Federal funds bridge funding gap in county’s fight against COVID

Individuals, businesses, schools and government offices have all been impacted by the pandemic, but the Jefferson County Public Health Department saw its workload steadily increase along with new cases of the virus.  

The department has also received $157,463 in COVID relief funding, with the bulk of that, 86%, going to wages. 

For the Public Health Department, the case surges began last July and that’s when the department started hiring temporary nurses to help with the increasing amount of contact tracing and case investigation, according to Public Health Supervisor Pam Hanna.