Pottawatomie County commissioners agreed Monday to use $100,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to support up to four additional positions for its overwhelmed health department.
Health Department Director Leslie Campbell says her nursing staff, which includes she, the local health officer and two nurses, have been fielding a growing number of concerns and questions from school officials daily. Many, she says, are trying to navigate uncertainty as transmission rates and quarantines increase.
Campbell says her department has fielded numerous phone calls the past few weeks from school officials, including superintendents about what protocols they should be following.
In addition, the county issued an emergency declaration, which opens up resources available to health officials and increased rescue pay for an overworked health department staff.
Commissioner Pat Weixelman asked why some schools in the county are resorting to opening quarantine rooms for students associated with someone who may have had exposure to a COVID positive individual. Local Health Officer Liz Parthemer says schools are doing this to keep kids from falling behind in classes.
KMAN reached out to USD 320 Wamego Interim Superintendent Greg Mann and USD 323 Rock Creek Superintendent Kevin Logan following the health department’s report. Both districts are exploring the possibility of quarantine rooms to keep kids exposed to the virus at school, in the classroom. Neither district currently has an active quarantine room.
Rock Creek utilized the concept in the late winter and spring last year with success. Logan tells KMAN it resulted in none of those quarantined students becoming Covid positive.
During Monday’s meeting Weixelman also noted he wants to see a better county level breakdown, whether that’s from the state or local level on the amount of COVID vaccines being administered on a weekly basis.
Parthemer says KDHE tracks each county’s cumulative vaccine numbers, but not on a weekly basis.
The county will also review with health officials going forward what additional appropriations may be necessary. Commissioner Dee McKee says she hopes for more specifics with how it supported salaries and overtime payouts.
Pottawatomie County ranked 100 out of the 105 Kansas counties in terms of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s COVID rankings, based on the county’s 38 percent vaccination rate, rolling seven day average of 44 new COVID cases (per 100,000 people), and 133 tests (per 100,000 people). Campbell says on one day alone last week Pottawatomie County had between 90 and 100 active cases.
