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KINGWOOD — A $399,000 ELC grant will allow the Preston County Health Department (PCHD) to hire one full-time and two part-time employees. The grant will provide funds for these positions for two years.
In spring 2020, the federal government committed funding to state, local and territorial governments to combat the spread of COVID-19. To quickly distribute the funding, the CDC used its existing grant applications for the ELC Cooperative Agreement.
At the Thursday evening meeting PCHD Director V. J. Davis said due to funding for the grant, part-time employee Courtni DeWitt will move from part-time to full-time and take charge of COVID contact tracing and other COVID-related work. Tony Amato, a registered nurse and Sheila Amato will work at local events doing COVID testing, signing people up for the COVID vaccination and dispensing information. Tony will also be able to give on-site vaccinations.
Davis said there are currently three active cases of COVID in Preston County. He said to date there has been 2,743 confirmed cases, 222 probable cases and 47 deaths. Davis said one of the deaths occurred this week.
Along with scheduling vaccinations and answering questions, he will do some advertising as a move into the educational part of the pandemic.
Preston health officer Dr. Fred Conley said he has some concerns about the Delta variant of the virus.
“The vaccine will give about 60% immunity but not total coverage,” he said “We’ve seen some people who have had the shots get COVID. When we send in tests it takes three weeks to get the results.
“Should we require masks again? We have no idea,” he said. “We expect to see an increase in Delta over the next few months.”
Conley said it opens a question about vaccinations for the educational system.
“Some studies indicate it’s more risky for kids to take the vaccine than to get the disease,” Conley said.
He said the death rate for children is one-tenth of 1%. Conley said children are also less likely to spread the virus.
“It poses a hard decision for the educational staff,” he said.
In other business, Davis said the new building initiative is on hold while Region VI determines if the board is eligible for any grants and if so, which ones.
“I talked to Kathy (County Administrator Kathy Mace) and at this point in time there is nothing we can seek a bid for,” he said. “I contacted Sen. (Joe) Manchin and Sen. (Shelley Moore) Capito to see if there is any federal money available. If we hear from them that we are eligible we can put together a design.”
At an earlier meeting, the Preston County Commission agreed to let the proposed PCHD building be built on county property, near Mon Health Preston Memorial Hospital and the E911 building.
The next meeting of the Preston County Board of Health will be 7 p.m. Sept. 9.
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