KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Almost from the start of the year, experts at the Knox County Health Department have been front-and-center during the pandemic, but much of their work on COVID-19 is behind the scenes.
"My job went from preparing people for emergencies to actually responding to the emergency," said Public Health Educator for Emergency Preparedness Angela Allred.
The sudden change from routine was shocking.
"There's good days and bad days for all of us. It's a lot of stress everyone's under," said Program Manager of Health Promotion Katie Larsen.
The demands doubled the workload from 40 hour weeks to 80 or 100 hours for some on the team. It was difficult but they knew the work was crucial to keep the public safe.
"We've seen some amazing strengths come through. You realize that people have such strong abilities," said Director of Nursing Dena Mashburn.
Many on staff learned how to become contact tracers on-the-fly, and now eight months in they're still recruiting more help.
"Weekly I'm training new people to help fill some of the roles our staff has been filling," said Allred.
Demands also increased in their personal lives.
"We're also parents, spouses, we're making those adjustments at home too," said Larsen. "We've been shell shocked like everyone else."
They're ahead of the game already preparing for the upcoming holidays, while they work to take care of each other and the people in their community.
"We've done a lot of work for this community, with this community," said Mashburn. "There are a lot of really good people in this community trying to do the right thing and we thank them for that."
After all that work and all those hours, officials said it's still ongoing in an all-out effort that still has no finish line.
The Knox County Health Department continues testing weekly. They now have help from the National Guard. People can be tested for COVID-19 Thursday or Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.