Pontiac, Michigan – Thursday, March 10, 2022 marks two years since Oakland County’s first confirmed COVID-19 case. Since then, the county has encountered a quarter-million confirmed cases, about 242,000 of whom have recovered.

In the meantime, new COVID-19 cases continue their downward trend. There were fewer than 1,700 confirmed and probable cases in Oakland County from Feb. 21 – March 6, down 30 percent from the previous report. The seven-day test positivity rate has dropped below five percent to 4.6 percent.

“The COVID pandemic revealed both our vulnerabilities and our resilience in fighting through this public health crisis,” said Oakland County Executive David Coulter. “We also learned some unexpected lessons that will make us stronger moving forward. We learned how to work in different ways and how to offer more accessible and efficient online services. This crisis helped to reduce the stigma around our mental health and highlight the need for more accessible services and it shined a spotlight on disparities in health care that we can now measure and address. Most importantly, COVID, which tragically took so many, has given us a renewed appreciation for friends, family members and neighbors.”

Over 920,000 Oakland County residents have stepped up to get vaccinated to protect themselves, loved ones, and neighbors since COVID-19 vaccines became available on Dec. 17, 2020. They represent more than 77 percent of Oakland County residents 5 years and older who are eligible to receive primary series doses. Half of residents who completed their primary series doses also opted to receive a third or booster dose.

Oakland County’s 217,000-plus seniors 65 years and older outpaced all other age groups for getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Almost 94 percent opted to begin their primary series doses.

In total, Oakland County’s 612 enrolled providers have administered more than 2.16 million primary series, third, and booster doses to Oakland County residents. Oakland County Health Division was responsible for more than 265,000 – or about 20 percent – of those doses at 1,457 community vaccination events. The Health Division offered 49 of those clinics at schools throughout Oakland County to increase vaccine accessibility for families and provide a comfortable environment for youth. Nearly 20,000 people received their COVID-19 vaccine at local schools. In addition, the Health Division swabbed more than 66,000 COVID-19 tests at 238 drive-through testing events.

Here are a few stories about Oakland County’s response to the pandemic and some quiet heroes whose work helped particular individuals or communities:

One need that emerged after the Health Division began administering vaccines was homebound vaccination services. The Health Division contracted with multiple partner agencies to answer the call and administer 1,300 doses to residents who were often considered high risk due to pre-existing conditions and encountered barriers to leaving their homes to be vaccinated. This does not include long-term care facilities.

One family who utilized the county’s homebound vaccination services stands out. Though they only lived across the street from one of the county’s community vaccine clinics, it took a sister and brother 40 minutes to get their wheelchair bound brother to the clinic so he could get his first dose. The siblings covered their brother, who had survived a horrible car crash a few years prior, with a blanket so no one would stare at him. While there, they were elated to learn that an Oakland County public health nurse would visit their home to provide their second doses. They felt a strong connection with the nurse who provided the second doses and called her directly for another home visit when it came time for booster doses.

Homebound COVID-19 testing also was a priority. The Health Division partnered with Hatzalah of Michigan to provide members of the Orthodox Jewish community with testing and vaccinations. This helped mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in their close-knit community where group gatherings are held regularly.

Oakland County Health Division’s emergency preparedness and nursing staff in partnership with the National Guard and many EMS agencies brought COVID-19 testing and vaccinations to 70 long-term care (LTC) facilities over the course of the pandemic. Residents in LTC facilities are at high-risk of transmission of the disease and are more vulnerable to complications from COVID-19. Oakland County’s nurses and epidemiologists also served as liaisons to LTC facilities to support infection prevention protocol and provide immediate assistance if PPE or testing was needed. Both efforts helped mitigate the spread of the virus.

Finally, the Health Division partnered with the Street Medicine team from Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among the homeless community. They brought COVID-19 screening to area shelters and hotels that housed shelter residents in isolation or quarantine. This outreach included flu vaccinations along with COVID-19 vaccinations as they became available.  Health Division nurses assigned to the county’s Homeless Healthcare program worked with shelter agency leaders to develop best practices to help prevent the spread of the virus at shelters.