DATE: October 19, 2021
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: David Luchini, RN, PHN, Interim Director, Department of Public Health
SUBJECT: Ratification of Amendments for COVID-19 Medical Investigations, Contact Tracing, and Vaccination Services
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Ratify the First Amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding with the California Department of Public Health for COVID-19 Case Investigations, Contact Tracing, and Vaccination Services previously executed by the County Administrative Officer, acting as Emergency Services Director, effective December 27, 2020 through December 31, 2021 ($0).
2. Ratify the Second Amendment with Fresno County Superintendent of Schools for COVID-19 Medical Investigations, Contact Tracing, and Vaccination Services previously executed by the County Administrative Officer, acting as Emergency Services Director, effective August 4, 2020 through December 31, 2021 ($1,730,000).
REPORT
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Approval of the first recommended action will ratify the first amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to add vaccination services through June 30, 2021 and extend case investigations and contact tracing services through December 31, 2021. Approval of the second recommended action will ratify the second amendment to the agreement with Fresno County Superintendent of Schools (FCSS) to extend the original term of the agreement by an additional six (6) months through December 31, 2021. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Should your Board choose not to ratify the recommended actions, the Department would need to hire additional staff to meet future demand for medical investigations, contact tracing, and vaccination efforts. Losing the existing trained partners for these efforts could cause a delay in service delivery and would result in a backlog of cases; with less members of the community being contacted for tracing and vaccination services.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. The MOU with CDPH provides services at no cost to the County. The agreement with FCSS ($1,730,000), has been funded with CARES Act funding for services provided through June 2021 ($478,008). Funding for services past June 2021 will be fully offset with other State and Federal funding including but not limited to State Immunization funds, Federal Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) Enhancing Detection funds, and/or any other funding made available through legislative action. There is one outstanding invoice pending in the amount of $26,460 for the FCSS agreement. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in the Department’s Org 5620 FY 2021-22 Adopted Budget.
DISCUSSION:
On March 15, 2020, the County Administrative Officer acting as the Emergency Services Director, proclaimed a local emergency to increase the County’s response capacity for the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 17, 2020 your Board proclaimed and ratified the local emergency due to the imminent and proximate threat of COVID-19. On April 13, 2021, your Board terminated the proclamation of the local emergency and continues to function under the State proclaimed emergency.
On June 8, 2021, your Board ratified the original agreements that preceded both the first amendment with CDPH and the second amendment with FCSS.
On May 24, 2021, the County Administrative Officer (CAO) signed the first amendment with CDPH. The amendment allowed for the addition of remote vaccine outreach services through June 30, 2021 and extends the existing case investigation and contact tracing (CICT) services through December 31, 2021. On June 30, 2021 the Department returned all CDPH staff due to the decrease in COVID cases at that time. With the recent surge in COVID cases, the Department has requested the return of ten CDPH staff to provide CICT services. There has not been a request to extend vaccine outreach services provided by CDPH due to the greater need for CICT services at this time.
On June 18, 2021, the CAO signed the second amendment with FCSS. The second amendment allows for the extension of medical investigations, contact tracing, and vaccination services through December 31, 2021.
Both amendments were executed under the State proclaimed emergency due to the essentialness of COVID-19 vaccinations, and the time sensitivity associated with the original agreements set to expire on June 30, 2021.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI# 35 June 8, 2021
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - First Amendment with CDPH
On file with Clerk - Second Amendment with FCSS
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander