By K.D. Norris
The pandemic has shut down many things, but not the efforts of Kent County and its partners to identify and reduce lead exposure in the community — a serious health hazard especially for children before, during and unfortunately likely to continue after COVID-19.
Kent County Health Department Director Dr. Adam London provided an update Feb. 25 to the Executive Committee of the Kent County Board of Commissioners. As part of the report, London detailed the “significant strides the department has taken over the last year to identify lead hazards and conduct education efforts,” according to a statement from the county, work which occurred despite the coronavirus pandemic shutting down site visits for approximately six months.
“There is no safe level of lead in children and it is toxic to everyone,” London said in supplied material. “We have to keep the momentum of this work going to mitigate long-term negative impact of lead exposure on our community.”
The Kent County Health Department (KCHD) manages three lead programs including the Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), the Multiple Elevated Blood Level (MEBL) list, and part of the county-funded Ready by Five effort.
According to the Kent County announcement, since December 2019, several actions have been taken, including: 161 ongoing or completed investigations at properties that have/had potential lead hazards, and 81 properties on the MEBL List out of 427 properties identified by Lead Action Team; 57 site visits for lead inspection, risk assessments and home health screenings; and 39 homes cleared of lead hazards including helping remediate/abate lead hazards at 28.
In addition, the effort has attained regulatory compliance through working with residents and landlords and initiated enforcement activities at five properties. Also, the lead team has been fully staffed with five lead sanitarians, a health educator, and a lead clerk.
“I am very proud of our team,” Brendan Earl, KCHD supervising sanitarian, said in supplied material. “We have been able to continue the critical work of reducing lead exposure despite the setbacks caused by COVID-19.”
Additionally, according the announcement, the KCHD will be “working in the months ahead to re-engage the Lead Action Team which was formed in February 2020 to bring together local units of government and a multitude of other partners to make our community safer from the harms of lead exposure.”
For more information on the Lead Action Team’s goals, visit here. For more information on the Lead Action Team’s accomplishments, visit here.
For more information about the health impacts of lead, how to prevent lead poisoning, and where to find help visit dontplayaround.org/.
