DOH-ODW COVID-19 Update 12/4/20

Washington State
Department of Health

Office of Drinking Water

Hello Drinking Water Partners:

What is happening?
The Office of Drinking Water (ODW), along with offices across the Department of Health, is temporarily shifting staff to assist with the pandemic response—primarily with increased case and contact tracing due to a surge in cases. The Department is also hiring additional staff and has asked for support from other agencies as well.

How does this impact you?
For the next few months, ODW staff will have limited ability to perform routine duties such as reviewing engineering submittals, conducting survey inspections, or providing technical assistance.  Our primary focus will be responding to emergencies and acute public health risks. Though the number of staff activated in the response from ODW does vary, we anticipating it to be in the 20-30 percent range. We will continue to respond immediately to any potential drinking water emergency but planning and construction reviews, sanitary surveys, project approvals, and many other work duties have slowed and in some cases will pause. Our regional office staff have significant backlogs of project reports, construction documents and planning documents—please bear with us as we work through this with reduced capacity.

Our ability to provide technical service to Local Health Jurisdictions will be reduced as well. In Central Services we continue to address some of the critical operational concerns of utilities in the area of a properly qualified workforce, and the funding of infrastructure capital projects. Our DWSRF Construction Loan Program cycle just closed on November 30. We are working closely with staff to ensure that invoices are paid and loan payments are processed as well as getting all sample results entered in a timely manner into Sentry. We ask for your patience, and we want you to know we’re doing our best under these circumstances and will continue to add staff capacity where we can and keep you updated.

When will this occur?
Although we currently have staff actively working on the response we are anticipating an increased demand to begin Monday, December 7, 2020 until approximately mid-February 2021. Please see below for additional updates and do reach out if you have any questions.

I hope this finds you safely preparing for the new year and for the winter weather ahead. You are likely already aware of the increased restrictions on travel and advised measures we as individuals can take to prevent the spread of rapidly increasing COVID cases. This includes not socializing in person with folks outside of your immediate household, wearing face coverings, keeping your distance, and continuing to wash your hands. I know we are all weary and the better we follow these measures the sooner we will get through this! It will continue to take all of us (and encouraging our friends and family to do the same). Secretary Wiesman shared the following in a recent message to the agency.

“For a number of reasons, we expect this winter to be the hardest part of the pandemic. The fall surge we suspected would come, is here. The 2020 election cycle recently heightened our collective experience of stress, worry, and anxiety. This came at a time when the pandemic, civil unrest, financial instability, and natural disasters had already stretched our coping skills to the limit. I’m asking for your continued commitment to supporting one another and our communities through this period; this isn’t going to last forever—and we are going to succeed!

"Fighting COVID continues to be our agency’s highest priority, while other essential work continues. Like so many public health challenges, this fight takes stamina and real dedication. Our case counts have been steadily climbing since September and took a decided turn for the worse over the last several weeks. Accelerated transmission and increasing hospitalizations across the state means time is running out to reverse course and flatten the curve without taking more severe measures. All Washingtonians must act now to stop the spread from getting worse. I’d encourage you to read and share our recent news release on this trend with your networks.

"DOH and our entire public health system has learned a lot this year, and we are much better positioned to respond to this surge than ever before. That is thanks in large part to the efforts of staff from across the agency. However, it will likely still require many of our people and programs to dig deep once again. I know this is difficult to hear. However, there is some good news too. Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine trials seem to have some very promising results, which reminds us that this is not forever. The prospect of a highly effective vaccine is certainly a light at the end of this tunnel, but a lot of hard work must happen in the coming months to get us there. It will take some time before enough Washingtonians have access to the new vaccine(s). Until that time, we all need to continue masking, practicing social distancing, and limiting the number of people we come into contact outside of our immediate household to minimize illness and death in our communities.

"Our people are leading planning around vaccine distribution and care coordination, and we continue our extensive efforts to 'Box in the Virus.' These are some of the many essential government functions that help deliver our entire state from this crisis. That’s a powerful, unifying mission that can give us hope and forward momentum when we’re feeling overwhelmed. The fact is—we’re in this together, and we are making a difference. Let’s lift each other up with individual kindnesses and a sense we’re contributing to the common good one step at a time. You are not alone. Whenever possible, give yourself a break and connect with colleagues, family, and friends. We’re all feeling it and can find real strength in human connection to bring us over the finish line.”

We also have some exciting news on the horizon! The agency will be welcoming our new Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah, MD, MPH who will begin with the agency in mid-December. If you would like to learn more about Dr. Shah please visit this link.  We are also anticipating Mike Means return to his role as Director of our Office of Drinking Water in January. It has been my pleasure to serve in this acting role over these last few months. Mike and I, as well as the rest of our staff, are committed to ensuring the transition is as seamless as possible.

A couple of other items of interest

• On Monday, The Washington State Department of Health launched WA Notify, a simple, anonymous exposure notification tool that can help stop the spread of COVID-19. By adding WA Notify to your smartphone, you can be alerted if you spent time near another WA Notify user who later tests positive for COVID-19. This lets you get the care you need quickly and helps prevent you from spreading COVID-19 to the people around you. Let me repeat: the data gathered is anonymous and will not be attributed to you. WA Notify uses privacy-preserving technology jointly developed by Google and Apple and works without collecting or revealing any location or personal data. It doesn't need to know who or where you are to work effectively. Studies have found that the more people who use exposure notification technology like WA Notify, the greater the benefit. Data models for three counties in Washington show that if even a small number of people use WA Notify, that action would reduce infections and deaths. I encourage all of you to add WA Notify to your phone and to urge your friends and family to do the same!
• We are looking to spread the word about the third year of our BAT awards program! Washington Certification Services (WCS) has opened the 2021 Peggy Barton BAT Professional Growth Award (good through the current cycle ending 12/31/2022) and the 2021 Fred Delvecchio Certification Award. We encourage you to share this information with any women who would benefit from having the cost of a training course and exam provided for them through these awards. If someone you know is interested in applying please share this website with them so they can complete the application before January 4, 2021. Applications will be reviewed then, and recipients will be notified by January 19, 2021.

Please feel free to forward this message. If you or someone else would like to be added to our email list for water systems and operators, contact Elizabeth Hyde. If you have technical questions or concerns, please your favorite ODW staff member.

Thanks for all the work you continue to do to protect public health!

Sincerely,

Emily Sanford
Acting Office Director