Dr Frankovich Has No Comment on Possible COVID Exposure at Grow Site, Talks About Dashboard With Demographics, Traveling Infections, and More

Humboldt County’s Public Health Officer Dr. Teresa Frankovich has been answering questions since the stay-at-home orders were instituted on a two question per media outlet roughly three times per week basis. The Emergency Operations Center takes the questions, and staff reads them on camera for their response. The resulting video, called a Media Availability, is then provided to news outlets at the end of the day.

Here are some of the main points covered in the June 24th Media Availability session with a summary of answers from Dr. Teresa Frankovich, followed by questions we would have liked to ask in response if appropriate.

Media Question: We’ve gotten feedback from people asking if you could remove your mask for these media availabilities. Can you speak to that?

Answer by Dr. Frankovich: 

Sure and we’ve talked about this but you know the problem is, is that the health department is structured. We do not have large spaces here. We’re sitting and doing this interview in a small office and there really is no way to socially distance and do the interviews, so I really do need to wear the mask.  However, we will try and perhaps do one or two of these outdoors and we’d be in a different position.

35 sec in: 

Media Question:  Many people, both locally and across the country, are shunning face coverings, claiming they’re not effective, not necessary and/or a violation of their civil rights. Yesterday you said it’s time for the community to depend on personal responsibility.  With the prevalence of these attitudes, how do you expect that approach to be effective?

Answer by Dr. Frankovich: 

Well, it’s challenging, certainly. You know, as we all know face coverings have become very controversial. I do want to point out that there is growing evidence of effectiveness and certainly if we simply look at places that have really embraced masking, as well as, all those other measures that we talked about in general have done better and, you know, at this point we need to use every tool at our disposal. To the question of personal liberties I would say that we as a society make compromises on these all the time and we do this when we wear seatbelts. We do this when we obey speed laws. It is because there’s a common benefit to us all to doing so, and I would argue that in this case it is really the same. There is a benefit to our community in terms of safety to doing this thing which is simple and is not costly and really is a benefit for all of us. So you know I don’t know how people will move forward with this. I’m hoping that they embrace the fact that this really is going to be largely driven by how the community behaves. We can build all the response tools that we want, but in order for us to reduce transmission overall, we really need the measures in place to be effective. So if people want us to be able to avoid, as much as possible, large surges in cases, we need to use these tools. It’s just that simple.

2 mins 35 sec in: 

Media Question: We’ve heard from several people that the turnaround time for tests at the Optum site recently has been a full week. In recent weeks, what has the average turnaround time been for those tests? 

     – Are you concerned about the infection implications of such long lag times?

Answer by Dr. Frankovich: 

I’m certainly concerned and that’s why when we are testing specimens on individuals that we have concerns about either because they’re symptomatic or contacts of a case, we try to always do them in our own lab so that we have a fast turnaround time. That being said, for the surveillance testing and such where there’s a lower probability of a positive test, we use the Optum tool because that just is useful to us to be able to get the testing done. It is not ideal. I know they’re working on improving the turnaround times but currently I would tell you that we see turnarounds anywhere from two days to six days on these tests and we are on weekly calls with the test center and really trying to get these issues addressed but it’s a work in progress for sure. And yes, it does cause concerns, because any delay in identifying a positive, you know, creates more possibility for transmission- so our goal is, for everything, is a 48 to 72 hour turnaround time, if we can achieve it.  

4 mins in:  

Media Question: As of yesterday, Public Health had classified 103 local cases as “recovered,” which we understand to mean they meet CDC criteria for no longer being contagious but some in the public take to mean they have returned to full health. Can you generally explain the various health outcomes of these 103 patients, ie. how many have returned to pre-infection health and how many have lasting COVID-related health impacts?

Answer by Dr. Frankovich: 

Well, I will tell you that we basically from a Public Health standpoint, we follow these individuals until we take them off of isolation. At that time some individuals may still have some mild residual symptoms, and we do not follow them out until those symptoms completely resolve. That actually is the role of their clinical primary health care provider. Clearly there’s research being done nationally on how much we may see in terms of chronic health impacts from this virus, but it’s not something that’s done at the local level.

Media Followup questions we’re unable to ask because of the format:  

• Do we have the resources and local personnel available, at the DHHS or EOC, to conduct supplemental outreach to those recovered patients, in order to get a more complete data set or overall understanding of the duration and effects on the body, post-infection? 

4 mins 45 sec in:  

Media Question: There is a growing data set nationally to show that black, latino and Native populations are suffering disproportionate impacts from COVID-19.  Is that a trend we are seeing locally and is Public Health doing any targeted outreach specific to these communities?

Answer by Dr. Frankovich: 

Well, certainly it’s a huge problem nationally. We are seeing these communities impacted both in terms often of number of cases as well as complications from cases.  We are shortly going to be providing a dashboard that actually provides information on race and ethnicity for our cases.  So people will be able to look at that locally.  
The most dominant effect is a disproportionate amount of cases in our Latino community and to that issue we have been really trying to work on outreach to the community.  Obviously, there may be language barriers, and so we’re really trying to address that and really trying to get information out so that people are aware about what precautions need to be taken, and what they can do if they become ill.

Media Followup questions we’re unable to ask because of the format: 

• Do you believe that a lack of information availability and specific outreach to undoccumented community members has impacted the local spread of COVID?  
• Have you seen any cases where community members have been reluctant to seek out health services while suffering from COVID, due to immigration-related concerns or fears? 

5 mins 50 secs in:  

Media Question:  We’re being told that a group of people tested positive for COVID-19 in Southern Humboldt today and all are connected to a single cannabis farm.  Is that true, and if so, is the farm legal? 

     – Are the people testing positive from Humboldt County? From California? From out of state? Or from international areas such as Mexico? 

     – At this point do we have a sense of how widely they traveled in Humboldt? 

     – Will they show up as if they are from Southern Humboldt in the location results the County puts out for COVID-19 tests, if they live elsewhere?  

     – Can you address your concerns with the cannabis community?

NOTE: We have a post about this situation. Click here to go to the information.

Answer by Dr. Frankovich: 

As you know, we don’t comment on, you know, particular infections in specific workplaces unless it’s relevant to public safety.  Our recent cases that we have identified in general are still under investigation and I’m not commenting on them specifically.  In terms of reporting out these cases, cases are reported out by residence not by place of employment and would show up on our geographic distribution in that fashion.

The general question of cannabis grows, and concerns- it’s absolutely of concern for Public Health.  We want to make sure that these- that [marijuana] grows, because they’re bringing in people from all over, they have certain challenges.  We want to make sure that whether they are legal or not legal operations, that they understand we’d like to work with them basically if they have someone sick we’d like to be able to help work with them to get people tested and to really just make sure everyone around them is safe.  If they do not have individuals who are ill but are interested in doing some screening testing, we would be really happy to work with them on that as well. I think it’s an important population for us to keep healthy because it impacts not only the individuals but our community. 

Media Followup questions we’re unable to ask because of the format:  

• Without naming a specific workplace or location, would you confirm or would you deny that a group of positive cases originated from- generally of the hundreds of permitted local grows- a single local grow site, knowing that nothing specific will be revealed? 

7 mins 35 sec in:  

Media Question:   In response to this and other factors, do you expect to see a surge in cases like there was when several groups were infected at the end of March- first part of April?

Answer by Dr. Frankovich:  

So, again, in our previous clusters we had travel impacting things and we still do have travel impacting some of our cases.  So I think it’s an important consideration and again we recommend to people that while we’re not asking them to quarantine when they return- meaning that they cannot work, etc unless they’ve been in really high-risk activities -we are asking them to self monitor for symptoms and to isolate and get tested if they do develop symptoms during that time.  I‘m concerned frankly, about increasing cases for several reasons.  One is that the state as a whole is seeing a really rapid increase in cases and because the entire state has some degree of travel, even before travel restrictions were lifted there’s more concern about people coming into the area who’ve had exposures and may be ill and our residents traveling outside the area and picking up an infection.  So I have concerns on that front.  I also have concerns because in our community we are opening up more and that is just bringing us into contact with each other more and the potential for increased transmission. 

And finally, again, as a community I think people have grown tired of COVID and I completely get it and it’s summer and it’s lovely and all those normal things we do as groups in the summer are beckoning and people want to gather.  And gatherings we are seeing across the country or sparking outbreaks and so as well as certain venues such as churches and bars and so I just want to encourage people again that we need to be safe going forward as the risk increases. And so we need people to be masking and distancing.  If they’re outdoors they need to mask if they can’t maintain that six foot distance, indoors they should be masking and or using facial coverings of any kind and we really just need to follow those precautions to try and be able to keep moving forward.  I really want us to be able to be in a position where our kids are in school, our businesses are still open in the fall. 

We haven’t had to take any steps back and I think us embracing all of these things will help us get there.