BOH Final Minutes of November 17, 2021

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MINUTES - Draft ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH November 17, 2021 • Appreciation for being able to be diplomatic, navigate the politics of issues and the handling of community-divisive issues • Concern about making sure the Health Director does not suffer burnout • Amazing work being performed and the way she hit the ground running as a new Health Director C. Health Director Report In addition to her report, some of items Ms. Stewart briefly highlighted are below. • On November 4t" & 5', she participated in Strategic Planning Workshops for the NCALHD in Winston-Salem where there was focus on post-COVID and other important health issues. The NCALHD will be enhancing communication between DHHS staff and LHDs. • Ms. Stewart has been nominated to serve as the Secretary for the NCALHD. The official vote will take place on tomorrow at the full Association meeting. • The OCHD continues to work with UNC and both OC school districts on COVID mitigation strategies. OC school districts plan to participate in a Test to Stay pilot study with the ABC Science Collaborative. The study will evaluate the transmission of SARS- Co-V-2 in K-12 schools and is scheduled to begin after Thanksgiving, lasting approximately four weeks. • Legislatively, the state's proposed budget is awaiting approval. o Full Medicaid Expansion is not in the proposed budget. o There will be an expansion of post-partum benefits. o Public Health CD LHDs programs will receive $36 million in funds over the next two years. D. COVID-19 Update Quintana Stewart, Health Director, gave an update on the COVID-19 status in Orange County (OC) as well as took questions from the Board. Some highlights are below. • As of today, there were 19 new cases resulting in 12,085 cases total in OC. • According to the county alert system, OC is in the substantial community spread category with a case rate of 79 per 100K people. • OC percent positive has increased to 1.7%. • Some of the vaccines are starting to wane; therefore, it's encouraged that people get the booster shots. • 5 to 11 year olds are eligible for vaccinations. • Post-vaccinated cases equal 23% of cases in NC ending October 30t" There is one outbreak at the OC Detention Center. Bulk of hospitalizations are comprised of those unvaccinated. The BOH had questions and comments that were addressed by Ms. Stewart. E. Media Items Ms. Stewart briefly mentioned the articles in the Board packet, which were just a selection of the numerous COVI D-1 9-related articles that were gathered by our Communications Manager, Kristin Prelipp. Included in the Board's packet were articles regarding the OC Detention Center S:\Managers Working Files\BOH\Agenda &Abstracts\2021 Agenda &Abstracts/ November Page 4