ALLEGAN COUNTY — The Allegan County Health Department released its annual report for 2021 at the end of May, with COVID-19 again being a primary focus of the department’s efforts.
The department still, however, dealt with other public health issues such as food safety, material recycling and water quality issues.
The department also had another jump in revenue in 2021, along with significantly increased expenditures, in relation to COVID-19.
COVID response
Allegan County saw an increase in total COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in 2021 compared to the first year of the pandemic.
There were 13,819 cases in the county in 2021, more than double the 5,831 in 2020. Of those cases, 319 were hospitalized. There were 171 COVID-19 related deaths in Allegan County in 2021.
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The county had 177 hospitalizations and 102 deaths from COVID-19 in 2020, according to that year’s annual report.
Along with the increased number of cases to manage, ACHD was also tasked with rolling the COVID-19 vaccine out to the community.
Throughout 2021, ACHD held 192 COVID-19 vaccination clinics, including 72 mobile clinics. A total of 38,086 vaccine doses were administered at ACHD events.
Despite the rollout efforts, Health Officer Angelique Joynes shared in the report that the county did not reach its initial goal of a 70 percent vaccination rate.
“We had a goal of vaccinating 70 percent of our population, in hopes of reaching levels of herd immunity and putting the pandemic behind us,” Joynes wrote. “However, as the year progressed, it became clear that the goal would not be met despite deploying mobile vaccine clinics in less vaccinated areas and working with providers to become COVID-19 vaccine-approved providers.
As of June 1, 2022, 57.4 percent of Allegan County residents age 5 or older are fully vaccinated, according to state data.
The report notes that general immunizations — not including the COVID-19 vaccine — increased in 2021. ACHD issued 698 immunizations, up 33 percent from 2020.
However, vaccine waivers also increased significantly. The 228 waivers in Allegan County was a 93 percent increase from the prior year.
Water quality
This year’s report also includes information about a groundwater study conducted in the county. The study found that Allegan County does not have groundwater issues on the same level as Ottawa County, but does have smaller issues that could lead to problems.
Those include elevated nitrate concentrations in shallow groundwater, elevated chloride concentrations in groundwater discharge areas, a large number of potential or known contamination sites and “hints of systematic decline” in groundwater levels.
The Allegan County Board of Commissioners put together a water study workgroup to further explore the groundwater issue. The county also dealt with an algae bloom in Swan Lake, leading to a no-contact advisory from August to November.
Revenue, expenditures up
The ACHD reported just over $4.5 million in revenue for its Fund 2210, which includes county, state, federal and grant funds. This is up from $3.9 million in 2020.
The largest portion of funding in 2021 — $1.14 million — came from COVID-19 grants.
Along with the increased revenue, ACHD’s expenditures went up. Total expenditures were over $4.6 million, giving ACHD a deficit for the first time since 2016. Expenditures in 2020 totaled around $3.6 million.
The full 2021 annual report is available on the Allegan County website.
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @SentinelMitch.
