By Megan Alley
Sun Reporter
Clermont County Public Health officials are attributing the recent uptick in positive COVID-19 cases ‘COVID fatigue.’
Health Commissioner for Clermont County Public Health Julianne Nesbit shared her latest report with the county commissioners during the Oct. 14 meeting.
“We are definitely not headed in the right direction,” Nesbit said.
She explained that current data shows that the county’s outpatient visits and emergency department visits are increasing to levels higher than what has been seen since the beginning of the pandemic.
Clermont County is now a “high incident” county, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control, because, looking back over the last 14 days, the county has had more than 100 cases per 100,000 population.
“So, definitely trending in the wrong direction,” Nesbit added.
She explained that in the previous week, the case rate per 100,000 population was at 73, whereas during the last term of her report, the case rate was at 125.
“Certainly, we have concerns over that case rate per 100,000 going up so quickly. It’s a pretty significant climb; we have never had rates that high,” Nesbit said.
She said that school cases are not yet a “major concern,” but warned that what happens in the community impacts what is going on in the schools.
She noted that there have been outbreaks in long-term care facilities and in some businesses, between employees.
“There’s just lots and lots of transmission that’s happening out there, so we really just want to re-emphasize with everyone those preventive measures that we put in,” Nesbit said. “This was kind of our concern as we moved into colder weather, going back in the fall, moving from outdoor environments to more indoor environments, so with that we’re just really wanting to emphasize the fact that people need to continue to remain vigilant.”
She added, “We need to continue to wear the masks … it is definitely a measure that’s going to prevent that continued spread, if both individuals are wearing masks, and they have to be in close contact.”
Other preventive measures that Nesbit reiterated were socially distancing, hand hygiene and staying home if you are sick.
“Ultimately, at some point, it will impact our schools, to determining whether or not they can continue to stay in session, whether or not we can continue with sports,” she said. “You know, those types of things that we want our kids to do; we want them in school, we want them to enjoy those benefits.”
Commissioner David Painter then asked if contact tracing results showed any particular demographic trending with high case counts.
Nesbit responded, “It’s spread across the county. It’s truly people who are socializing in larger groups, and a lot of times, we do run into cases on sports teams; it’s not necessarily what’s happening while they’re on the field or in practice, it’s the fact that those groups also socialize after games and after events.”
She added, “I think everybody’s tired, and we understand that. Trust me, if there’s anyone who understands being tired, it’s public health right now, we definitely get it, but I think people are just tired and I think given up a little bit, and we can’t do that at this point … it is really spread everywhere, pretty much in every environment.”
Nesbit said COVID-19 deaths are at 36 (at the time), and said the number has significantly ticked up in the last couple of weeks.