Sign Up for Public Health Weekly Newsletter
Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO’s Chief Medical Officer, shares the current COVID-19 status and a look ahead into the coming seasons; Dr. Steven Stack, ASTHO president elect and the Commissioner for Public Health for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, outlines...
Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO’s Chief Medical Officer, shares the current COVID-19 status and a look ahead into the coming seasons; Dr. Steven Stack, ASTHO president elect and the Commissioner for Public Health for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, outlines the goals of a new ASTHO policy statement on health and social service system alignment; an ASTHO brief details Pennsylvania’s new tool to streamline STI reporting; and sign up for ASTHO’s webinar about maintaining Patient Access to Care in Rural America.
ASTHO Webpage: Maintaining Patient Access to Care in Rural America
ROBERT JOHNSON:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, August 7, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
MARCUS PLESCIA:
Right now, we're seeing very low overall levels of COVID activity. I mean, we're seeing a much lower number of hospitalizations or deaths than we've ever seen throughout the pandemic.
JOHNSON:
COVID statistics across the country remain low, but ASTHO Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Marcus Plescia says some of those numbers are growing slowly.
PLESCIA:
But the concern is, we are starting to see a little bit of an uptick in the rates for hospitalization. And that's one of the main things that we're tracking. We've also started tracking people who present to the emergency room and ended up testing positive for COVID. And that's going up a little bit too.
JOHNSON:
With numbers low, but on the rise, Plescia says striking a balance between preparation and remaining calm is important.
PLESCIA:
You know, on the one hand, you don't want to cause undue alarm. Rates are really low. So, even an increase is not necessarily a whole lot of people, but we are seeing increases. And the other thing is anecdotally, you know, a lot of people feel like they know somebody who had COVID recently, and I think that's important, too. So, you know, I think our members need to convey that to the public and give people some warning so that people who are concerned and might want to take additional measures for their own safety can go ahead and do so.
JOHNSON:
He adds this is also a great time for public health to promote the newest COVID booster coming in the fall.
PLESCIA:
The other thing is that, you know, this is an opportunity to start talking about how important the upcoming COVID booster is going to be and really starting to maybe prepare people and get people thinking about the fact that that's something they really should consider getting once it's available. Hopefully in the next few weeks.
JOHNSON:
You can see the latest numbers on the CDC COVID Tracker webpage by clicking the link in the show notes.
Many times, public health agencies have to work together to achieve the desired solution to a problem. In Kentucky, Commissioner Stephen Stack says his office works with many partners, in part, because of the rural areas that make up much of the state.
STEVEN STACK:
This raises certain challenges because many of these counties don't have hospitals. Many of them have relatively little built in health care infrastructure. And so we intend to use policy guides like this to continue our efforts to try to ensure that each of these individuals and counties has timely and reasonably convenient access to health care services, whether it be in their own county or a nearby adjacent county.
JOHNSON:
A new ASTHO policy statement recommends interagency collaboration to improve community access to health care.
STACK:
This was one that was just adopted at the recent board meeting and encourages us and gives us guidance and direction in establishing policies to ensure that folks and underserved or at-risk communities have continuous access to coverage - health care coverage, but also social service needs coverages. And also provides a number of other recommendations to state health officials and our routine work. So, if we can agree on the outcome we desire, then it's just a matter of having an open and honest discussion about what are the different paths we might choose to get there. And being open to differences of opinion. I think we can find compromises and reach consensus that will work uniquely, perhaps in each of our states and territories, but still nonetheless can help us head towards that desirable outcome.
JOHNSON:
According to Stack, shared goals can help people get the care they need. You can read the ASTHO policy statement on health and social system alignment using the link in the show notes.
Also today, STI reporting in Pennsylvania just got easier. After listening to feedback from providers, the state's Department of Health has implemented a new tool to streamline the STI reporting and tracking process. An ASTHO brief detailing Pennsylvania's approach is in the show notes.
Finally, today, you still have time to sign up for ASTHO's webinar about maintaining patient access to care in rural America. The panel includes representatives with HERSA, the CDC, and Arizona. Hold your seat now using the link in the show notes.
And if you have a minute, please take the time to give us a review. We'd like to know what you think.
That'll do it for today's newscast. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.
