Brown County Board looks to build on COVID-19 response, acknowledges there’s room for improvement – Green Bay Press Gazette

ASHWAUBENON -One of the first orders of business for the new Brown County Board will be reviewing the county's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

County Board member Megan BorchardtofGreen Bay has asked the county's Human Services Department for a report on successesand opportunities for improvementinhow Brown County responded to the public health needs of county residents. The goal, supervisors said, was to continue doing what the county had done well, whileimprovingwhere improvements were needed.

"We know there is a plan of action, and it continues to be updated," Borchardt said. County health officials said they plan further updates to the plan later this spring.

Human Services Committee members in March discussed a number of successes in the county's response, including areas where the county's response had started slowly but had grown into a strength. In other areas, officials said, Brown County's response later became a best practice adopted by a number of counties.

At the same time, Human Services meeting minutes from March show that the committeeacknowledged that Brown County struggled, especially early in its response,in involving some community partners sooner. For example, some people, including a member of the county Board of Health, complained that it took several calls before they got an answer about where help from speakers fluent inlanguages other than English wasneeded.

Also, some believed there were timeswhere the county should have realizedit needed to ask earlier for other types of assistance. For example, a COVID-19 testing clinic catering to Spanish speakers, and people with limited access to transportation, opened at CASA Alba Melanie in downtown Green Bay in May2020 a day after the county opened a clinicat the Resch Expo construction site in Ashwaubenon, that was geared towardpeople able to drive to the facility.

Health & Human Services officials didn't return a call seeking an interview.

County Board members said they expect the report on the pandemic response to be discussed at their May board meeting.

Also Tuesday:

Supervisors agreed to accept $5 million in federal transportation funding for environmental andengineering/design work for the Southern Bridge project that would funnel some traffic south of De Pere. The board also agreed to allocate $600,000 in county money, and $600,000 from the city of De Pere, as the local share.

The board accepted $103,000 in grant money for the Child Support Department; funding, which must be spent by June 30, will pay for department overtime, new office printersand new furniture.

The board elected Dave Kaster of Bellevuevice-chairman over Borchardt. KastersucceedsTom Sieber, who did not seek reelection to the board. Patrick Buckley remains chairman of the County Board.

More:Brown County coronavirus cases zoom past 1,400, as people continue to ignore preventive measures

More: COVID-19: Here's where you can get tested in Green Bay, Brown County

More: Updated: Where to get COVID-19 vaccinations in Brown County

Contact Doug Schneider at (920) 431-8333, or DSchneid@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PGDougSchneider.

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Brown County Board looks to build on COVID-19 response, acknowledges there's room for improvement - Green Bay Press Gazette