A combination of influenza and COVID illnesses put pressure on Webster County Public Health and local hospitals and clinics to provide testing and care.

Since the pandemic began, more than 115,000 COVID tests have been administered in Webster County. One hundred and thirty two deaths have been attributed to COVID in the county.

Hospitals like UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center continue to deal with staffing shortages as health care workers themselves have become ill.

“Health care workers aren’t immune to illness either,” said Shannon McQuillen, vice president of people excellence for UnityPoint Health — Fort Dodge. “We have a number of team members who are out in general due to illness — COVID and lots of other things.”

McQuillen said when health care workers do become ill, it can take several days before they can return.

“We have such strict protocol that we have to follow,” she said. “So if they are showing any signs or symptoms, they can’t come back to work without a negative test or without showing symptoms.”

One of the consequences of being short-handed is the need for healthy workers to take on extra shifts.

“We have been experiencing that (worker shortage) even prior to this surge again,” McQuillen said. “We have had for a while now a lot of incentives for team members to work extra shifts. It continues even with team members being out ill. We continue to have open shifts and ask people to pick up extra.”

Community transmission across Iowa was rated as high as 2022 began, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From Dec. 29, 2021, to Jan. 5, 2022, there were 20,075 new COVID cases in Iowa. There were 161 deaths during that time. Throughout 2021, the Community Health Center of Fort Dodge offered rapid COVID testing five days a week.

Vaccinations

As case counts climbed, public health officials continued to plead with residents to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations.

Multiple vaccination clinics were held throughout the year, resulting in about 54% of Webster County residents reaching the status of fully vaccinated.

For most people, that meant receiving two shots. A third shot, called a booster, became readily available to most residents in late 2021.