How The Health Department Prepared For A Long Pandemic

  OCEAN COUNTY – With the COVID-19 pandemic starting a year ago, The Ocean County Health Department (OCHD) reflects on how they prepared to help with their emergency response plans (ERP) not knowing the pandemic would last this long.

  “The OCHD watched closely how the pandemic was evolving overseas and its spread across the country and how those public health agencies were dealing with the outbreak,” explained Daniel Regenye, OCHD Public Health Coordinator/Health Officer.

  The OCHD states how the action plan they rolled out during the pandemic included: dedicating special task force teams to provide guidance and support for school nurses and administrators and the 54 long-term care facilities in the county.

  The OCHD was one of the first counties in the State to start a Contact Tracing/Disease Investigation Institute to train the more than 60 contact tracers counted on throughout the pandemic. The contact tracing program has now reached thousands of people working day and night to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus and will continue well into 2021.

  The emergency preparedness unit, nursing department and communicable disease staff were all critical parts of the ERP, as they implement specific clinics to handle the emerging needs of the community.

  The OCHD held 32 flu vaccine clinics at different sites throughout Ocean County for the general public while also accommodating the homebound, homeless and individuals with particular needs. The OCHD administered more than 1,100 doses to residents between October and December of 2020.

  A COVID-19 drive thru and indoor testing site at Ocean County Community College has been going strong for more than 50 weeks now, holding more than 165 clinics resulting in close to 30,000 residents being tested.

Health employees work at the drive-through testing center at Ocean County College in Toms River. (Photo courtesy the Richards family)

  When the COVID-19 vaccine was approved last December, the OCHD responded with its first vaccination clinic right before the New Year at the RWJ Barnabas Health Arena at Toms River High School North. The OCHD then opened a second site shortly after at Southern Regional Middle School in Manahawkin.

  The OCHD has administered more than 63,000 first and second doses of the vaccine within 12 weeks at 82 clinics. In the future, OCHD plans on expanding its COVID-19 vaccination clinic services with a third site at Manchester Elementary School. Additional clinic sites are also being set up throughout the county to accommodate more senior communities and special needs populations as well as the remainder of vaccine eligible individuals.

  The OCHD created a COVID-19 Information Hotline and email address for calls from residents and clinicians with COVID-19 questions and seeking guidance. From March 15, 2020 through March 10 2021, the hotline has logged more than 54,820 calls while receiving 10,446 emails.

  The COVID-19 dashboard on the OCHD website has had 1.2 million visitors and 1.3 million page views since March 8, 2020.

  The OCHD made a free mobile phone app and its public information/risk communications team reached residents through the mass media by issuing 388 daily media advisories and 90 press releases and more than 1,100 Facebook and 812 Twitter posts during the pandemic.

  The two Ocean County Animal Facilities were also impacted from the pandemic, but it didn’t stop residents from adopting 964 cats and dogs throughout the year.

  “That’s only a slight decrease from the amount of adoptions from the prior year – which was anticipated due to the significant decrease in impounds. We really didn’t know what to expect, but many people told us they wanted to use all the time spent at home to adopt while they had the opportunity to train and bond with a new four-legged member of the family,” Brian Lippai, OCHD Public Information Officer said.

Ocean County Freeholder Deputy Director Gary Quinn joined with Dr. Mukesh Roy, Director, Emergency Preparedness and Planning for Ocean County Health Department and Daniel Regenye, Ocean County Public Health Coordinator, in keeping a watchful eye over Medical Reserve Corp Volunteer Bill Cohen as he was administered the COVID 19 vaccine by Scott Carter, public health nurse. (Photo courtesy Ocean County)

  “As much as we may train and prepare for these events, there will always be times when you’ll have to tweak or deviate from the best laid plans,” Regenye said. “We have to be flexible and evolve just as the virus itself and the medical research behind it. You’re always pleased when something works according to the way it was originally laid out, but you learn to adapt very quickly and the OCHD will continue to do so as we navigate the latest chapter of the pandemic.

  “We certainly hit the ground running and haven’t slowed down since day one of the pandemic. I’ve been extremely pleased with our dedicated staff; appreciate all the community partnerships we’ve had prior to the pandemic and the new relationships we cultivated over the year. But, most importantly, I’m very appreciative of the cooperation and support we’ve received from our residents despite the many challenges they’ve had to face on a daily basis,” he said.

  For more information, visit ochd.org or the OCHD Facebook page. The OCHD COVID-19 Information Hotline can be reached at 732-380-5079 (local) and 833-544-0288 (toll free).