While COVID-19 cases are slightly decreasing across North Texas, smaller counties across the region have had to contend with a COVID surge, changing state policies and any other emergencies coming up in the last few months.
UT Southwestern Medical Center鈥檚 hospital admissions across North Texas are still high, putting added strain on 鈥渢he collective capacity of regional health systems.鈥�
Kaufman County Is Focused On Vaccinations, COVID-19 Education
It鈥檚 a strain Steve Howie knows well. He鈥檚 the emergency management coordinator for Kaufman County, which has a little over 136,000 people.
鈥淪ince the inception of this pandemic, or epidemic, whatever we're calling it these days, things have not been normal here,鈥� Howie said. 鈥淲e have done more with health-related issues in our office then we ever really knew we could.鈥�
Howie said 鈥渢wo and a half鈥� people manage the county response to COVID: him, a deputy coordinator and a part-time administrative assistant. Since last March, they鈥檝e picked up every phone call and answered every email to help community members understand the public health crisis.
鈥漃eople are worried about the vaccines because right now only Pfizer has full authorization,鈥� Howie said. 鈥淲e try to read the research that is out, so we can talk authoritatively to the people that give us calls to find out information."
Like many counties across the state, Howie said Kaufman County saw an uptick in cases around July, although it was slower than other places in the region. He said the one hospital in the county, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Kaufman, has been hit hard. He鈥檚 focused now on increasing the vaccination rate. According to the, more than 50% of eligible people in Kaufman County are fully vaccinated.
鈥淚鈥檇 love for it to be more in our county,鈥� Howie said. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to see us get up to 70% or better if we can, but a lot of that鈥檚 educating the public and getting them to come and take the vaccines.鈥�
Wise County Has Managed 鈥淐ascading Disasters鈥� Over The Past Year And A Half
For Cody Powell, the emergency management coordinator for Wise County, there鈥檚 a lot to coordinate even without a pandemic.
鈥淲e're really busy when there's nothing going on,鈥� Powell said. 鈥淭hat's probably the most common misconception about emergency management in general, is there's an assumption that if there's no emergency that you don't have anything to do. And that's definitely not true.鈥�
Early last year, Powell said he had one person with him in his office managing the county鈥檚 COVID response. They added another person to the team a few months in to help answer questions and share information with the county鈥檚 almost 70,000 residents.
In 2021 so far, Powell said the team responded to the flooding, the winter storm, and the hurricane season. Now they鈥檙e preparing for the wildfire season.
鈥淭here's no break,鈥� Powell said. 鈥淚t's one thing after another. When one disaster ends, then [we鈥檙e] going back to managing the one that was already still there.鈥�
He鈥檚 concerned about burnout. He鈥檚 seen emergency management coordinators leave over the past year-plus, and it鈥檚 a huge loss to the region.
Right now, he鈥檚 focused on staying up to date with changing federal and state orders to make sure the county is in compliance. The emergency management department helps businesses and local organizations administer state orders on the local level.
Statewide, Gov. Greg Abbott recently announced the Texas Health and Human Services Commission is getting up to. Counties can apply for these funds for increased staffing, telehealth equipment and new training. Currently, North Texas counties including Wichita, Brown, Dawson, Haskell and Young can apply for the funds, but other counties could become eligible depending on funding.
Got a tip? Email Elena Rivera at erivera@kera.org. You can follow Elena on Twitter .
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