COVID-19 Pandemic

3/10/2020

The COVID-19 situation is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation, and the Department’s goal is to slow the spread of the virus in our community while  minimizing the negative impact on people’s ability to engage in routine activities. Below is a brief overview the important but somewhat confusing public health terminology: isolation, quarantine and self-monitoring. These are the recommendations as of March 9, but as always with an evolving situation are subject to change if new information becomes available.

Isolation and quarantine are public health measures to help protect the public by preventing exposure to people who have or may have a contagious disease, such as COVID-19. These measures are particularly important when trying to minimize the spread of a virus that is new  like COVID-19. When a virus is new, science has not had the time to develop other important public health tools such as diagnostic testing, treatment and vaccines. So slowing the spreading of disease becomes an important intervention.

• Isolation separates sick people with a contagious disease from people who are not sick. If a person is diagnosed with COVID-19, they are put into isolation – either at home or in the hospital if they need additional care.
• Quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick. If you have been in close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19 and you are not sick, you would be asked to stay at home and that would be called quarantine.Household contacts and family members of people  currently quarantined can go about their normal business, they just need to self-monitor for fever or other symptoms. Should they develop any symptoms, they need to call their doctor.
• Self-monitor: Sometimes we ask people to “self-monitor” for a fever (100.4o or greater) and other symptoms such as cough, shortness of breath, or sore throat. While self-monitoring a person can go about their routine activities like working or going to school, but they just need to watch for the development of any symptoms.

The Allen County Department of Health has created a survey to gauge our community’s readiness and needs associated with a potential pandemic. This survey is anonymous. The data collected from this survey will be used to inform the community’s awareness of needs and potential allocation resources. The data may also be used for research purposes in the future. Thank you in advance for helping contribute to our strategic awareness of our community’s needs.

Businesses looking to survey their employees on their ability to assess the impact of community responses to a pandemic can utilize this tool.

Tip Sheets & Checklists

Community Advisory Group

The Allen County Department of Health hosted a collaborative, cross-sector meeting with community leaders to discuss preparedness surrounding the emerging novel coronavirus COVID-19. More than 180 representatives from local businesses, social service agencies, foundations, first responders, schools, government agencies and healthcare among others joined this Pandemic Advisory Group Meeting at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum March 4. The Allen County Department of Health and other healthcare experts provided a situation update on the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and discussed with community leaders how to minimize potential negative health, safety and economic impacts of a possible pandemic. Resources from the meeting are linked below.