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| Public Health Director Darlene Smith |
BATH – Services provided by the Steuben County Public Health department employees during the COVID-19 pandemic are in line for funds through the New York State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Response Grant. County Public Health Director Darlene Smith told the county Legislature’s Finance Committee Tuesday the state grant of more than $158,000 will pay for various COVID-related expenses. Approximately 90 of the grant will pay for overtime for county Public Health nurses, medical supplies and mileage, with about 10 percent of the grant used for additional administrative costs, according Smith’s report. The legislative committee met in a teleconference, in keeping with the state’s social distancing restrictions, and approved the grant. The grant was accepted earlier in the month by the county Legislature’s Human Services, Health and Education Committee and will be voted on by the full board when it meets in teleconference at 10 a.m. April 27. Smith told the committee monitoring the 300-plus people in Steuben under "isolation and quarantine" restrictions was a monumental task, and thanked the county Sheriff’s Department for its assistance. "The good news in all of this is that 78 people who tested positive for the virus are now fully recovered, and we expect that number to grow," she said. According to Smith a patient is considered recovered after three fever-free days without medication, and symptom free for seven days after their symptoms started.
