Board of Health

Skokie Board of Health Thursday, December 9, 2021 7:00 PM Police Department Training Room 7300 Niles Center Rd, Skokie, IL 60077 MINUTES Present: Dr. William Werner; BOH Members: Dr. Bruce Gaynes, Dr. Swapna Dave, Juliet Haido, Maureen Hanlon, Dr. Girija Kalyan Kumar, Dr. Rohit Pandya, Dr. Kyungran Shim, Patricia Urbanus, Irtaza Usman, Ruth Varma, Emeritus: Dr. Michael Drachler; Staff: Mike Charley Not Present/Excused: Heidi Nickisch Duggan, Margaret Keeler, Dr. Edward Linn, Dr. Jeremy Swartz, Dr. Romil Sood, Dr. Michael Vernon, Dr. Larry Williams; Sibyl Yau; Trustee Liaison James Johnson, Trustee Liaison Keith Robinson; Staff: Bruce Jones, Sue Reisberg I. Call to Order @ 7:00 PM II. Approval of Agenda: Approved by Consent Vote III. Approval of Minutes: November 11, 2021: Approved by Consent Vote IV. Chair’s Report, Dr. Werner, BOH Chair: Dr. Werner shared that the latest issue of the SkokieNews was very well done. There are two items in the SkokieNews he wanted to highlight, the CDC self-checker tool and a link to testing guidance provided. He recommended that this information be posted on the Health and Human Services’ website. Dr. Werner stated that Pfizer has added 16 & 17-year olds to individuals that can receive the booster. Dr. Werner noted that he observed that the COVID-19 data was not up to date on the Village COVID website. Charley communicated that the COVID-19 data provided on the website will be updated by the end of this week. Charley communicated that staff were busy cleaning data and that the updated data will be posted soon. Dr. Werner expressed that he had been hearing that hospitals have been filling up with COVID cases. Charley communicated that he had not heard anything specific from Northshore, however with COVID-19 cases increasing the percent of available hospitals beds have decreased around the State recently. There was some discussion on what hospitals were experiencing with COVID patients. There was in inquiry from Maureen Hanlon regarding the level of Skokie breakthrough cases. Mike Charley responded that he didn’t have this data readily available. He also communicated to the BOH that if prior to a meeting they were interested in specific data to notify Mike and Dr. Werner and Mike would do his best to provide data (if accessible and available) at the next scheduled meeting. V. Director’s Monthly Report, Mike Charley, Director of Health and Human Services: Mike Charley provided updates on COVID-19, including that all three COVID vaccines are being administered by HHS weekly, Skokie resident COVID-19 cases are on the rise with a spike recently, Skokie’s community transmission rate was “high”, provided a chart that showed most Skokie cases since July of 2021 have ben individuals under the age of 60 years of age. Mike presented on how the HHS Department works closely with Skokie Schools on COVID-19 cases and presented updates on what is knowN regarding the Omicron variant. Finally, Mike provided some small updates on the Assist a Family program, some upcoming grant opportunities, the Teenlink program and the fact that the Village’s budget process for FY23 will start very soon. VI. Old/New Items of Business: None VII. Public Comments: None VIII. Adjournment at 7:50 PM Next Meeting: January 13, 2021, 7:00 p.m.