Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic: Looking Back and Looking Forward from the Perspective of Local Health Departments in Nebraska

Journal Title: Public Health Open Access - Year 2022, Vol 6, Issue 1

Abstract

Context: The scale and complexity of the COVID-19 pandemic response has revealed some significant successes and limitations of our public health system. Objective: Focused on the pandemic response from the viewpoint of local health departments (LHDs) in Nebraska, this study aimed to identify successes, barriers, lessons learned, and changes needed to improve the local response for future pandemics. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used to gather information from LHDs in Nebraska. In June 2021, a survey was sent to all LHD directors (n=19), and 17 (89%) participated in the survey. To supplement the survey results, four LHD directors from different areas of the state were interviewed. Results: Successful efforts of the pandemic response included developing stronger partnerships with K-12 schools, distributing the COVID-19 vaccines, and expanding the number of people reached through contact tracing. Barriers included a shortage of staff with the competencies and expertise to respond to a crisis, the lack of funding prior to the pandemic, inconsistent guidance, the politicization of the COVID-19 response, resistance to masking, and misinformation about COVID-19. Conclusions: This pandemic taught many lessons, including the importance of timely and frequent communication with all partners and the public, the need to share accurate data broadly and frequently as possible, the lack of knowledge of public health’s authority to implement emergency public health measures (e.g., quarantine and isolation), and the persistence of staff burnout and retention. Looking forward, baseline funding for LHDs should be expanded to strengthen capacity to hire additional staff, particularly in the areas of epidemiology and communications. Additional investments in common information technology platforms are also essential. Finally, more creative staff resilience solutions are needed to address staff burnout. While essential for LHDs during times of pandemic, such investments can also benefit LHDs when pandemics don’t rage.

Authors and Affiliations

David P , Grimm B , Pacino V and Bockrath S

Keywords

Related Articles

Powder XRD, PSD and DSC Analysis of the Consciousness Energy Healing Treated Zinc Chloride

Zinc chloride is commonly used as a source of zinc for the treatment of many diseases and overall maintenance of good health. The impacts of the Trivedi Effect® on the physicochemical, thermal, and behavioral properties...

Trends of Tuberculosis Prevalence, Treatment and Prevention Efforts in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State

Background: Tuberculosis is still rampant in Nigeria, and contributes significantly to TB burden globally. This study was conducted with the main objective of determining the trends of TB prevalence, treatment and preven...

Analyzing Optimism Bias, Risk Perception and Behavioral Outcomes in the Context of COVID-19 in the Autonomous University of Queretaro’s Community: A Pilot Study

Background: The coronavirus pandemic is a major health crisis that presents new and unprecedented challenges, including challenging how individuals deal with risk. Individuals’ perceptions and behavioral responses to the...

Multi-Drug Resistance Patterns of Wound Causing Bacterial Infections in a Rural Hospital, Sirajganj, Bangladesh

Wound infection is considered as one of the most common nosocomial infections in the world. The aim of this study is profiling of bacterial pathogenic isolates from wound infected patients who were admitted to the hospit...

Does Spousal Intimacy Improve Contraceptive Use? A Cross-Sectional Household Survey in Nigeria

Spousal intimacy has been argued to have the tendency to improve contraceptive use. In Nigeria, there is no empirical evidence to corroborate or refute this argument. This study attempts to fill this gap by examining the...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP755730
  • DOI 10.23880/phoa-16000204
  • Views 38
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

David P, Grimm B, Pacino V and Bockrath S (2022). Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic: Looking Back and Looking Forward from the Perspective of Local Health Departments in Nebraska. Public Health Open Access, 6(1), -. https://www.europub.co.uk/articles/-A-755730