Coronavirus (Image provided by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

County health departments across New York’s 21st Congressional District share many of the same problems.

Access to testing materials such as swabs and chemicals, the need to expand contact tracing to keep tabs on people who are tested and investigate other potential exposures, and communication — whether with the state Department of Health, or with residents — remain challenges for local health departments as they contend with the effects of the coronavirus epidemic.

Leaders of multiple county health departments shared the challenges they face on a daily basis with Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, during a conference call on Monday. Stefanik brought together the public health officials to listen to their recommendations and gather input as the state and federal government piece together plans to reopen the economy. President Donald Trump named Stefanik to the Task Force on Reopening the Economy last month.

Essex County Public Health Director Linda Beers said communicating the need to remain home as much as possible, even now, has proven difficult. It doesn’t help that not everyone understands the role of the county health department, she said.

“I still think people, if you ask them what public health does, they wouldn’t be able to articulate what we do,” she said. “Yeah, we’re not in the hospital. But we have people in homes, looking at people (with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19).

“For us, contact tracing has been full-force since day one,” she added. “We have been to every house; we have issued every quarantine.”

Plans announced recently by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to hire thousands of paid contact tracers have also put county health departments in a tough spot, according to Beers. That’s because Essex County already has unpaid, volunteer contact tracers. The salary the state is hiring contact tracers at — $56,000 per year — is more than what staff members at the department make, according to Beers.

“Why would these folks volunteer if they could in fact be paid to do it?” Beers said. “I did not see that there would be paid contact tracers coming down the pike.”

Cuomo has said each region will need at least 30 contact tracers for every 100,000 residents before the economy reopens, plus additional tracers based on the projected number of cases in a region.

Ginger Hall, public health director for Jefferson County, said communication has also been a challenge because guidance and directives from the state are constantly changing.

“It’s no one’s fault,” she said. “It’s just the way it is with an evolving disease.”

Public Health Director Ashley Waite, of Lewis County, said access to testing materials has been, and will continue to be, a hurdle. The state Department of Health recently issued new guidance expanding the guidelines for who is eligible for testing. Cuomo has said expanding the state’s testing capabilities will be key as the state plans for how to restart the economy.

“As testing is expanded to asymptomatic and essential workers, supplies will be a challenge,” Waite said.