Kern Public Health to ask supervisors to declare end to local COVID-19 health emergency

Feb. 23—Kern County Public Health will ask the county Board of Supervisors to end a local COVID-19 health emergency declared nearly three years ago after Kern County hospitals withstood two recent coronavirus surges and treatment options have been folded into current systems, the county public health spokeswoman told The Californian.

It was an uncertain time when then-Kern County Public Health Director Matthew Constantine — along with more than half a dozen local government dignitaries — gathered at the fairgrounds March 31, 2020 to declare a local emergency and reassure residents they were ready to treat the spread of COVID-19.

When county supervisors meet Tuesday, Public Health Director Brynn Carrigan will request to remove special powers granted during an emergency declaration. Carrigan wasn't immediately available to comment Thursday afternoon, when the Board of Supervisors' agenda was released.

"The termination of the local health emergency simply signals the end of the emergency phase of COVID-19 response," Public Health spokeswoman Michelle Corson wrote in an email. "Kern County Public Health's response to those who are infected by the virus will not change and has been folded into our regular operations."

Corson noted declaring an emergency allows state and federal resources to partially reimburse costs incurred while responding to an emergency and grants local public health officers the "authority to take preventative measures to protect and preserve the public health."

The last two surges affecting Kern County hospitals peaked around July 2022 with another in December, according to the state department of public health. Those surges never surpassed Kern County's deadliest peak around January 2022.

Doctors at Mercy and Memorial hHospitals weren't immediately available to comment, but an infectious disease expert at Kern Medical said that hospital isn't experiencing a flood of patients.

"Almost no" COVID patients have been admitted into Kern Medical and "nobody" awaits treatment for COVID-19 in an incubator, said Royce Johnson, the chief division officer of infectious disease at Kern Medical. No employees have called in sick because of a COVID-19 infection for more than two weeks, he added.

"That's a record in the last three years," he noted.

Johnson added the decision to end the state of emergency will have few implications on the hospital's day-to-day operations.

An emergency is defined by the number of hospitalizations, admissions to intensive care and deaths. According to Johnson, these numbers at Kern Medical have stayed consistently low, leading him to believe that timing is right to call off the emergency.

"So policy makers have to make policies that are based on the best evidence they have at the time," Johnson said. "The evidence we have is that we are in a heck of a lot better place than we were a year or two ago."

Gov. Gavin Newsom's COVID-19 emergency declaration for California will also expire Feb. 28.

Kern County's rate for the number of fully vaccinated people is among the lowest in the state. About 53.8 percent of individuals have completed their primary series of vaccinations in Kern, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Corson noted in an email their messaging on vaccinations as important prevention measures will not change and residents should visit Kern Public Health's website to learn more about vaccination and testing.

Kern Medical still requires N95 masks for staff and patients, but it is not heavily enforced. Johnson said it will likely be an item of discussion in the near future on whether to discontinue it.

"The truth is, it probably isn't a terrible idea even when there's no pandemic," Johnson said. "It decreases transmission of viruses between patients and members of staff — not just COVID, but influenza, the human coronavirus and adenoviruses."

Johnson said he wasn't too sure as to the financial implications on hospitals of ending the local emergency. After next week, Kern Medical will continue offering free COVID testing and vaccines, and will continue writing prescriptions for COVID medications such as Paxlovid.

California law extended a requirement for insurers to continue covering the cost of COVID prescriptions and eight over-the-counter COVID tests a month up to Nov. 11, six months after the federal government ends its emergency declaration. After that point, patients needing these services will need to access them through their primary care network.

Kern Medical still faces a shortage of nurses, but that problem isn't unique to Kern County.

"The pandemic only amplified that," Johnson said. "But that problem existed before the pandemic and it exists now."

Johnson acknowledged that hospitals have little control over what they're doing in response to a pandemic. That said, hospitals do have contingency plans in place, and are especially apprehensive given the possibility of another COVID subvariant, such as omicron.

"Most hospitals of any size are prepared for the idea that something bad will happen," Johnson said. "That could be a plane crash, a railroad crash, could be 25 cars that pile up on the Grapevine tonight because of the blizzard — we have plans to deal with all of those contingencies."

"When COVID first came along, we had a response team that designed how we would operate under pandemic conditions and we're not operating under those conditions anymore," Johnson said. "But if 10 people show up to the emergency room with COVID, we're going to take care of them."

You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @_ishanidesai on Twitter.