Johnson County Supervisors to vote on new “Nomi Health” Covid testing facility

By Paul D. Bowker
Posted 1/25/22

As the number of Covid cases has risen to record levels in Johnson County, another testing facility may be approved this week by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors.

Nomi Health, which …

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Johnson County Supervisors to vote on new “Nomi Health” Covid testing facility

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As the number of Covid cases has risen to record levels in Johnson County, another testing facility may be approved this week by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors.

Nomi Health, which operates many testing facilities nationally, is hoping to install a Covid testing center in Iowa City on county property at 821 S. Clinton St.

The board deferred a vote on it at last week’s session, but is expected to vote on Nomi’s plans Thursday, January 27. The testing center would tentatively be in place until May 27.

Nomi Health recently opened a testing center at Liberty High School in North Liberty and also has two sites in the Des Moines area.

Sam Jarvis, Johnson County Community Health Division Manager, told the board at its January 19 work session that the county is seeing about 300 to 400 new Covid cases each day. In the previous seven days, Jarvis said the county had seen 2,800 cases.

Jarvis said 73% of the cases in Iowa were linked to the omicron variant, which may be about to peak in Iowa with cases in some parts of the country beginning to drop.

“We don’t know when that peak will occur or if it’s happening now,” Jarvis said.

All of Iowa remains in the “high risk” category, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As of Sunday, Johnson County had 2,364 Covid cases with a positivity rate of 29.93%. Washington County’s positivity rate topped 30% over the weekend.

Johnson County has a mask mandate in place for all county buildings until May 15. When in a county building, all visitors and employees must wear masks regardless of their vaccination status.

The board voted unanimously to suspend the testing of non-vaccinated employees, a policy that had been scheduled to begin January 31. A Supreme Court ruling went against the planned Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enforcement of vaccine mandates for employers that have more than 100 workers. More than 90% of the county’s 500-plus employees are vaccinated.

The board heard from Johnson County Fairgrounds Coordinator Michael Leick for two separate $100,000 requests for building improvements. The Fairgrounds hopes to build a new events center at a cost of $1.85 million and also undergo a $300,000 restoration of Montgomery Hall.

Supervisor Rod Sullivan volunteered to serve as a liaison with the fairgrounds board as more discussions of the projects continue.

Rebecca Frantz of southwest Johnson County, north of Wellman, was appointed to the Johnson County Planning and Zoning Commission for the remainder of a term that expires at the end of December 2022.

This week’s formal voting session begins at 9 a.m. Thursday. The monthly evening meeting that will include a number of public hearings for zoning and platting applications will be at 5:30 p.m. February 10.