Wasatch County has a newly named Public Health Director starting on June 1 when retiring Director Randall Probst leaves his role after serving the past seven years.
Jonelle Fitzgerald takes on the leadership role at the Wasatch County Health Department after 22 years of service in the department. She's held various positions, and during the unprecedented past year of COVID-19, she's worked as the Public Information Officer. She said the entire health department has worked to help the community get through the pandemic.
"I've been here in Wasatch county at the health department for over 22 years. I've been the Health Promotion Director for about 17 years. In the last year, definitely, the role was expanded for all of our employees as we took on Coronavirus and all of the pandemic response needs. As far as contact tracing and figuring out how to control the spread that way, to helping everyone to understand what the guidelines are wide and communicating with our County and all of that is a huge undertaking."
Fitzgerald said their priorities would include ensuring a good start to the school year in the fall, using precautions when events are occurring, and striving to get the County into a low-transmission alert. She said they are well prepared for a potential surge in COVID-19. However, they are focused on getting get back to providing Wasatch County residents with public health services. She said they hired new health educators during the past year that helped with COVID-19 response and health education. She said they feel well-staffed at this point as she takes on her role as the director.
"We also worry a little about Variants and what's going to happen there, but we are optimistic and see our numbers are coming down. We'd love to see that drop to low transmission, which would help us feel a little bit more comfortable with where we are. We're considering all that we need to do to make sure that school starts next fall. Basically, we are having events."
Wasatch County has vaccinated more than 12,000 people. More than 14,000 have received at least one dose, and the County has administered more than 25,000 vaccines in total.
The County Health Department offers Moderna, Pfizer, the only vaccine approved for children 12 to 17, and Johnson and Johnson, which requires just one dose. In addition to the Health Department, vaccine providers in Wasatch County include Lee's Marketplace, Smith's Food and Drug Stores, Walgreens, and Walmart.
Jonelle Fitzgerald will step in as Director of the Wasatch County Health Department on June 1.
