Oswego County Legislature Holds Special Meeting, Discusses COVID-19

By: Shea O’Malley

OSWEGO COUNTY – A special Oswego County Legislative meeting was held yesterday, March 31, in order to pass four resolutions concerning the COVID-19 outbreak in Oswego County.

Oswego County Public Health Director Jiancheng Huang started the meeting with updates concurrent to the latest COVID-19 cases in Oswego County. 

Huang covered the cases over the past two to three-week period, urging residents to keep following isolation protocols as much as possible. 

 Huang said the department’s efforts are “to reduce the virus spread [and] to keep [the] numbers down.”

Huang also mentioned increased staffing for the Oswego County Health Department’s call center. 

The center has been up and running for two weeks, providing both a public and professional health line, saying they had their busiest day so far March 30 with 154 calls. 

Public officials also mentioned a 65% increase in Oswego Health Hospital beds from 78 to 129, also with an increase in ventilator beds amounting to 16.

Oswego County Legislature Chairman James Weatherup and county officials passed four emergency resolutions to help support the counties fight in the coronavirus battle. The resolutions are as follows:

• Legislature authorizing budgetary modification unappropriated fund balance – COVID-19 response
• Resolution authorizing budget modification Health Department COVID-19 funding from Health Research, Inc.
• Resolution authorizing budget modification Health Department – Public Health Emergency Preparedness additional COVID-19 funding 
• Resolution appointing Cathleen Palmitesso as Director of Emergency Management for the County of Oswego, effective April 1. The appointment shall be for a term to coincide with the terms of the legislature. The 2020 annual salary for this position is fixed at SG40, Step 16, $65,575 of the Management Personnel Compensation Plan.

The resolutions documentation can be found here.

The full meeting can be watched here.

For more information on COVID-19, please contact the Oswego County Health Department at: https://health.oswegocounty.com/ or the COVID-19 hotline at 315-349-3330.

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