Public health officials from across the region are keeping a close watch on any and all new data regarding COVID-19, also known as coronavirus disease. While there are no confirmed cases of the virus in the Gem State, healthcare providers are exercising an abundance of caution and regularly comparing notes with school districts, local governments and other public entities.
Morning Edition host George Prentice visited with Dr. Nikole Zogg, director of Southwest District Health, which encompasses Adams, Canyon, Gem, Owyhee, Payette and Washington counties, to get the latest on COVID-19.
“We work really well with schools, on a day-to-day basis. They have really good emergency operations plans in place.”
Read the full transcript below:
GEORGE PRENTICE: It's Morning Edition on Boise State Public Radio News. Good morning, I'm George Prentice. Let us now look at the Coronavirus outbreak through a regional lens. Dr. Nikole Zogg is here. She is the director of the Southwest District Health and we're fortunate that she can join us via Skype this morning. Dr. Zogg, good morning.
DR. NIKOLE ZOGG: Good morning.
PRENTICE: I have to assume that your office is similar to offices of caregivers all across the region and that you're fielding some basic questions about Coronavirus, yes?
ZOGG: Correct, lots of questions.
PRENTICE: Where are you pointing people toward for good information?
ZOGG: Sure, so for questions that we either can't answer ourselves or just for people to reference back to, were directing them to the CDC Website, as well as the World Health Organization, depending on the types of questions. But the CDC right now is the most credible resource that we would recommend using.
PRENTICE: What are some of the communications that you're having with, say, schools in our region?
ZOGG: We work really well with schools just on a day to day basis anyway. They have very good emergency operations plans in place. They are always monitoring school absenteeism and infectious disease incidents in their schools. Right now, they're certainly, we've received some calls from individuals, students traveling from areas affected by the Covid-19 Coronavirus. So they have called us and consulted with us quite a few times around how to handle those types of situations. But they're well-prepared, I think, to make good decisions about when they need to look at alternate ways to provide education to that exposure with both staff and students, as well as potential school closures, if that were to be recommended or necessary.
PRENTICE: It's important to note that your district, the Southwest District Health, includes, I want to make sure I have all these Adams, Canyon, Gem, Owyhee, Payette and Washington Counties.
ZOGG: Yes, correct.
PRENTICE: Those are border counties or some of them are and I have to guess that you're keeping a close watch on what's happening in the region, specifically Oregon and Washington.
ZOGG: Yes, so we have regular communication with our partners in Malheur County, their Local Emergency Planning Committee works with our staff here and in the neighboring counties Local Emergency Planning Committees as well. We also work very closely with the Duck Valley Indian reservations to our south, so we are right now probably having weekly calls, I'd say, pretty consistently, unless we need to talk more frequently. That's with all the counties, but also including our neighboring partners outside of Idaho.
PRENTICE: You mentioned travel, we look at the calendar and spring break is looming. This month will also include the March Madness Basketball Tournament, that means hundreds of thousands of people traveling in higher numbers. What might you tell someone who says, look, we don't want to cancel our plans.
ZOGG: Right, well, I'll tell you what the conversations we are having here internally within our organization, because several of us have trips coming up in the next few weeks and some internationally, so most everybody has purchased some type of traveler's insurance for their trip. What we're really trying to do is just monitor where there's community spread of the Covid Virus and it's really an evolving situation in terms of how infectious it's gonna be, like, who really is going to be most affected, is it going to be where the majority of people have mild symptoms? And that's what we believe to be true but information from some of the other countries has been hard to get and so I think we're kind of just waiting to see what happens. We're not canceling plans at this point, but certainly being vigilant about our planning or our trips, making sure that as we consider traveling that we're not putting ourselves at unnecessary risk.
PRENTICE: In the meantime, I'd be remiss if I didn't remind our listeners that flu is widespread, remains widespread in Idaho, and I was saddened to see the most recent report from the Department of Health and Welfare that indicates 18 flu related deaths in Idaho this season. Flu right now is a more significant threat in Idaho, yes?
ZOGG: Yes, I would say so. We are, I'd say, still considered a low risk for the Covid-19 Coronavirus. Although, I think we should all, you know, kind of remain alert and aware of what's happening around us and potentially in our community here soon. But in the meantime, I think just practicing good respiratory precautions, covering a cough, getting a flu vaccine, staying home when you're sick. Those types of things, because as you said, influenza right now is an infectious disease that's most impactful in our community right now and we still want to make sure we're protecting ourselves to the extent we can from that virus as well.
PRENTICE: She is Dr. NiKole Zogg, director of Southwest District Health, Dr. Zogg, thank you so much.
ZOGG: Thank you.
Find reporter George Prentice on Twitter @georgepren
Copyright 2020 Boise State Public Radio
Member support is what makes local COVID-19 reporting possible. Support this coverage here.
