photo by: Journal-World screenshot

Douglas County Health Officer Dr. Jennifer Schrimsher

Though Douglas County returned to the most severe level of COVID-19 transmission this week, the county’s top public health official said it’s unlikely it will lead to a community mask mandate like earlier this year.

The Journal-World asked county health officer Jennifer Schrimsher whether public health officials were considering a mask mandate in the near future, and on Friday, Schrimsher said the answer to that question, for now, is no.

However, she said that if something happened that strained the health care system — such as a significant number of COVID hospitalizations — a mandate might be in the cards.

“My opinion would be to hold on a health order unless we’re looking at an inability to care for the community,” Schrimsher wrote in an email.

Schrimsher said that health officials monitor the number of hospitalizations, but that they also try to project whether they might spike in the future. She said broader community statistics like case counts and absences from public schools could factor into health officials’ decisions.

There were three patients hospitalized with COVID at LMH Health as of Thursday, according to the health department’s last COVID data update.

“I think this is what things will look like for the foreseeable future, these lower-level waves, with some random wild-card variant spikes thrown in to keep us all on our toes, until we enter a more seasonal pattern,” Schrimsher said.

For now, Schrimsher said the community should continue to focus on following the health department’s recommendations for when COVID transmission is high — namely, masking in indoor public spaces and outdoor crowded spaces.

Schrimsher said she didn’t expect that this wave of COVID would be especially severe. She said the community still appears to have a persistent level of immunity that is fairly effective at preventing hospitalization and death from COVID. She also noted that despite the increasing number of infections in the community, the number of hospitalizations is remaining low.

Schrimsher also said the community has more tools than ever to ward off the worst effects of the virus. She noted that people who are more susceptible to COVID can get a booster shot, and that Paxlovid, Pfizer’s COVID-treatment pill, is more widely accessible now. Along with that, she said the hope is that younger people will be eligible for vaccination soon.