SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — The Shelby County Health Department is asking for nearly 150 new employees to help fight COVID-19 using federal funds.
Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter said she’s analyzed the need and put her ideal team together.
She wants 141 positions filled quickly so that her other employees can get back to business.
The staff, which would be durational, will include four epidemiologists to help study the data, pick up additional nurses and help strike teams who are working to control reported outbreaks in jails, senior care facilities, workplaces and more.
New staff will also help with contact tracing. They’ll talk to infected people and find out who they came in contact with to determine who needs to be quarantined.
Funding will come from the federal CARES Act to cover those positions for the rest of the year.
“This is the opportunity for us to use CARES Act funding to respond to the pandemic,” Haushalter said.
Some county commissioners questioned whether this would later impact the operating budget when the federal funding runs out, despite the health department fighting back and stressing the need.
“We have staff who worked two months straight without a day off; that is because we don’t have sufficient resources to rotate staff off and on,” Haushalter said.
Committee ended up passing the request, so it will go to a final vote at the next commission meeting.
Mayor Lee Harris said the county received nearly $50 million in COVID-19 federal relief, and this expansion is $6.4 million to begin. But expects the total cost will be about $11 million.
