Osage County Health Department

For Osage County, the NWS has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for your county, valid until 12:00PM Fri 01/01/21.For Osage County, the NWS has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for your county, valid until 12:00PM Fri 01/01/21.

For the second week in a row we sadly report an additional COVID-19 death. Please be respectful as many members of our community continue to struggle during this time.

We've got a busy, busy week ahead with 3 separate chances for wintry weather in the region. The primary threat with each round will be freezing rain and ice accumulations, but light snow will be possible as well. Please check out our website for more details: www.weather.gov/lsx

09/14/2020- We will be adjusting our office hours due to the increase in COVID-19 investigations and contract tracing. Beginning Tuesday, September 15, our office hours will be as follows: Monday and Friday - 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Tuesday and Thursday - 8:00 am to 12:00 pm... Wednesday - 8:00 am to 4:30 pm for WIC For immunizations, questions or concerns, please call our office at 573-897-3103. Thank you for continued understanding! -OCHD Staff

We still need 7 more to sign up! Must have a minimum of 14 appointments scheduled, so call today!

COVID Update, November 3, 2020

Regrettably, the Osage County Health Department announces an additional death. Peace be with those suffering during this time.

Daily Health & Safety Tips Wear a mask. Continue wearing a face covering when in public and in situations where you are unable to practice social distancing. Wash your hands. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds.... Keep hand sanitizer with you. Substitute hand sanitizer when you are unable to wash your hands. Keeping a travel size bottle with you or in your vehicle will make it readily accessible. Stay home if you're sick. If you are showing signs of illness, contact your healthcare provider. Many symptoms of Covid19 overlap with those of the common cold and the flu. Practice social distancing. Maintain a distance of 6 feet or more from others around you. If you are unable to do this, practice wearing a face cover. Limit social gatherings. Limit social gatherings to 10 people or less. As we approach the holidays this may become more difficult. Implement the tips above.

Thank you for your patience while the Osage County Health Department diligently works to update these numbers and help keep the community safe. This Smart911 ...Alert will be going out this afternoon: Good afternoon. This is Kim Sallin with the Osage County Health Department with a COVID 19 update. In the last month, Osage County has almost quadrupled our number of cases. In fact, last week, Osage county was leading the state in number of cases per population. As of today, Monday, October 26th, 2020, 517 total positive COVID-19 cases have been reported to the Osage County Health Department. Over 90 of those cases are currently active. We thank the community for their patience as we work through our cases. For several weeks now, we have received anywhere from 5-35 cases daily. We have hired new staff and are working tirelessly to get to all the cases. It was mandated by the state earlier in the school year that local health departments initiate investigations of school-age children within 24 hours of being reported to the department. Daily reports of positive school age children has created a delay in contacting adult cases. As of tomorrow, contact tracers from Department of Health and Senior services will be aiding the Osage County Health Department in our investigations as the current volume is simply too great for our staff to handle in a timely fashion. The additional assistance is welcomed and we look forward to minimizing the delay in case investigations. At this time, Osage County is no longer reaching out to or automatically providing quarantine letters to adult contacts who reside outside of the household of a positive case. It will be the responsibility of the positive case to reach out to those who meet the qualifications of a close contact. A quarantine letter can be provided by the health department upon request. We would like to also bring your attention to the recent update from CDC regarding the definition of a close contact. A close contact is now identified as someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period* starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated. The majority of our recent cases in the last month have contracted the virus as a result of large events or gatherings where social distancing was not being practiced and masks were not worn. From one gathering, in particular, 25% of reported contacts turned up positive. Each of us play a part in preventing the spread of COVID19. Wash your hands. Keep your distance from those outside of your household. Wear a mask. Avoid large gatherings. With the holidays quickly approaching, we are urging our community to avoid hosting or attending gatherings that bring together those outside of your normal interaction. Please, also keep in mind influenza cases are slowly starting to come in. These precautions are to help keep us all healthy through this cold and flu season. Thank you for your time and attention today. We will be doing our best to keep the community updated. We appreciate your patience. Have a great week!

The National Guard will be at the Linn Lions Club Fairgrounds on Monday, October 26th from 8-1, conducting free community COVID testing. You do not have to have a Doctor's referral to be tested. You can register ahead of time and reserve your spot by following this link: https://dcphdo02redcap.azurewebsites.net/redcap/surveys/

Thank you, Dena, and Linn R-II school district for the delicious pick-me-up this morning!! We may have already indulged on a few!! We have an amazing community!

Smart911 Alert: This is Susan Long with the Osage County Health Department. It is with sadness, that I have to report the second Covid-related death in Osage C...ounty. This person had been ill for several weeks prior to passing away. I will not provide any additional information on this person out of respect for the person and the family. We currently have over 200 cases with over 60 of those still active. The number of cases has doubled in the last month. We have had reported cases of COVID-19 in several of the county schools since this started. Last week on Tuesday, we received 7 positive reports on school children and staff in 3 different schools. We have continued to get new cases in schools daily. We are averaging 25 to 35 contacts per child. We have been prioritizing the children as we have been directed to do by Dr. Williams with DHSS. We are calling as fast as we can, but each call takes on average 15-20 minutes to get information, provide education and answer questions. We have had as many as 6 of us working on calls and/or taking calls. We have been yelled at, cursed at and threatened with lawsuits. No child will be the exception to the rules. Yes, there is the potential for exposure at school and that is why we are trying to identify the close contacts at school and on the bus. Let me reiterate that a close contact definition is physical contact such as a hug, kiss or handshake OR being within 6 feet or less for 15 minutes or longer. This is also dependent upon timing of the exposure to the case and their start of symptoms or testing. If we honestly made a mistake in dates on the letters, then respectfully call or email. There are no secret plots or conspiracies to keep your particular child out of school, sports, band, and extra-curricular activities or any family events planned. I recommended in the information that I encouraged all the schools to send out before school started, that parents needed to have contingency plans in case their child or children were placed in isolation or quarantine for childcare. The schools and the health department are trying to identify only those children who have had close contact in school or on the bus or elsewhere. I am discouraged when I hear from some of the school age cases about the parties and events they’ve been allowed to attend or taken to by their families. We’ve also been told of inconsistencies in enforcement of the individual school rules on wearing of masks in school during designated times or on the bus and children not staying in an assigned seat to help with contact tracing. This results in mistakes being made in regards to identification of close contacts. If your child is showing any symptoms even if you think it’s just allergies, contact your child’s doctor. I am reminding everyone to SOCIAL DISTANCE, WEAR A MASK WHENEVER YOU ARE NOT IN YOUR OWN HOME OR YOUR OWN YARD AND TO DISINFECT! It is hard on everyone to follow these restrictions including me, but it is especially important now that flu season is upon us that we ALL do the right thing. Yes, we received our first flu case notification today. Our staff started flu clinics last week and they will continue through October or beyond depending on the need. Our HIGH DOSE was delayed AFTER the supplier had given me what was at the time a firm date of delivery. I anticipate it should be in by the end of the week, but I’m not holding my breath. We have additional staff hired and everyone is working just as hard as they can, but you need to do your part in this as well. Health is all of our concern and not just the health department or your doctor’s office. Listen or read the messaging from reliable sources on COVID. Don’t buy into conspiracy theories. For heaven sakes, if you have that much time to be online, on sites with fake news, perhaps you should use your time instead, to know where each of your family members are at all times, to disinfect your house, or to sew masks for people who can’t afford to buy them. I am reviewing the advisory which is due to expire tomorrow. Plan on some changes and please take the time to read it. I thank you for your time.

Absentee Voting has already begun and we have had a decent turnout so far. Remember you can early vote by absentee in our office Monday through Friday 8:00 am t...o 4:30 pm from now until 11/2/2020. If you are not registered to vote, but would like to register you have until 10/07/2020 if you would like to vote in this upcoming Election. If you have any questions please contact our office at 573-897-2139. Thank you! See more

COVID Update, September 17, 2020 The Osage County Health Department continues to encourage people to wear masks, social distance from non-household individuals and wash hand often.

FLU SHOTS! It's that time again! Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we will not be taking walk-ins for flu shots. Instead, we are hosting a number of drive-thru flu clinics throughout the county and encourage you to attend one in your area, weather permitting.... If you can't make it to a drive-thru clinic, please call our office for further instructions and to make an appointment. Our nurses have been very busy with COVID investigations and may not be available to help with walk-in customers. As always, we greatly appreciate and thank you for your understanding and support during this difficult time. Thank you!! -OCHD Staff **Keep an eye out for the finalized flu clinic schedule! It will be published in the UD, on our Facebook page and our website.**

This is effective today! If you are unsure whether you are included in this boil water advisory, please call Scott Strope at the number listed below.

COVID Update, September 11, 2020 The Osage County Health Department continues to encourage people to wear masks, social distance from non-household individuals and wash hand often.

COVID Update, September 8, 2020 The Osage County Health Department continues to encourage people to wear masks, social distance from non-household individuals and wash hand often.