Ky. health departments returning to pre-pandemic operations

MERCER COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - Kentucky health departments are seeing their operations return to how they were before the pandemic.

It comes as the COVID-19 national emergency ended last week.

Health departments like those in Mercer County were all hands on deck for months that turned into years during the pandemic. But now the health department can return to more of its normal functions.

Many counties throughout Kentucky will start their community health assessments now that the work with the coronavirus is not nearly what it was before. People will be asked to tell health leaders what services they need. Health departments will then decide what to do with their local tax dollars. They hope to develop a game plan for the next five years. That will be a priority, along with ensuring the children’s immunization program is fully running again.

“And so we have partnered with the schools in the county to make sure our kids are vaccinated. We have always done school-age vaccinations. This has given us a reason to focus on it a little bit more,” said Cathy Akins with the Mercer County Health Department.

Some things worked well during the pandemic some need to be improved upon.

The director says one thing that will stay the same is likely the option of being served some services in the car or at least waiting in your car instead of a waiting room.

Health leaders say during COVID, personnel from other departments, such as environmental or those who checked restaurants, transitioned into pandemic work. Now those departments are fully functioning again.

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