photo by: Screenshot and contributed photo

Dr. Thomas Marcellino, left, and Dr. Jennifer Schrimsher.

As a change of leadership takes place in the Douglas County office overseeing the public response to the coronavirus pandemic, the former and new county health officers expect a smooth transition.

Dr. Thomas Marcellino officially resigned from the position this month after a decade at the helm, a decision announced in late January. Dr. Jennifer Schrimsher, who has been the deputy health officer for a year, was appointed to the health officer position by the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Board on Monday.

Marcellino said he had actually been considering stepping away before 2020, but the pandemic changed that plan. Now, though, feels like the right time, since Schrimsher has had a full year as deputy to familiarize herself with the role, he said.

“The only reason I decided it was a good time for me to resign was because I felt confident she understood the role and felt confident she could handle it without any problems moving forward,” Marcellino said.

Schrimsher agrees. She said she had probably experienced a better transition than many incoming health officers in recent years, citing a spate of public health officials leaving their local departments early on in the pandemic and their replacements having to navigate the position without the same luxury of on-the-job experience.

“I’m beyond thankful to have joined the team at a time where I could get used to how things work and get exposed to the process, the chain of command and how things work,” Schrimsher said. “And joining a team that is supportive.”

Marcellino said the health officer has always relied on a professional team that includes people in government, hospital staff, emergency managers and others.

It hasn’t been clear whether the health board plans to appoint a new deputy health officer, but the camaraderie of the team will remain, both Marcellino and Schrimsher agreed. The major difference will be whose name goes on the dotted line when signing off on health orders and recommendations — and the pressure that comes with making such choices.

The most recent of those choices was a recommendation earlier this month to the Douglas County Commission that masks be worn in places where 500 or more people are gathered. Commissioners ultimately rejected that, opting instead to extend the order mandating masks in public spaces for everyone 2 and older.

The factors leading to these decisions often aren’t crystal clear, Marcellino said, and both he and Schrimsher recognized that acknowledging as much influenced the commission’s choice to go with a stricter order. The challenge comes from trying to make the right decision in real time and not knowing whether it was definitely right until after the fact, Marcellino said.

An additional challenge is the ever-evolving scientific data.

That’s something Schrimsher, as an infectious disease physician, knows well.

“But that’s medicine,” Schrimsher said. “That’s what we do every day. I chose (infectious diseases) because it always keeps you on your toes. I tell my patients that medicine is the most humbling job, and it’s probably the most humbling thing I’ve ever done. I’m wrong regularly. I have to keep up with things to make sure I’m doing right by my patients. It’s not clean. … Medicine is not black and white, and you’re seeing the cross-over of medicine and public health — and how intertwined these things are.”

Outside of the pandemic, Marcellino said his past 10 years as health officer involved somewhat similar isolation and quarantine protocols — though on a much smaller scale — for tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. Those experiences helped prepare him, to an extent.

“But really, there wasn’t a handbook to rely upon,” Marcellino said. “It was basically using our best judgment to make the best decision possible for the community. Early in the pandemic when I was here by myself for the first year, it was a lot of pressure to make these decisions, because ultimately we relied upon the group to come to a consensus, but it was me that had to make the final call on a lot of these things.”

Bringing Schrimsher on board helped validate a lot of those decisions and alleviate some pressure, he said.

As for whether any future health orders will be necessary, it’s hard to tell right now, Schrimsher said.

“I’m not going to say future health orders are not going to happen, but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Schrimsher said. “I’m hoping that we don’t need them.”

The county’s COVID numbers have been declining significantly since the start of February; the moving average daily case count has dropped from more than 200 at the beginning of the month to roughly 50 as of this week. That’s in line with what public health officials have expected, Schrimsher said — a “quick burn,” represented by a fast rise and subsequent fast drop. Future surges will be a given, though.

“In general, I expect each surge to get lower and less frequent,” Schrimsher said. “That will slowly slide into the typical … respiratory infection season that we deal with every year.”

And while it’s impossible to know the future, Marcellino said he’s optimistic that the county is on the right track.

Moving forward, Schrimsher said there should be plenty of focus on the community’s “resiliency” and the cooperative spirit it has generally shown during the pandemic. She cited a need for a recovery process for people like health care workers and educators, who’ve been dealing with constant attrition in their ranks on top of the sheer stress of the pandemic.

Nurturing mental health, getting people out of the habit of putting off health care, and helping those who have been marginalized are other areas that Schrimsher has identified as important.

Learning how to live with COVID will also be important, she said. Part of that process will be developing a new community transmission indicator via the health department. The current one operates on a color scheme from green to red, with red being the most severe. The county is currently in yellow, which means the daily COVID case count, based on a 14-day moving average, has dropped below 50, and active cases have dropped below 1,000.

Though nothing has been decided, she cited a likely shift away from the color categories to something more focused on individuals and helping people make informed personal choices.

Marcellino said he has appreciated the community’s efforts during the pandemic. He’ll be sticking around as the county’s medical consultant, specifically helping with setting policies and overseeing operations for the health department’s family planning clinic.

Schrimsher said public health could be a thankless job, but it’s a vitally important one. Her positive attitude hasn’t changed, she said, even as public health officials have been “demonized” by some throughout the pandemic.

“That is really hard, because my thoughts and my love for the community have not changed,” Schrimsher said. “I’m the same person. I still think the same things are important. I’m still going to rise to the occasion as opposed to lowering the bar; that’s just who I am. I’m going to continue to do the right thing.”