Public health officials were stars and targets of pandemic response this year
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In the early days of the pandemic, Dr. Jennifer Bacani McKenney would chat with residents of her Kansas hometown over the phone, on Facebook Messenger and at the grocery store about their COVID-19 concerns. We were just kind of accessible to everybody for all these unknowns, McKenney, a health officer in Fredonia, Wilson County, told ABC News.
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By MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News
(NEW YORK) In the early days of the pandemic, Dr. Jennifer Bacani McKenney would chat with residents of her Kansas hometown over the phone, on Facebook Messenger and at the grocery store about their COVID-19 concerns.
“We were just kind of accessible to everybody for all these unknowns,” McKenney, a health officer in Fredonia, Wilson County, told ABC News.
Regular hour-long Facebook Live sessions soon followed. “People were just scared of the unknown, and they were thankful for us helping them walk through it all with them,” she said.
The rural county didn’t get its first COVID-19 case until almost mid-April, and by August had eight total reported. Throughout the fall, cases have picked up, with Wilson County now reporting over 600 cases as of Dec. 28.