Health director recommends actions to curb COVID-19 spread

South Heartland District Health Department (SHDHD) is upgrading the COVID-19 Advisory for Adams, Clay, Nuckolls and Webster counties to Health Alert status. Michele Bever, SHDHD executive director, cited record-setting case numbers and extremely high community transmission as reasons for the heightened status in the four-county health district. A COVID-19 Advisory was first issued on Sept. 15, 2021, and has been in effect since.

SHDHD’s Health Alert serves as a way to notify the public about the high community transmission and the risk of COVID-19 exposure within the health district. In the alert, SHDHD recommends actions for curbing the spread of the virus, with emphasis on worksites and other places where people interact in close proximity. The health alert will be in effect until community transmission decreases to moderate levels and is sustained at those levels or lower for at least 14 days.

As of Friday evening, the department had logged 515 cases of COVID-19 infection for the week, nearly doubling the 265 cases recorded the prior week. The rolling 7-day number of new cases also skyrocketed to 1130.5 per 100,000 compared to 586 per 100,000 one week earlier. For reference, a rolling 7-day total of 100 cases per 100,000 is considered high community transmission; the health department is seeing community transmission at levels 10X higher than the threshold for high transmission.

Weekly positivity (percent positive tests) in community settings was ranging from 30 to 50 percent for the week ending Jan. 8, with levels greater than 10 percent considered high community transmission.

South Heartland District’s increased community transmission and record numbers of new COVID-19 cases may be because of the spread of the Omicron variant, which was first detected in the health district the week of January 2 to 8. The Omicron variant is known to be much more highly transmissible than the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 and current treatment options are not as effective. In addition, monoclonal antibodies and antiviral therapies that are effective against Omicron remain in very short supply.