The Monongalia County Board of Health would like the county health department to start compiling all available data on severe COVID cases and deaths in our area, looking especially at commonalities so we can have a better understanding of whom the disease affects most and why.
Mon County Health Officer Dr. Lee Smith said he’d love to, but it’s a labor-intensive process the health department doesn’t have time for. So BOH president Sam Chico proposed putting together a paid group of researchers to look into it.
We think that’s a fantastic idea. Gaining more insight into how COVID affects people and why will help us end this pandemic and hopefully put COVID behind us for good. It could also help us to protect the people who may suffer the most with COVID as we face a potential surge.
There’s also a huge economic benefit. Unemployment is still high and even temporary paid work is better than nothing for many people. Chico is looking specifically at medical, nursing or public health students to begin the process of compiling data, which will likely involve combing through death certificates and even deceased individuals’ medical charts for factors that could have contributed to the COVID-related death. But we hope Chico and the BOH would consider opening the opportunity to anyone who is out of work with the relative experience and skills. We’re thinking particularly of people with clerical or record-keeping experience, as many offices closed or reduced hours due to the pandemic.
We hope the BOH moves forward with the proposal for a group of paid researchers, because we see no downside.
