By DOTTY NIST
Addressing the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) on March 10, Holly Holt identified staying home when sick as the most important disease prevention measure for COVID-19, also known as Novel Coronavirus 2019.
Other recommended measures include washing hands often with soap and water, using hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol, avoiding touching eyes, nose, and mouth, and avoiding contact with sick people.
Holt, administrator for the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) in Walton County, provided a March 10 update on the virus at the BCC regular meeting at the Freeport Business Park Boardroom.
COVID-19, an acute respiratory illness, was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, in 2019. The virus spread, now having been identified in more than 100 locations worldwide, including the United States.
Holt thanked the officials for working closely with the FDOH in Walton County. She spoke of the executive order issued by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on March 1 after two Florida residents tested presumptively positive for COVID-19. (As of March 16, more than 130 Florida residents had tested positive.)
Gov. DeSantis’s executive order had directed State Health Officer and Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees to declare a public health emergency in the state and had directed Rivkees to follow Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines in “establishing protocols to control” the spread of the virus and educate the public on prevention.
The CDC is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The CDC is implementing preparedness and response plans to address the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The governor’s executive order had designated the FDOH as the lead state agency to coordinate activities for emergency response to the virus situation among state and local government agencies, with the state health officer or his designee to update the governor’s office on implementation of these activities.
The order directed the FDOH to monitor all persons meeting the CDC’s definition of a person under investigation (PUI) for 14 days or until the PUI tests negative, with monitoring to include risk assessment within the first 24 hours and twice-daily temperature checks. A PUI is any person currently under investigation for having the virus or who has been under investigation but has tested negative for the virus.
Other direction to the FDOH in connection with the executive order was to ensure that PUIs were isolated or quarantined for 14 days or until after testing negative for the virus, with all agencies under the governor’s office to “fully cooperate” with the department of health to implement the order.
Holt brought up “new news” from a March 9 update from the FDOH in Tallahassee. The update announced new CDC guidelines for anyone who had traveled internationally, referencing travel from what the CDC classifies as Level 2 and Level 3 countries.
The CDC recommends that travelers avoid any nonessential travel to Level 3 countries, which are said to have widespread, ongoing transmission of the virus.
There are travel advisories for Level 2 countries stating that older adults and people with chronic medical conditions are recommended to consider postponing travel to these countries.
Current information on Level 2 and Level 3 countries for COVID-19 is found on FDOH’s website, www.floridahealth.gov.
In the March 9 update, individuals returning from Level 3 travel were advised to self-isolate for 14 days after returning to the U.S. and to contact their county health department or doctor if they showed symptoms of the virus. Returning Level 2 travelers and people returning to the U.S. from cruises were advised to monitor their health, limit interactions with others for 14 days from their return, and if showing symptoms, to immediately self-isolate and contact the health department or their doctor.
More than 440 people were being monitored in Florida as of March 16. Holt said FDOH in Walton County was currently monitoring people within the county.
Holt commented that no presumptive or confirmed cases of the virus had been identified in Walton County, although neighboring Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties did have cases of the virus.
Holt provided a presentation on the COVID-19 outbreak, its locations, symptoms, manner of spread, and recommendations for control of the virus.
She encouraged anyone with concerns about COVID-19 to contact FDOH’s State COVID-19 call center at (866) 779-6121.
Information on COVID-19 is also available on the FDOH website, www.floridahealth.gov and the CDC website, www.cdc.gov.
Jeff Goldberg, Walton County Emergency Management director, spoke briefly about emergency management’s work in connection with the virus situation, observing that FDOH in Walton County serves as the lead agency for any biological incident in the county and that emergency management is echoing information put out by the department of health.
Emergency management, Goldberg continued, has been in contact and is coordination with the state on the situation and is looking at workforce impacts and contingency plans. He noted that emergency management stands ready to assist the department of health with any needs.
Walton County Administrator Larry Jones commented that Holt’s presentation and all pertinent information would be posted on the Walton County website. It can now be found on the website, www.co.walton.fl.us
As of the morning of March 16, the Walton County Board of County Commissioners had scheduled an emergency meeting for 2 p.m. that afternoon. The purpose of the meeting was to provide the public and the commissioners with an update and information on the COVID-19 crisis.