LEXINGTON, Ky. — COVID-19 is still here, according to health officials, and it’s touching homes, school systems, and now an emergency response center in Lexington.
Lexington’s health department is reporting a significant uptick in confirmed COVID cases around the city. One place dealing with cases first-hand is the Lexington Enhance 911 Center.
Jonelle Patton is the director of Lexington’s dispatch department and noticed a rise in employees reporting symptoms of COVID last week, which led to 10 confirmed cases by Tuesday morning. This led to them opening an extra space to limit the spread.
“We had in place precautions. Of course everyone was talking about the hand washing, the masks and we had hand sanitizing stations,” Patton explained.
Despite the number of cases, the department adapted, with some working remotely while others remained in the office, and didn't have any significant interruptions to their services.
The 911 service sends out Lexington’s first responders through multiple communication channels.
Patton says they hired and retained over 16 staff members since last year, but are still down nearly 14 essential workers outside of COVID concerns.
“Working eight to 12, sometimes 16 hours a day, so a lot of times we spend more time with each other than we are with our families,” Patton said. She says the goal is to keep folks healthy or away from the office when sick to prevent any future outbreaks.
Kevin Hall, with the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, says the county has had 264 lab-confirmed cases of COVID within the last week. That number does not include those who may have tested using at-home kits.
“If you look at where we were at the start of July and we were at about 30 cases a week, starting August, it was about 100 cases. This is a significant increase, but it’s worth noting that we were at about 900 cases a week this time last year,” Hall said.
While there’s currently no mask mandate in place, health officials warn against a new covid strain. The center will follow past protocols for prevention before the peak of the typical season.
Hall says that vaccines are available and that they will provide booster vaccines as early as mid-September.
“Covid is not over just because it’s not leading your newscast every night. It doesn’t mean it’s something to forget about,” he explained. “We still need to be cautious. We need to make sure we’re updated on the vaccines and start the process. Go ahead and do it.”
Lexington’s Enhance 911 service says aside from the recent outbreak, they have been able to function under normal circumstances for people in Lexington and expect their staff to return to work in the next coming weeks.