Kent County Health Department February 2023 Newsletter

Federal Government to End Coronavirus Public Health Emergency

The Biden Administration plans to allow the coronavirus public health emergency (PHE) to expire in May. The declaration was first made in January of 2020, and renewed every 90 days thereafter. 

The decision to end the PHE will have broad impacts on health measures and the Kent County Health Department (KCHD) is working to learn more about the extent of these measures. Based on guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), here is what we know today:

The largest change that people may notice could be higher costs for at-home COVID-19 tests. Under the PHE, insurance companies were required to reimburse users for up to eight tests per month. Once it expires, insurers will be able to choose if they will reimburse these costs or not. For individuals on Medicaid, the tests will remain free until September 2024. Experts are advising individuals not to stock up on tests due to the product's short shelf life. Rather, the advice is to pick up a few tests closer to the May deadline.

Access to vaccines and treatments like Paxlovid will remain although they may no longer be free. The HHS says that most Americans with private insurance will continue to pay nothing out-of-pocket for the COVID-19 vaccines and boosters as long as they receive their shots from an in-network provider. Medicare and Medicaid will continue vaccine coverage. People who have private health insurance will continue to receive coverage for COVID-19 treatments like Paxlovid.  Any pharmaceutical purchased by the government will remain free to everyone while supplies last. Out-of-pocket costs for some treatments may change once these supplies run out but Medicaid programs will continue to cover treatments.

Most people who have insurance will be covered for PCR tests that are ordered by a physician. People who have Medicaid will be covered until September 2024.

Some telemedicine flexibilities will end. During the PHE, health care providers were allowed to write prescriptions for controlled substances during virtual visits. In-person visits will be required for these prescriptions after May 11,2023. Expanded telehealth for Medicare recipients will remain until at least the end of 2024.

Ending the PHE does not mean that COVID is no longer a significant health risk. While the pandemic no longer upends the daily lives of Americans, COVID variants continue to spread and only 16% of the people living in the U.S. have received their recommended dosage of vaccine. We continue to encourage residents to get vaccinated and stay current on booster shots. 

Community Health Needs Assessment to Hold Kickoff Event

The KCHD is seeking participation from community partners and residents as it begins the 2023 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA).  

The CHNA is conducted every three years in partnership with local health systems and community members to better understand the current health status of the community and to determine what people believe are the most pressing health issues impacting the people of Kent County. “This is truly a community effort. Kent County has many diverse communities and not everyone has the same needs or challenges,” says Maris Brummel, Public Health Epidemiologist at KCHD. “To get the most accurate data and understand differences between communities, we need to hear from a wide range of people across the county.”

To begin this year's process, KCHD will be hosting a CHNA kickoff event to let interested residents know how they can become involved with the  project and how the 2023 CHNA has changed from previous years. 

The meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 28 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the KCHD main campus located at 700 Fuller NE in Grand Rapids. A light breakfast and refreshments will be provided. Space is limited. Make your reservation today!  

Walk for Warmth is back in 2023!

Did you know that many people right here in Kent County struggle to pay their heating bills and that Kent County Community Action has programs to help?

That’s why Kent County Community Action is welcoming back Walk for Warmth this March after a 2-year hiatus!
Walk for Warmth is an annual event, hosted by Community Action Agencies across the country, to raise awareness and funds for heating fuel assistance programs. Here in Kent County, all proceeds from the event go directly to heating assistance for families in need.

Through the 2023 Walk for Warmth, Kent County Community Action aims to provide home heating fuel assistance to more than 20 households. 

So, put on your walking shoes (or boots!) and join us. You can participate in the event by sponsoring, walking, or donating!

What: Walk for Warmth

When: Saturday, March 4, 2023 at 8:30 a.m.

Where: 121 Martin Luther King Jr. Street, Suite 110 Grand Rapids, MI 49507

Health Department Crews Monitoring Gasoline Spill

A fuel spill near Rockford will likely keep the Kent County Health Department Environmental Health Division team busy for the foreseeable future as the agency works to monitor water quality to ensure the integrity of the wells of five homes in the area.

In the pre-dawn hours of January 24, the driver of a tanker truck lost control of the vehicle on the icy pavement of US 131 near 12 Mile Road. The driver was able to escape injury, but the tanker was tossed. It rolled off the interstate carrying 13 thousand gallons of gasoline and began to leak. Hazmat crews were able to limit the spill to less than 5000 gallons. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) removed the fuel that had spilled on the ground but the cleanup of fuel that penetrated the topsoil is ongoing through excavation.

The KCHD has already taken samples of four of the five wells of the impacted properties. The owner of the fifth property has winterized the plumbing system and it will have to be tested in the spring. The results of those tests are not available yet but Brendan Earl, Supervising Sanitarian at KCHD, says he does not expect to find gasoline in those wells. It is possible that a groundwater contamination plume may never exist, but even if it did, there has not been sufficient time for it to have moved into the wells. However, the testing will provide baseline sample upon which future comparisons can be based.

 "EGLE has placed monitoring wells in line with the groundwater flow and between the spill and the homes that have wells in the area," says Earl. The monitoring wells act as a first line of defense. If spilled fuel is going to make its way to the residential wells, it will have to get to the monitoring wells first.  "If those wells ever show anything we will immediately begin testing the residential wells," said Earl  "EGLE's role here is to care of the cleanup and ours is to ensure public health by making sure our residents have clean drinking water."

Radon Awareness Month Nets Record Results

Getting the word out means everything when it comes to radon. That's because if you don't test for radon in your home you will never know that it is there.

The KCHD annually partners with the State of Michigan to raise awareness about the dangers of radon and to give away free radon test kits and educational materials in January.

This year the number of people who have come the KCHD to pick up a testing kits may set a record. "In a normal year we give away anywhere from 700-800 testing kits," says Rusty Flewelling, Supervising Sanitarian at KCHD. "This year we have given away over 1,200. At one point, we had to order additional supplies to meet the demand." 

Why is there an above average interest in this underground gas? Since testing should take place every couple of years, it is possible that some residents chose to stay home instead of pick up their kits during the height of the pandemic.

Radon occurs naturally in the soil. When the gas formed by  decomposition rises it can become trapped in buildings. Exposure over a long period of time is known to cause lung cancer. Next to smoking, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S.

Radon test kits remain available at KCHD throughout the year for $5.

New Group Formed to Examine Kent County Overdose Fatalities

Kent County recently convened an Overdose Fatality Review (OFR), a multidisciplinary group of stakeholders tasked with reviewing individual overdose fatalities to identify opportunities to prevent similar events from occurring in the future. The OFR has been meeting monthly since September 2022.  The group discusses opioid overdose fatalities, utilizing records from health systems, law enforcement, treatment, and social services.

By pulling together various aspects of a person’s life, the OFR can piece together a detailed tapestry of how our systems work together and how they could work more effectively. The OFR’s logo is meant to demonstrate the many facets of a person’s life that are brought into a review, with the goal of illuminating recommendations to improve health outcomes for our residents.

Recommendations from the OFR range from the individual level, such as increasing access to medication for opioid use disorder, to the systemic level, such as improving coordination among multiple systems to improve patient support and follow-up. Depending on the type, recommendations may be provided to organizations directly or they may be referred to the Kent County Opioid Task Force.

The OFR is funded via a partnership with the Michigan State Police, is evaluated by the University of Michigan, and is further supported by the Michigan Public Health Institute. Current participants include the KCHD, University of Michigan Health-West, Corewell Health, Trinity Health, Cherry Health, Pine Rest, Priority Health, Grand Rapids Red Project, Network180, Family Outreach Center, MDHHS Children’s Protective Services, Kent County Medical Examiner, Kent County Sheriff’s Office, Kent County Prosecutor’s Office, Grand Rapids Police Department, and HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area).

The Restaurant License Rush is On

It would be an understatement to say that KCHD sanitarians have a lot on their collective plate this time of year. It is time for every licensed restaurant in Kent County to have their state licenses renewed.

For the last two years, annual license fees were waived after the Kent County Board of Commissioners voted to to approve funding to cover the fees to help offset costs incurred due to the pandemic. This year, those waivers have been discontinued and food license holders will be required to pay. "I would say that is one of the biggest changes this year but it is not the only one," said Rachel Stiening, Supervising Sanitarian at KCHD. 

Another change that license holders will notice is the color of their license. This year all licenses will be on white paper due to supply issues in sourcing colored paper. Application forms have also been slightly updated this year. Restaurants will receive their renewal forms by the end of March with a payment deadline of April 30, 2023.

KCHD will process close to 2,500 individual renewal forms in the next several weeks. Stiening says the estimated number restaurants is based on the number of pre-pandemic licenses. However, several restaurateurs used the fee waiver to keep their license even though they were unable to reopen their business. Stiening concludes, "By the conclusion of the application process, we are going to have a better picture of the state of the restaurant business in Kent County."