up the public message machine concerning the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Leadville Today checked in with Lake County health officials concerning preparedness and communication.

“I can tell you that the risk of Coronavirus is small in Lake County,” said Dr. Lisa Zwerdlinger with Rocky Mountain Family Practice in Leadville. “Honestly, I am more concerned about influenza currently.”

According to the Colorado Department of  Public Health and Environment, “Colorado has no cases and the risk of COVID-19 for Coloradans is low at this time.” To date, 19 patients in the state have been tested with negative results and there are also 4 cases pending lab results.” At this point, the messaging is about education and prevention for the disease that is causing the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, which was officially named by the World Health Organization (WHO) as coronavirus disease 2019 (abbreviated “COVID-19”).

And when it comes to prevention, Dr. Lisa’s recommendation lines up with those outlined by other medical professionals, providing age-old, common-sense advice to her Leadville patients:

Dr. Lisa Zwerdlinger, RMFP

“As with any kind of infection, the best way to prevent a significant infection is to wash your hands and cover your cough.  It is vitally important to keep yourself healthy by not smoking or vaping anything.  It is important not to take substances that depress your immune system like alcohol or other recreational drugs.  If you get sick, see your health provider.”

At the local level, Leadville Today also reached out to Lake County Public Health Director Colleen Nielsen asking for comment on the following points.

• What kind of staff training has been provided for Lake County health personnel for pandemic situations?
• How will residents be informed if there are any status changes relative to the Coronavirus? Social Media? Website? Other methods? If possible, please provide any links.

As of this posting, there has been no response to that media inquiry. In fact, a quick check of all of the public health departments and agencies charged “to lead and coordinate the all-hazards protection, prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery for natural, technological or man-made local emergencies and disasters; and assists with regional, state, and Federal emergencies and disasters as required,” social media platforms find NO – not one – notice has been posted about a health situation which is now making headlines around the world.

It’s relevant for readers to know that all 64 counties across Colorado receive state and federal funds to provide staff training for just such a situation. Fortunately, many of these mock emergencies are just that, an opportunity to have a public exercise, an opportunity for agencies to coordinate in a real-time “mock” situation. Leadville Today has attended and covered numerous emergency exercises in Lake County, particularly taking note of the communication component. How will information be relayed to the tax-paying public so they know the official place to go for updates?

Will the training pay off? Is Lake County prepared for a health crisis? Pictured here is a meeting of the Lake County Office of Emergency Management. Photo: Leadville Today

For example, earlier this month, Saguache Today, LT’s sister news site down in the San Luis Valley received a press release distributed to media outlets by the SLV Health Partnership to inform valley residents about what steps were being taken to address local concerns. In fact, in full disclosure and as a professional courtesy, LT included that document in its communication to the lead person for health in Lake County, providing an example of how another county’s emergency preparedness message is being coordinated. No response, yet.

But whichever communication method county officials have chosen, clear, concise and consistent messaging is key. Time and again in public meetings, public health agencies like Lake County Public Health, Lake County Office of Emergency Management and St. Vincent Hospital have identified their Facebook Pages as one of the places the public can go to for emergency messaging. None of the three leading health groups have any information posted on their social media platform regarding a public health situation now more than two months in the unfolding.

And for those who aren’t engaged in social media, all three of these leading health groups have also identified their websites as another online source. For the county-funded departments not only is there NO messaging on their web pages but in general, the county’s website has been inaccessible in a reliable manner for months now. So what’s the plan?  The public deserves to know and if these departments/agencies provide a statement, it will be added to this report. Better late, than never.

UPDATE: Response from Lake County Officials

The following statement was sent to Leadville Today at 9:41 a.m. on February 27 as “a combined response from Colleen Nielsen (Lake County Public Health Director) and Betty Benson (Lake County Public Information Officer).”  It is printed here in its entirety, as written.

“We are working with CDPHE (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment) and other state and local resources to ensure we are on top of the latest information.  In that you have done so much research you know that there are no cases in Colorado at this time, but that is not stopping the effort to be as best prepared as possible.  Due to the fact that it is still a moving target, many of the plans are not finalized and have an number of dependencies and change daily.  We are offering the following in response to your specific questions, but we will also send a press release referring the majority of questions about the virus  and directing people to the CDC website.  But we are also putting a plan in place for more local responses.

Lake County Public Health staff attend another emergency training session, this one in 2014. Photo: Leadville Today

“Lake County Public Health Agency (LCPHA) will follow the guidance of CDC https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html and CDPHE https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/2019-novel-coronavirus.  As this virus may progress into the State of Colorado, and into Lake County the procedures will be submitted in a timely fashion via press releases, facebook.com/lcoem and https://www.facebook.com/Lake-County-Public-Health-Agency-507012816019407/ ”

In response to your specific questions:

• Please share whatever information you think is relative as well as consider the following questions:
• What kind of staff training has been provided for Lake County health personnel for pandemic situations?
• How will residents be informed if there are any status changes relative to the cornoavirus? Social Media? Website? Other methods? If possible, please provide any links.

“In all cases we will issue a press release when there is enough changed information to warrant a press release.  We will always use facebook.com/lcoem and https://www.facebook.com/Lake-County-Public-Health-Agency-507012816019407/ for regular and brief updates.  We may post messages at various community locations and use message boards as the need arises.  It is also our plan to hold 1 or more town hall meetings to allow the public to ask questions and to provide the known information at the time of those townhalls.  Because this is an everchanging issue, we anticipate being as immediately reactive as possible and will provide information to the public as we have it.”

“The press release we will issue shortly will include things that individuals can do to take better care of themselves as they are able.  It is important, that each individual recognize they must work to maintain good health at all times. While this does not ensure they will not get something that is going around, each individual can provide their own best protection by taking good care of themselves. ” – END of STATEMENT –

UPDATE: Response from Lake County Public Health

Friday Feb 28 2020 3:07 pm – Message from Lake County Public Health Agency Director re: COVID-19

Hello,

I would like to make you all aware that we have been preparing for COVID-19 for a few months.  While this is novel, we have been preparing for similar things namely a pandemic influenza for years.  We do have plans in place and we will continue to share information with you as it is made available.  At this time, we do not have any confirmed cases in Colorado. We will be focusing on community engagement to ensure that people are receiving the most up to date information. We will be briefing the group at the 25 March Emergency Services Council meeting and there will be regular updates through email/social media.

We are directing people to the following:

Call (303) 389-1687 or 1-877-462-2911 (CO HELP) with questions about COVID-19.

For the most up-to-date information is available at:

https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/2019-novel-coronavirus

Then one and a half hours later

Public Information Officer Betty Benson issued the following press release from “Lake County Public Health Agency with the current status of COVID-19,” on Fri, Feb 28, 2020 at 4:33 p.m.

Email from LCOEM Feb Report

Stay Tuned. Stay Informed.

In times like these, leadership isn’t about power-plays. In times like these, preparedness shouldn’t be about politics. In times like these, it’s about integrity and in Leadville Today that means that the narrative meets the reality. It means that this small mountain community sees the pay-off for hundreds of hours of staff training and tens of thousands of dollars spent on resources finally kick back its return-on-investment.

If you’re looking for that kind of leadership you can find it in Lake County on the corner of McWethy and Highway 24 at Rocky Mountain Family Practice. Dr. Lisa’s team is ready to schedule an appointment and address your health concerns. You can find them at in Leadville or call 719-486-0500.

Until then, Leadville Today provides the following links to official state, federal and international reliable news sources.

• Colorado Department of Health and Environment has some great up-to-the-minute data on the Coronavirus status in Colorado. There are also some great community resources in English and Spanish.
• U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

• The World Health Organization