Summer air quality unhealthy for all

MOSES LAKE — Wildfire smoke was so prevalent this summer that there were times the air quality was unhealthy for everyone, Environmental Health Manager Todd Phillips told the Grant County Board of Health at its Sept. 9 meeting.

There were numerous calls from the public, Phillips said. The number has dropped to about one a week.

According to Phillips, the grant County Health District provided some N95 masks to the larger orchards in Grant County. With the fire situation becoming more controlled, the air quality is supposed to remain good, he said.

The Health District called the schools in reference to the children being outdoors when the air quality was unhealthy. None had a policy in place, but some schools volunteered to take the students indoors for practice.

Phillips said the Health District had also contacted the cities with regards to providing masks to them. But then it rained, and the air quality improved.

Phillips told the BOH there has been a report of West Nile Virus. He said the individual did not exhibit any symptoms and happened to be discovered through a blood sample.

In cases in which the disease is discovered in mosquitoes, the Health District ramps up spraying in that particular area. Recent trappings indicate that the spraying is working because there are fewer samples to test, Phillips said.

Public Health Nurse Carol Schimke provided the Board information regarding the Vaccine for Children (VFC) program. She explained how the program works and the role the Health District plays in children immunizations.

Over the past 10 years, the funding for this program has decreased from 100 percent financed to 41 percent in 2015. For 2016, the funding will decrease even more. It has gone from $42,565 in 2005 to $19,000 in 2016.

Grant County Health Officer Dr. Alexander Brzezny shared a letter that he is in the process of writing to the School Districts in Grant County regarding vaccine compliance. It is a request that students be excluded from school for non-compliance.

Brzezny would like it to be a requirement in the future and asked the BOH members if they would agree with that stance, and they did.