Monterey County Health Department (MCHD), California serves a county population of 434,061 individuals, of which 61% are Latinx. There are abundant, but low income and seasonal agriculture jobs in the county. The home ownership rate in Monterey County is 53%, lower than the national average of 64%. 90% of the population of Monterey County has health coverage with, 28% on Medicaid.
To combat COVID-19 misinformation and provide the community with reliable and trustworthy information, MCHD implemented a COVID-19 Call Center. A team of designated Call Center staff was trained to answer calls, collect information regarding callers concerns and respond to inquiries from March 22, 2020, to July 26, 2021. The goal of the COVID-19 Call Center was to reduce COVID-19 misinformation through providing residents a trustworthy, reliable source of timely, accurate public health COVID-19 prevention and treatment information. Call information was documented using a secure, web-based log. Records were utilized to conduct public health surveillance and data analysis. The impact of the Call Center was made available to the public through integrating public-facing Power Bi Call Center Data Dashboard directly available on Monterey County website.
By July 26, 2021, Call Center staff provided over 22,000 callers with information on vaccine, COVID-19 guidance, testing, exposures, COVID-19 data, and other resources. The testing positivity rates of COVID-19 in Monterey County decreased from 6.2% to 3.4% and 74% of residents over the age of 12 were vaccinated by June 26, 2021. As the testing positivity rates of COVID-19 decreased and vaccination rates increased, COVID-19 Call Center volume also stabilized to under 30 calls per day in July. To continue to address community needs, on July 26, 2021, an automated service was made available to the public with the option to leave a voicemail if the information they were seeking was not readily available as an option on the automated service. Voicemails are recorded and generally returned within 24 hours of receipt. From July 27, 2021, to December 31, 2021, an additional 775 voicemails were returned showing the continued need for provision of accurate and reliable resources to the community.
Specific steps that led to the success in reducing the health inequities included providing daily and timely response to community needs. Adequate training and allocation of staff resources contributed to the success of the Call Center. The utilization of real-time data also allowed for improved responses. The data provided real-time trends of callers concerns, which allowed the health department to swiftly provide up to date information not just for the callers but to the general public. The call center data also reduced health inequities through linking residents to resources for education and prevention practices to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in many underserved areas throughout the county.
The public health impact of practice is the county was able to create an effective, efficient, and equitable project which successfully allowed the residents of the county to receive trustworthy, reliable health information and resource referrals used to reduce the spread of COVID-19.