The Ogle County Health Department used to announce a COVID-19-related death once every month or two.
In recent weeks, the OCHD has been announcing 2-3 deaths per day as cases have dramatically risen in the area.
“It’s concerning and frustrating,” Auman said. “I wish there was something else we could do. A lot is in the community’s hands. Being in my seat is challenging, frustrating and disheartening.”
Auman said area hospitals are seeing higher COVID-19 admission numbers, with several at capacity, which he called concerning. The region is at 20 percent availability for beds, which is a bad spot to be in, he said.
Some hospitals are utilizing crisis management tactics, with six patients assigned to one healthcare worker, who spends their entire shift stabilizing patients. That workload can be taxing, he said.
“Our local hospitals have been relatively full for several weeks and staff is stressed,” Auman said. “A lot are trying to find additional workers and relief. That comes at a premium right now. People sick with COVID-19 are uninsured. There’s cash flow issues.”
Auman said Ogle County nursing homes are starting to see cases in their facilities. Many are working through “complicated situations” including workforce issues. Patients without COVID-19 still need care, and workers are being knocked out by quarantines.
The OCHD recommended last month that schools close through the end of the semester to avoid COVID-19 spread brought on by holiday gatherings and increased community spread. Many, outside of Rochelle and the Meridian School District, chose to continue in-person learning. Contact tracing within schools has been a challenge.
“The schools that went remote here significantly helped out and reduced our workload by half,” Auman said. “I understand the desire to stay in person. We’ll see in the next couple weeks how things go.”
Auman said cases brought on by gathering over the Thanksgiving week by the county as a whole have largely yet to be seen. He anticipates a “significant impact” if residents didn’t follow guidelines.
The OCHD has seen reports of “packed, shoulder-to-shoulder” gatherings at bars from the night before Thanksgiving, a notorious bar holiday. Auman said he reached out to municipalities beforehand to plead with them to take action to prevent that from happening.
“That type of behavior will hurt our efforts and make things go from bad to worse,” Auman said. “We’ve had some things linked to businesses already. We could see a pretty significant spike.”
The health department is still following up on complaints from that week, and still receives about 10 complaints a day about businesses not following the current state mitigations.
Auman said has “no clue” whether additional mitigations will come down from the state. He’s concerned about hospitals and said the county isn’t in the heart of flu season yet, which could put more strain on healthcare.
The OCHD has been told a vaccine could be in its hands as early as Dec. 14. The first round will go to hospital workers and first responders. Vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna are in the FDA approval process.
The OCHD would be in charge of distributing a vaccine in the county. Auman said Ogle County would get it at the same time as the rest of the state. He expects “some” by the end of the month. But, it will take months into 2021 for it to take effect on the county as a whole due to logistical issues.
“The common misconception is it’ll stop COVID-19 in its tracks,” Auman said. “It will be a slow process. It’s a large order for a staff of 13 to vaccinate 51,000 people. We’ll be doing COVID-19 stuff well into next year. And there’s people who don’t plan on getting it. That makes it difficult.”