WESTFIELD — As case counts, hospitalizations, and deaths from COVID-19 remain low after the omicron wave in the winter, Westfield’s public health director said he is happy to be back to normal, sometimes mundane tasks of the city Health Department.
Joseph Rouse said that after two years of dealing almost exclusively with the pandemic, he is glad to get back to things that are typical of a city health department, like septic and restaurant inspections.
“It is like a brand new job all over again,” said Rouse. “We hadn’t done a lot of routine things for so long it is like getting our feet wet again. It was automatic for so long, and suddenly there was nothing when COVID started. I never thought I would say this, but I am happy to be doing septic inspections.”