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From the Desk of Public Health
By Staff | May 18, 2021
Last week, the Palo Alto County Board of Health met in regular session and discussed the mask mandate for our county. It was voted on and approved to continue to mandate mask wearing throughout the county until the next Board meeting in June. By continuing the mask mandate, we are able to provide protection and ensure that our children are able to finish their school year, attend graduation ceremonies and celebrate their achievements.
At this time, our positivity rate remains low at 5% with four newly reported cases in the last seven days. I say reported cases, because there are many family members who are ill and not getting tested because they know they have had an exposure. Our total cases to date is 1,183 and we have lost 21 county residents to COVID.
Board Discusses COVID Vaccine
by Joseph Schany
“We continue to stay pretty low with our county positivity rate,” began Sarah Strohman, Public Health director, updating the Palo Alto County Board of Supervisors on COVID numbers during Tuesday morning’s meeting. “Our current positivity rate in Palo Alto County is 2 percent. We currently have five active cases in the county.”
According to Strohman, to date 1,179 total cases of COVID and 21 deaths have been reported in Palo Alto County, and the numbers seem to have become manageable.
“I am super happy about that,” she said.
Strohman discussed the ongoing push for county-wide vaccinations in order to reach the desired levels for herd immunity, noting the number of individuals requesting the vaccine has decreased significantly.
Supervisors Approve Urban Renewal Expansion
By Joseph Schany - | May 4, 2021
by Joseph Schany
The Palo Alto County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing Tuesday, April 27 at the Courthouse Boardroom in Emmetsburg for the designation of the expanded Palo Alto County Industrial Park Urban Renewal Area and on the urban renewal plan amendment. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the meeting was also available telephonically.
“We are adding the area where we are building the Palo Alto County Public Safety Center and we are putting that property into our Urban Renewal Area,” said Carmen Moser, Palo Alto County Auditor. “The rest is for all the roads and bridges projects our county engineer will complete. We will be using tax increment financing (TIF) money, which is a funding source for us to use from the new valuation from our wind turbines”
From the Desk of Public Health
Vaccine, Health Mitigation Strategies Effective in Keeping Our Community Safe from COVID-19
By Staff | Apr 22, 2021
We have had a busy past few days with increased COVID activity in our community. It is so easy to let our guards down looking at our positivity rate and forgetting that we need to continue to take precautions. This virus is still here and very much looking for people to host it. In fact, across the state, we are seeing an increase in cases of COVID-19, especially among the younger population. We also have begun to see the variant strains in Iowa as well. One of these new strains, the UK Variant, is proving to be easier to spread.