HAYS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT
At the recent Hays County Commissioners Court the Hays County Health Department Director Matthew Gonzales gave a report on the measles exposure that occurred in February. On Feb. 21, the Department of State Health Services notified the Hays County Health Department of an individual that had visited San Marcos to tour Texas State University and might have been infectious. At the time of notification, the Health Department was not aware of the condition of the patient, whether they were positive or negative for measles, just that they were at risk since they were exposed to an individual that was positive for measles. That same night the department deployed their Public Health Surveillance and Preparedness Team, which activated all the conditions of their emergency operations center within public health and activated their incident command structure as well as preparing press releases and media tool kits to help share important information with the public. The following morning the department was notified that the patient tested positive for measles.
The department had three main objectives in their measles response, including establishing and maintaining the emergency support function number eight, which involves making sure public health and medical services are aware of the circumstances and understand the protocols. Another priority was clear, concise, consistent, effective and equitable communication in accordance with the national incident management and public health practices. As well as the effective, consistent and efficient response protocols for communication and resource sharing.
The report reflects on the response, examining what worked and what did not.
“The number one thing that we learned is that we have a very good strength with our partnerships, since COVID we started a taskforce across the county for the designated infection control officers of each first responding agency – we began meeting with them quarterly to begin talking about preparedness for Hays County,” Gonzales said.
He reflected on areas that need improvement including their laboratory testing and diagnosis capacity. The department relies on the private sector and the Texas Department of State Health Services to conduct testing and their goal is to streamline that process. There was an external communications leak with the department’s partner agency at Texas State University, which revealed the measles situation before the department could release more information to the public. The Health department is taking safety measures to prevent future leaks that include watermarks and explaining criteria for which information goes out and when. A main concern with information leaks is that it can lead to HIPAA violations and can put the patient at risk of identification.
