Even though the likelihood of hepatitis A impacting you directly is low, it has become a focus for many of our colleagues. Many more of you probably have questions about what we’re doing and your personal safety. I want to give you a high-level overview of our actions and recognize the tremendous effort many of you are making to protect the public’s health.
First, a little background. The hepatitis A virus is typically spread through fecal matter that winds up in someone’s mouth. Even tiny amounts. Not a pretty thought, but that’s what we’re dealing with. An infected person can spread it to another person through things they touch, including food, or by close personal contact. Hepatitis A can make people sick, and as we’re seeing, even be fatal, especially when the person who gets it has existing health issues.
From the onset, our public health staff did an extraordinary job identifying the outbreak and analyzing the at-risk populations. Interviews with patients and hospital personnel, along with sophisticated modeling done by GIS mapping of cases, helped them put together a picture of what we were experiencing and a plan for what needed to be done. They determined it affected – as it does now – mainly people who are homeless and those using illegal drugs.
They began educating health care providers and mobilizing teams to begin vaccinations. They met with local jurisdictions to explain the medical aspects of hepatitis A as well as the need for extra sanitization where homeless people stay. Working with the Centers for Disease Control, the California Department of Public Health and our community partners, they initiated a three-pronged strategy to stop the outbreak: vaccinate, sanitize and educate.
These numbers will keep changing, but as of last update, the County and local health care community had given more than 76,000 vaccinations since the outbreak began. Some of those have been at mass vaccination events that began in April. Many have been given by “foot teams” we launched in May. Public health nurses, partnered with outreach workers and sometimes law enforcement, hit the streets, riverbeds or canyons to find homeless people one-by-one. If you’ve ever worked with the homeless population, you know many of them are suspicious of “official” types – especially those who show up with a vaccine. It’s painstaking work, and our doctors and nurses deserve a ton of credit for the numbers we’ve reached in our vaccination efforts.
Video: Hear County public health nurses explain their prevention work
But it’s many more of you than that. I applaud our social workers, law enforcement personnel, environmental health workers, parks staff, public works crews and countless other County employees for the various roles they have played in our response.
We’ve worked extensively with local restaurants on cleaning guidelines and food handler education. We’ve cleaned culverts and distributed street sanitization protocols. We’ve passed out hygiene kits, and installed handwashing stations across the region. We’ve implemented extra sanitation protocols in our own public restrooms and County facilities with extra cleaning precautions for doorknobs, elevator walls, tables and countertops. It’s truly been a team effort.
During emergencies, there are always critics. But I can assure you, I am proud of each one of you and grateful for your hard work and dedication. And those actions will continue as we are still a long way away from ending the outbreak. It will take many more months. Similar outbreaks in the past have taken years to run their course. We are hopeful that we are ahead of that curve but we can’t be certain. What is certain, though, is that when it’s over, we will collect our lessons learned so that we can do everything possible to prevent a future outbreak.
I mentioned that most of you are at a very low risk of contracting hepatitis A, so a vaccination is not necessary. However, if you come into contact with someone in the at-risk population then please contact your health care provider to determine if a hepatitis A shot is recommended. We have an extensive amount of information about hepatitis A on our County website. I urge you to read it. And if you still have questions, please reach out to Human Resources. They are there to help you.
I also want to urge you to think beyond hepatitis A. The flu season is upon us. And remember, the flu is more deadly then hepatitis A. Please take care of yourself.
Tough challenges always bring out the best in the human spirit. The Noblest Motive is the Public Good. That is what motivates all of us. My sincere thanks to everyone for the work you’ve done and will continue to do.
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