As public health needs relating to the control of COVID-19 decrease, the intergovernmental cooperation agreement between Chester County and Delaware County will come to an end on Aug. 1.

After more than 16 months as the public health lead – and at the request of the Chester County Commissioners and Delaware County Council – Chester County Health Department Director Jeanne Franklin wrote to Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam, requesting the discontinuation of the agreement.

It was on March 19, 2020 when Chester County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell, and Michelle Kichline joined Delaware County Council Chairman Brian Zidek and Council Vice Chair Dr. Monica Taylor at a press conference to announce the agreement. 

Last month, the Commissioners and Delaware County Council were honored by the Main Line Chamber of Commerce for the successful COVID-19 public health partnership.

“The partnership between Chester and Delaware counties provided a focused public health response for everyone living and working in both counties,” said Moskowitz. “It worked because we all had one desire: to do everything that we could to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and to keep all of our residents as healthy as possible.”

Commenting this week on the 16-month partnership, Zidek said, “We owe the Chester County Health Department, the Chester County Commissioners, and their team a debt of gratitude. The assistance they provided was quite literally life-saving.”

The intergovernmental cooperation agreement between Chester and Delaware counties identified the responsibilities of the Chester County Health Department during the COVID-19 outbreak. Those responsibilities included coordination of testing, case investigation and surveillance, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine designations, vaccinations, and public health communication.

Throughout the pandemic, Franklin and her team also worked with Delaware County staff to support the pandemic challenges faced by long-term-care facilities, hospitals, first responders, both county prisons, and other congregate care settings, as well as the school districts in both counties.

“From the very start of our agreement with Delaware County, we were able to leverage the resources, assets, processes, and functions that we established within Chester County’s Health Operations Center,” said Franklin. “So, while the population number we were serving more than doubled, our public health actions did not increase proportionately. And ultimately, it meant that more than one million people were able to benefit from a local, coordinated public health response at the time that it was needed most.”