Allamakee County Emergency Management shares information sources, local effort perspective

Allamakee County Emergency Management Coordinator Corey Snitker shared the following information and perspective concerning local efforts in combating the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak:

Hi, and I hope everyone is doing well as we deal with the coronavirus known as COVID-19. I wanted to let everyone know that Allamakee County Emergency Management and Allamakee County Public Health are working together and have been able to also include other agencies and organizations within the county, as well as working with the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) and Iowa’s Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.  We are also working with city and county government, our county emergency responders, long term care facilities and the hospital.

As everyone realizes, events are happening very quickly with this outbreak and we greatly appreciate the effort that we have seen by citizens to comply with guidance and direction from the State. As far as future plans and activities that are coming, we don’t know at this time, but we will do our best to provide any information to the public and city and county organizations as quickly as possible.

I wanted to also ask people to be very cautious of what they are reading on social media and seeing in the news at times and to verify this information before acting upon it or reacting to it. We obviously want people to be informed and prepared. Some trusted sources I use include the IDPH website (https://idph.iowa.gov/Emerging-Health-Issues/Novel-Coronavirus) and also the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) at https://www.cdc.gov/. These two sites contain information and guidance on COVID-19 actions the general population can take. I would also recommend using the Governor’s website for news releases; these can be found at https://governor.iowa.gov/newsroom.

Veterans Memorial Hospital has a website that you can go to for information and guidance on seeking treatment if you have respiratory symptoms. That website can be found at https://www.veteransmemorialhospital.com/. One other source for information to the public is to call the 211 information hotline.

In closing, I wanted to remind our readers that IDPH recommends everyday preventive actions to help prevent the spread of all respiratory viruses, including:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your mouth with your upper arm or a tissue when coughing or sneezing.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

Working together we will get through this. Again, we appreciate everyone’s assistance in this effort as we continue to move forward.