Weeks before the COVID-19 outbreak, local health departments were working to improve the health of people across Nebraska. The pandemic made their mission more essential than ever. The new documentary The COVID Chronicles takes you behind the scenes with public health professionals in two districts.
In Fremont and Blair, the Three Rivers Public Health District was pulled into the pandemic in its earliest days. Dozens were exposed at an event at the Fremont YMCA and the district confronted the state’s first outbreak in a nursing home and a county jail. Hastings-based South Heartland District Health Department serves a region where infections exploded in a matter of weeks.
The COVID Chronicles explores how the district responded with testing events, distributing scarce supplies and combatting misinformation in diverse communities. The documentary also takes you along on emergency calls with the Grand Island Fire Department and to hospital ICUs in Hastings and North Platte. Plus, see how recommendations from public health districts helped keep students safe in schools.