On January 20, 2020, the Health District was notified that the first case of COVID-19 in the United States was confirmed in Snohomish County. Very quickly, staff worked closely with local, state, and federal officials to securely transport that patient and begin what has become the largest public health response in generations.

The Board of Health moved quickly to implement various policies and grant authority to the Health Officer and Administrative Officer to take appropriate disease-control steps to mitigate the spread of COVID in Snohomish County. These included the temporary easing of policies around purchasing, contracting, and hiring of staff and materials needed in the control efforts. Some of these efforts include establishments of testing sites, call centers, vaccination sites, and the establishments of specialized teams to work with schools, childcare, employers, and enhanced disease investigation.

Currently, the agency has approximately 140 temporary and contract staff positions working with District staff. In recent weeks, the disease rates have continued to rise despite over 500,000 vaccine doses being administrated in Snohomish County, alarming the District to a fourth wave of the pandemic. More concerning is the very sudden decrease in new appointments being utilized at each of the mass vaccination sites; additionally, we are beginning to see an increase in hospitalizations. As our communities are currently well below the projected thresholds to achieve herd immunity, these two factors increase the need for the District to expand its capability for enhanced contact tracing, disease investigation, and community outreach. The plan is to move forward with increasing capacity in the following areas:

General Case/Contact Investigation

• Create an additional team for case and contact investigation, with:
  • One additional supervisor
  • At least five disease investigation specialists (DIS)

Schools and Childcare

• Separate schools and childcare into two different groups
• Hire the following positions to support COVID work for childcare settings:
  • One supervisor
  • Two nurses
  • Five DIS
• Add the following positions to support the schools team:
  • Two DIS
  • Two nurses

Special Populations

• Hire the following positions:
  • One supervisor - preferably someone with infection prevention background
  • Four DIS 
  • Two nurses to support this work and conduct site visits

Employer Outreach Team

• Hire four more DIS

Vaccine Preventable Diseases

• Hire two data entry staff to facilitate PrepMod/WAIIS data entry interface

Epidemiology

• Hire two additional epidemiologist 1s

Human Resources

• Hire a human resources professional focused on COVID staffing work

Finance

• Hire an accountant/billing clerk to manage COVID funding sources

Incident Command Staff

• Hire the following positions:
  • Incident commander
  • Planning section chief
  • Logistics section chief

The addition of these temporary staff greatly increases the District’s capacity to conduct contact tracing and case investigation while increasing our ability to engage with and support employers, schools, childcares, and special populations. These temporary positions will be funded through the allocations allowed through the consolidated contract amendment #20 with the Washington State Department of Health and will be scaled based on the progression of the disease.