Mahaska County Officials Talk COVID-19 Response

Oskaloosa, Iowa – With the largest one day total of new COVID-19 cases announced in the State of Iowa, Mahaska County sits at 8 of the 2902 total cases.

Of those 8 cases in Mahaska County, 2 of those individuals have recovered. Ninety-nine individuals have been tested in the County.

Of those 8 cases, 1 is an adult, 5 are middle-aged, 1 is an older adult, while the last case is an elderly individual.

Statewide as of Sunday, April 19, 2020, There have been 2,902 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus, resulting in 75 deaths. 1,171 people have recovered from the virus. 24,550 people have been tested for the virus in Iowa.

Mahaska County Public Health Patty Malloy, in an interview before this weekend’s spike, spoke about the individuals that had been diagnosed with the virus and where and how those patients were responding to treatment.

Of those diagnosed, 3 COVID-19 patients were never hospitalized, while 4 other patients were hospitalized at other facilities in Iowa.

Oskaloosa News asked Malloy why there is a larger portion of the middle-aged population in Mahaska County that has contracted the virus.

Malloy said that the data available is a “little bit skewed just because of the testing that we’re allowed to do currently in Iowa.”

Individuals that are most likely to help take care of individuals in those most vulnerable categories are currently showing the most significant impact from the virus.

Trace testing or antibody testing has been discussed and was recently brought up by Governor Reynolds in a press conference. The antibody testing will help to indicate if you’ve already had COVID-19 and helps in contact tracing. “[The] information would be helpful to see where we’re at,” added Malloy. “That contact tracing information would be helpful to see where we’re at.”

Cases in Mahaska County may have COVID-19 like symptoms, but then don’t test positive for the virus, which could ultimately be illness like the flu.

“The testing they can do for the antibodies to see if people have had it would be helpful to see where we’re at,” added Malloy.

“Eventually, it’s just like, the flu. You get enough people that have had it; then, you can build up a herd immunity, which takes time with a new disease like this.

If there were a second wave of the virus to strike the United States, the trace testing would be helpful. “Anything we can gather with it would be helpful,” added Malloy.

In regards to outbreaks that have plagued other parts of the State, Malloy says that local providers meet regularly for meetings. ‘Jamie [Robinson] and Josh [Stevens] with Emergency Management are a great resource, from our county level to our coalition level into our state level,” added Malloy of Mahaska County Emergency Management involvement.

Helping to flatten the curve of sick individuals has helped to keep from overwhelming the medical system within the state of Iowa Malloy added.

The virus may never leave the American landscape, and testing and monitoring could potentially be part of the American landscape for months to come. Malloy hopes to see a vaccine at some point down the road to help combat the virus.

“Any tool that we can get in our toolkit would be great,” said Malloy of things like antibody testing. Adding more speed to testing would also benefit individuals and the community.

When it comes to the citizens of Mahaska County, Mahaska County Sheriff Russ Van Renterghem wanted to give the citizens of Mahaska County credit. People have been calling in few petty complaints like Facebook comments, “just the day-to-day kind of piddly stuff has all come to an end. I give people credit; they’re just leaving each other alone.”

Unfortunately, being quarantined to home has helped to drive an increase in domestic violence situations over the past two to three weeks. “That’s what we knew was coming. That’s not uncommon. It’s kind of like in the middle of winter where there’s a blizzard, after five or six days, people start getting cabin fever,” added Van Renterghem. “It’s the same way in the summertime when we have a real hot spell on the hundred degree days. We run into people who are just miserable.”

Van Renterghem has been directed to help enforce Governor Reynold’s public health directives.

“We’ve had just a very small amount of complaints,” says Van Renterghem. “As far as what enforcement we have taken, we’ve had to stop and tell groups or gatherings of people; you’ve got to break it up.”

“Usually, it’s groups of children. You can’t blame them, they want to go to the playground, but the playgrounds per the governor’s orders are shut down.”

“I really try to give the people out there a lot of credit. I think everybody’s trying to follow the governor’s guidance, and doing a great job with it,” added Van Renterghem. “We get just a handful of complaints, and we’re keeping an eye on some of the public parks.”