ASHEVILLE Two Asheville firefighters tested positive for COVID-19 this past week, causing a 12-hour closure for cleaning of the fire stations and trucks, and sending into quarantinefirefighters who had come into close contact with those infected, according to fire officials.
While Asheville Fire Department spokeswoman Kelley Klope said measures are being taken to protect the roughly 280 firefighters from contracting the deadly disease, some firefighters say the department is not doing enough and is not following state guidelines to protectfirefighters, who are already risking their lives daily to protect the public.
Klope said the department has 246 front-line employees, and roughly 276 who interact with the public.
According to Klope, the two firefighters who tested positive for COVID-19 are in isolation.
From September 2017-September 2018 The Asheville Fire Department responded to 268 lockout calls.(Photo: Citizen Times file photo)
Their close contacts are following the recommendations of the CDC due to possible exposure per public health guidance, she said. Two fire stations were temporarily closed while an outside agency thoroughly cleaned the station and the fire trucks assigned.
The two firefighters had positive COVID-19 tests returned the morning of May 31. The firefighters worked at Station Nos. 3 and 6, both in West Asheville, according to Scott Mullins, president of the Asheville Fire Fighters Association and president of the Professional Firefighters and Paramedics of North Carolina.
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He said six firefighters were exposed to them all day long since they live and eat together like a family in the fire stations, and another eight firefighters were exposed at each shift change. In addition to two chiefs, that makes 16 employees who were potentially exposed to the virus.
Weve had to fill staffing holes since two of our members tested positive for COVID-19 and many others have been quarantined, Mullins said.
The Asheville Fire Department has been prepared for this possibility as our firefighters have a difficult job that requires them to place their lives on the line to protect the public, Klope said in response to questions about safety precautions.
The Asheville Fire Department flag and an American flag are carried out of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints following funeral services for Frank Wilford Morris, Jr. on Dec. 5, 2019. Morris was retired from the Asheville Fire Department after 25 years of service. (Photo: ANGELI WRIGHT/ASHEVILLE CITIZEN TIMES)
Preventative measures include wearing face masks, frequent sanitizing, cleaning at fire stations and routine symptom screening. AFD guidelines are aligned with CDC, NC Office of EMS, Buncombe County Public Health and City of Asheville policies, she said.
When asked what those preventative measures were and how often the fire stations were cleaned and how employees screened for symptoms, Klope answered, We are following recommendations from public health and CDC, but wouldnot elaborate.
According to the CDC website, some of these guidelines include:
The North Carolina Office of EMS has issued further coronavirus guidelines for EMS workers, including sending first responders only on priority calls involving cardiac or respiratory arrest, uncontrolled bleeding, rescue incidents, MVC (motor vehicle collisions), extended EMS response times, etc. This will limit PPE use given critical nationwide shortages.
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Mullins said the Asheville Fire Department has been responding to every call.
According to studies, firefighters are already at higher risk for cancer than the general population. Because of that, the AFD has taken steps to ensure each firefighter has two sets of turnout gear, so that they can be washed often, and to take extra cleaning steps after each fire call.
Mullins said firefighters clean the fire stations and trucks themselves, but they haven't been directed to do this more frequently during the pandemic than before.
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CDC COVID-19 safety guidelines for the general publicinclude wearing face masks, washing hands frequently and staying 6 feet from others.
Neither Klope nor the Buncombe County Health and Human Services would say how many members of the public might have come into contact with the infected firefighters, but they have conducted contact tracing.
As with all confirmed positive cases, our communicable disease nurses have contacted those with lab-confirmed COVID-19 to ensure that they are isolating appropriately, and CD staff have conducted contact tracing and notification of close contacts according to protocol, said Stacy Wood, Buncombe County Health spokeswoman.
Public health staff have contacted people identified as close contacts and Buncombe County Public Health continues to work with the Asheville Fire Department to provide guidance and support.
RELATED: Should city workers get a $15 minimum wage?
Mullins said the pandemic is another example of why the lowest paid firefighters need a pay raise. The firefighters association is asking that they all be paid at least $15 an hour. Some make less than $12 an hour.
"This is a dangerous job. Its always been a dangerousjob,and this (coronavirus) just adds to it. Unfortunatelywe have guys who arent compensated adequately."
Karen Chvez is an award-winning outdoors and environment reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times and USA TODAY Network. She is theauthor of "Best Hikes with Dogs: North Carolina," andis a former National Park Service ranger.
Reach me:KChavez@CitizenTimes.com or on Twitter @KarenChavezACT
Read more outdoors news:www.citizen-times.com/outdoors
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Even as Americans fight (and even kill) over the countrys response to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is no disagreement on one point: With 1.9 million cases and the death toll closing in on 110,000 as of June 5, for both economic and humanitarian reasons we absolutely cannot have a repeat of the tragedy that has unfolded since March. But with the current drop-off in cases, hospital admissions, and deaths likely to be followed sooner or later by local, regional, and possibly national resurgences, the implication is clear: If or, more likely, when those occur, we have to do better.
Im still getting over my shock at how badly this was handled, said epidemiologist Stephen Morse of Columbia University, who helped create an international network to detect and monitor disease outbreaks. After all the work and all the exercises everyone did, its heartbreaking to see how badly the ball was dropped.
STAT therefore asked 11 experts in infectious disease, epidemiology, and pandemic preparedness how to avoid the mistakes, poor decisions, and incompetence of this spring. We asked them not to invoke magic; advice like develop a vaccine is obvious but not very helpful. We also asked them to look forward more than backward; we dont want to relitigate things like the monthslong shortages of Covid-19 diagnostic tests, President Trumps cheerleading for unproven (and potentially harmful) treatments, or the demonstrably false assurances by the White House that anyone who wanted a diagnostic test could get one. The experts did take some peeks into the rear-view mirror, since understanding past mistakes can help us avoid repeating them. But for the most part they focused on how to do better next time.
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Prioritize early warnings: By now, the limitations of swab tests, which analyze nasal and throat samples for the coronaviruss genes, are infamous: They miss something like 30% of infected people, and even more of those who are infected but not showing symptoms. And by the time people start showing up for testing, community transmission may be accelerating and hard to control. Last month, public health researchers reported that although watching for people with symptoms of Covid-19 did not show an increase in visits for COVID-19like illness before February 28, retrospective genetic analyses reveal that the virus began circulating in the United States between January 18 and February 9. Sustained community transmission began before detection of the first cases.
So although test, trace, isolate testing symptomatic people and then finding their contacts to test and isolate if theyre positive, too still has value, we need something faster than starting with diagnosed cases. One idea: wastewater surveillance that tests for the presence of the coronaviruss genes can determine that cases exist in a given community at least a week before people start becoming sick.
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Hundreds of U.S. utilities are now running such tests as part of studies, and the current decline in cases will give public health systems time to get effective wastewater surveillance programs in place. After all, Finland is testing water in 28 sites every week, the Netherlands in 37, and Germany in 20 per day, said microbiologist Gertjan Medema of KWR, a water research institute in the Netherlands. Wastewater surveillance can provide an early warning tool to see if cases are rising again, he said.
Pay attention to small numbers: Once cases begin rising exponentially, finding them and their contacts becomes nearly impossible. If you wait for big numbers, it will be too late, said Paul Biddinger, an emergency preparedness expert and physician at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The challenge here is distinguishing between small numbers that will increase exponentially and those that wont: two cases that become six that become 18 that become thousands, versus two cases that become six that become 18 and then peter out.
If you see a clear, sustained trend in case numbers from week to week, Biddinger said, thats likely a harbinger of exponential growth.
Determining which small numbers spell trouble is more possible if we plan now, said Amesh Adalja of Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, an expert on emerging infectious disease and pandemic preparedness. With a respiratory virus thats often asymptomatic, you know that whatever number of cases you think you have is not the number you really have; its only the tip of the iceberg, he said.
Officials therefore have to take even a few cases dead seriously. But that doesnt mean locking down a city immediately. Once cases are identified again, wastewater surveillance can tell that somethings afoot, and fanatically testing and tracing can then identify at least some of them tracers should be able to tell if they became infected at a large event or a 10-person picnic. The former can explode exponentially, the latter not so much, Adalja said.
Act fast: If an exponential increase is in the cards, dithering around as New York and other places did in March will only make history repeat. Imposing business restrictions and other social distancing measures two weeks sooner than most U.S. states did could have averted tens of thousands of deaths, Columbia University scientists calculated.
But act fast strategically: Shutdowns came too late in some places, notably New York City. But elsewhere, communities that hadnt experienced Covid-19 in any real way suffered economic and social disruption anyway. Getting them to agree to another round of shutdowns could be a real challenge.
Imposing a lockdown on places that didnt have Covid was inevitably going to cause a lot of economic harm with very little public health benefit. And that was going to lead to resentment, said Thomas Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a global nonprofit initiative of Vital Strategies that works with countries to make the world safer from epidemics.
More targeted action going forward might be the answer.
I do not think it will be nationwide or even statewide again, said Caitlin Rivers, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. I think that decision will be very local. But I could also see a middle ground where certain activities, high-risk activities are shut down even if they reopen in the interim. Mass gatherings and restaurant dining, she said, might need to be suspended again if cases climb.
Do a way better job in minority and high-poverty communities: Drive-in testing centers? Really? The testing debacle was exacerbated when officials to set up the first testing centers in largely white and affluent communities, many requiring a car to access. Yet frontline workers whose jobs made social distancing impossible (transit workers, grocery cashiers) and who were therefore at high risk of infection were more likely to be members of minority groups or to not have access to a car. They also are more likely to live in low-income households where it was impossible for an infected person to isolate from others.
As early as February, readers asked STAT reporters if Black people were immune to the new coronavirus, an example of misinformation that health officials were disastrously slow to address, reflecting the almost nonexistent outreach to minority communities. Another assumption of universal privilege: Officials ordered people to wear masks in public but, rather than providing them, left people to fend for themselves.
As the country takes steps to mitigate any second wave, it is in danger of compounding these missteps: contact-tracing apps require working cell phones, which low-income people are less likely than others to have, especially since so many have lost jobs.
Dont hide the truth or pretend to have more knowledge than you have: Early on, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Americans they didnt need to wear face masks. There was no evidence that anything but medical-grade ones blocked the virus, they said, and snapping up even disposable masks (as people did anyway) would worsen the shortage of protective equipment for health care workers.
There were two problems with that. First, the experts didnt consider that masks might and, it turns out, do block the transmission of virus from infected people via coughing, sneezing, and even speaking. Calling face masks ineffective went beyond what was known. Second, the dont get face masks advice was largely driven by supply concerns (homemade masks and bandanas would not have taken masks away from health care workers), but experts didnt readily acknowledge that.
Both failures damaged their credibility. Once experts acknowledged the importance of preventing virus transmission, the pandemic was out of control, and Americans questioned both whether experts knew what they were talking about and whether they could be trusted to tell the truth. Adding insult to injury, many employers even hospitals prohibited employees from wearing masks because doing so would upset customers/patients.
Do social distancing smarter: Were reluctant to tell scientists to make discoveries; its not like we have a recipe for that. But well say it anyway: Use the lull in cases to identify which social distancing measures were and will be most effective, and which can be eased or dropped entirely.
If there is a second wave, we shouldnt have to shut down the health care system as we did this time, postponing surgeries, preventive care, and much more, Biddinger said. That should hold true for the rest of society. A mathematical model of Covid-19 transmission suggests that hand hygiene and near-universal wearing of face masks can achieve the 60% reduction in contacts needed to defeat the pandemic, said Gerardo Chowell of Georgia State University, even if people return to their workplaces, restaurants, and stores.
Japan, for instance, shut schools but not workplaces and businesses, yet has kept a lid on the outbreak very possibly because of widespread use of masks, hand hygiene, and other voluntary social distancing (bowing, not hand-shaking, for instance). We need to learn from other countries.
Take mild cases seriously: The number one thing we need to do differently next time is to find the mild cases and trace their contacts, Adalja said.
That was not done during the pandemics early days. People with mild symptoms who did not meet strict (and, it turns out, wrongheaded) travel and symptom criteria were denied testing but, in many cases, told to isolate themselves to be safe. People dont isolate themselves if you tell them they probably have Covid-19, Adalja said. An actual test result carries much more weight.
As a result, chains of transmission that started with mild cases bubbled over and overwhelmed hospitals, he said. To be able to live with this virus (he expects it to become endemic in the population, never disappearing), we need to get the chains of transmission down, and to do that we need to test people with mild symptoms. We cant be complacent about even a single case, which means tracing and testing the contacts of mild cases.
Beef up the Strategic National Stockpile: Stocked with pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies, the stockpile was allowed to lapse in recent years: There was nothing on the ground when we needed it for the Covid-19 pandemic, said Columbias Morse. (The supplies are housed in warehouses in secret locations around the country.) By early April, barely a month into the U.S. outbreak, some 90% of the masks, gloves, gowns, and other protective equipment were gone, forcing states and cities into the disastrous everyone-for-themself effort to obtain it. The time to build it up is during the current lull in cases.
While were at it, figure out a system for fulfilling requests based on need and urgency, and decide now who the stockpile is for. Prior to this administration, the understanding was that the U.S. maintained it to fill state needs, wherever those were. But when criticism started raining down about the inadequacy of supplies including millions of out-of-date N95 masks the presidents son-in-law and aide Jared Kushner said it was for the federal government, not the states, and the wording on the website was changed to reflect his claim.
Dont expect patients to figure out isolation on their own: Countless infected people who didnt need hospitalization were told to recover at home and stay away from others. Much like get in your car and drive to a testing site, this policy was woefully blind to the circumstances of resource-poor individuals.
Next time, we have to provide infected individuals with strategies to effectively isolate at home to reduce the risk of spreading the virus within their households, said Chowell. Although much of the transmission has occurred in public settings, we cannot ignore the role of household-based transmission particularly among the most vulnerable, who are more likely to share small living spaces with many other people. If the outbreak returns in force (and even now), provide isolating households with PPE and other support.
Biddinger goes further: Other communities should do what some hard-hit Boston-area communities have, providing temporary housing and other support to patients until theyre no longer contagious. When people who are infected dont have a way to self-isolate, we should be sure our strategy includes the necessary support so they dont infect others, including in their households, he said. We didnt appreciate that early in this outbreak.
Get serious about staying on top of the virus: When experts began pushing the tried-and-true public health strategy of case identification and contact tracing, public health departments around the country shuddered. They didnt have the person-power to do the kinds of labor-intensive interventions China, South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong were employing. But the impressive results those methodical approaches achieved chart the route to where Americans want to go, said Rivers.
Im hearing a lot of reflections from community members. When will I be able to see my elderly family members? And When will I be able to go to a concert? And the answer to all the questions without case-based interventions is probably: not yet, she said. (Case-based interventions means widespread testing, tracking the contacts of cases, isolating cases, and quarantining their contacts.)
Other places that have made this transition, they have more flexibility. Theyre able to incorporate these activities back into their life. And if we want that, we need to really summon the will to really put that in place, Rivers said.
Not everyone is convinced theres a one-size fits all approach, however. Japan, which recently lifted its Covid-19 state of emergency, focused on finding clusters of cases rather than tracing the contacts of all Covid-19 patients, calculating that since many patients dont infect anyone else, finding the people or the circumstances that gave rise to multiple infections is more effective.
Stay humble, be flexible: Everyone hoped non-pharmaceutical interventions things like school closures, mask wearing, physical distancing, and canceling mass gatherings would slow spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. But even the experts are taken aback at how effective these measures have been to curb transmission.
New York City was having over 500 deaths a day and now it is less than 50 deaths a day. Its still far too many. But its a dramatic demonstration that it works, Frieden said.
But no one really knows how much any of these interventions individually contributed to the effect, and how much the layering of multiple measures or factors we havent accounted for impacted the outcomes seen.
We are not driving this tiger, we are riding it. And we are making assumptions that what we do will control it, warned Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesotas Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy.
Reject false dichotomies like open or close, Frieden said. The economy and society were never fully closed, and wont be fully open until there is a vaccine. Rather, it may be like a light on a dimmer switch brighter at some times and in some places than at other times or in other places.
Resist magical thinking: A strange sense of denial, even among experts, slowed preparations for what was already a pandemic. As countries have driven down their outbreaks through measures unlike anything attempted in modern times, some experts are worried magical thinking is again taking root.
If we see that the cases go down, substantially drop in the next four to six weeks, I fear desperately that well declare a victory. That would be our worst mistake, Osterholm said.
Flu pandemics spread in waves. But weve never watched a coronavirus pandemic unfold. Will summer weather really slow spread or will the easing of restrictions bring an immediate resurgence of cases? Will there be another a worse? wave in the fall? Do we face years of waves, until the world can be vaccinated?
In the absence of answers, governments, public health leaders, the medical community, and the public need to plan for worst-case scenarios so were ready if they come to pass. If they dont, we should feel grateful, not like weve been duped.
Devi Sridhar doesnt see that approach in action, however. Sridhar, chair of global public health at Edinburgh University Medical School in Scotland, fears people think the worst is over and we can revert to life before Covid-19. Shes afraid the gains made through the painful lockdowns will be lost and will be hard to retake. That period of time when people were willing to comply is gone, Sridhar said. People are done with lockdown.
Communicate better: After the whipsawing early in the pandemic China will get it under control, its going to go away like magic, please go home and stay home theres tons of room for improvement.
Since March, nearly all of the U.S. governments efforts to communicate with Americans has come via the White House, not the CDC, which routinely before this administration, at any rate takes the lead on infectious disease crises. The overlaying of politics on public health hasnt served the American public well.
I think the communications have been deliberately bad, said Marc Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology at Harvards T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The plan all along in this country has been to minimize it and try to prop up the stock market and try to pretend its less bad than it is.
The public needs clearer information, even when that information is merely an acknowledgement that some facts about the virus remain unknown and the course of the pandemic isnt currently predictable. And it should be steeped in science and fact, not politics.
All of this can make a difference next time. After all, Biddinger said, the virus is still out there. But much of what happens next is under our control.
Hospitalizations for COVID-19 fell dramatically at the states largest hospital this week as many patients from congregate settings who were being treated there died or recovered.
At Maine Medical Center, which has had nearly half of the states confirmed coronavirus inpatients through most of the crisis, the number of confirmed COVID-19 fell from 34 to 10 over the week ending Thursday. That is its lowest patient count since March 24, at the beginning of the crisis.
We had a large number of admissions from nursing homes, assisted living facilities and some group homes from around the 20thof May and for about a week, said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, chief health improvement officer at MaineHealth, Maine Meds parent institution. Unfortunately a number of people passed away, which you can see reflected in the death numbers in the statewide data, while also some people recovered and returned home.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 14 deaths from the disease during the period.
Elsewhere, hospitalizations remained generally stable, according to data that the Press Herald collected directly from Maine hospitals.
At Portlands other major hospital, Mercy, the number of inpatients oscillated between 5 and 8, down slightly 8 to 10 the previous week, which was the busiest that hospital had experienced during the pandemic. Between April 15 and April 28, Mercy had had no such patients at all, but its burden has crept steady upward for a month now, and it is now has the third largest number of cumulative COVID-19 inpatient days in the state.
The data, which come as southern Maine is experiencing elevated case counts compared to a lull in mid-April, covers the seven days ending June 4. In Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, the seven-day average of newly confirmed cases rose steadily in late April and early May, more than tripling in Cumberland and going up by nearly twenty-fold in Androscoggin. Both counties have plateaued at these higher levels over the past week, according to data from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Thursday, York Countys seven-day average stood at 4.4 new cases a day, about twice its late April low.
Southern Maine Health Care Medical Center in Biddeford which has had the most pandemic inpatients overall after Maine Med remained at inpatient levels comparable to what it experienced early in the pandemic: between 4 and 7 inpatients being treated each day, much the same as the previous week. But York Hospital has remained quiet, reporting no COVID-19 inpatients for the second week running.
Androscoggin County has seen a surge in new COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. Hospitalizations for the disease slacked off at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, going to between 0 and 3 inpatients each day, compared to 3 to 5 the week before. Lewiston-Auburns other large hospital, St. Marys, did not provide its data for the second week in a row.
MaineGeneral in Augusta, the hospital that has had the fourth largest pandemic burden, also had stable coronavirus inpatient levels at 2 to 4 a day for a second week.
Hospitals in other parts of the state had flat or declining pandemic patient loads for a seventh week including Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, which had 1 to 2 patients a day during the period, compared to a peak of 7 on May 6. Brunswicks Mid Coast Hospital hasnt had a COVID-19 inpatient since May 23.
Bridgton Hospital had one patient most of the week, but several smaller hospitals that had patients in the past reported none for the week, including Franklin Memorial in Farmington, Sebasticook Valley in Pittsfield and Waldo in Belfast.
Hospitalizations can end three ways: recovery, death or transfer to another facility. The data does not include outpatients or inpatients who were suspected of having the virus but never tested.
Dr. Mills, a former director of the Maine CDC, said the new case and hospitalization patterns Maine had seen in recent weeks surges and troughs often linked to outbreaks in factories, nursing homes and other congregant settings are likely to continue for some time. Weve had two chapters in this pandemic: The first was flattening the curve, and since early May the new chapter has been learning how to coexist with COVID, she said in an interview Friday. For the foreseeable future we will see ups and downs like weve seen.
The Press Herald asked the Maine CDC for director Dr. Nirav Shahs take on the trends, but spokesman Robert Long has not responded.
Hospitalizations are a lagging indicator, because it typically takes two or three weeks after exposure for an acutely effected person to become sick enough to be admitted, but it is one metric that is not effected by how many people are tested. It is especially difficult for decision makers and the public to evaluate the main metrics put forth by the Maine CDC new daily cases and active cases because the agency has been alone in the United States in not being able to also supply the number of tests performed overall on a given day.
Maine is in the midst of a phased reopening from its statewide lockdown, with barbershops, retail outlets, restaurant dining rooms, state beaches, and other business activities now having resumed in most of the state.
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The number of positive cases of COVID-19 in New Jersey has increased by 864, bringing the total to 163,336, Murphy said Friday. There have been 79 additional deaths, bringing the state total to 12,049.
There are 1,933 people hospitalized across the state, including 542 people in intensive care and 410 people on ventilators, Murphy said. Between 10 p.m. Wednesday and 10 p.m. Thursday, 204 residents were discharged from hospitals, while 192 people entered hospitals.
In South Jersey, there were 71 new hospitalizations, Murphy said, with 54 discharges.
Since the peak of the pandenic, the number of residents in hospitals across the state and those needing intensive care are both down 70% or more, ventilator use is down nearly 75% and new hospitalizations are down nearly 90%, Murphy said.
So far, Atlantic Count has reported 2,369 cases with 168 deaths and 1,083 cleared as recovered. Cape May County has reported 641 cases with 49 deaths and 431 designated off quarantine. Cumberland Count has reported 2,201 cases with 85 deaths.
Included in the totals are 21 new cases and three fatalities that Atlantic County officials reported Friday.
The deaths included three women: a 59-year-old Absecon resident, a 50-year-old Atlantic City resident and a 72-year-old Galloway resident, all of whom had underlying health conditions, according to a news release from county spokeswoman Linda Gilmore.
Among males between the ages of 6 and 76, they also reported 21 more positive tests. Eight were boys. Among women, there were 13 new cases between the ages of 17 to 81, Gilmore said. Five of the residents live in Atlantic City, four in Pleasantville and two each in Egg Harbor Township, Galloway and Hamilton Township. Brigantine, Folsom, Hammonton, Margate, Ventnor and Weymouth Township all recorded one case.
Atlantic County will continue its Covid-19 testing on Tuesday by appointment for symptomatic county residents with a doctors prescription, Gilmore said. Testing runs between 9 a.m. and noon behind the Public Works yard in Northfield at Rt. 9 (New Road) and Dolphin Avenue.
Appointments can be made online at www.aclink.org.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
Also during the briefing, Murphy that Motor Vehicle Commission offices will reopen June 15, with road tests and issuing of new licenses and permits tentatively scheduled to restart June 29.
With the phased reopening of the Motor Vehicle Commission, were passing another important milestone on the Road Back, Murphy said. The MVC is implementing smart, innovative plans to safely deliver motor vehicle services to New Jerseyans as we continue the fight against COVID-19.
The old MVC crowded a lot of people into a lot of small spaces. We cant operate like that in a COVID-19 world, said Motor Vehicle Commission Chair and Chief Administrator B. Sue Fulton. Our reopening plan re-imagines MVC workflows, with streamlined processes to clear the backlog and ensure that you spend as little time as possible at MVC.
He said that there will be an announcement Monday about thereopening of outdoor pools both municipal and at private clubs.
Atlantic County officials released a list of COVID-19 testing sites Friday in addition to the Northfield site.
Southern Jersey Family Medical Centers
Merle Pavilion
932 South Main Street
Pleasantville
Free Walk-Up Testing for Covid-19 and Antibody Testing with or without symptoms
Every Wednesday, 11 AM 2 PM, weather permitting
Appointment Required. Call (609) 415-9865
Hammonton Center
860 S. White Horse Pike
Hammonton
Free Walk-Up Testing for Covid-19 and Antibody Testing with or without symptoms
Every Thursday, 11 AM 2 PM, weather permitting
Appointment Required. Call (609) 415-9865
CVS Pharmacies
900 N. New Road
Pleasantville
1-866-389-2727
Free Drive-Thru Testing
Registration Required. www.cvshealth.com
3313 Brigantine Blvd.
Brigantine
1-866-389-2727
Free Drive-Thru Testing
Registration Required. www.cvshealth.com
AtlantiCare
54 W. Jimmie Leeds Road
Galloway
Drive-Thru Testing for those with a prescription from AtlantiCare primary physician or Urgent Care
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, 10 AM 4 PM
Appointment Required. (609) 404-7300 or 1-888-569-1000
Health Plex
1401 Atlantic Avenue
Atlantic City
Call for information and eligibility. (609) 572-6055 or 1-888-569-1000
HealthMed Urgent Care
24 S. Carolina Avenue
Atlantic City
Appointment Required. Call (609) 345-8000
Atlantic City Residents Only
Surf Stadium
545 N. Albany Avenue
Atlantic City
Drive-Thru Testing on Friday for residents with a prescription or symptoms
Appointment Required. (609) 318-6990
Showboat Parking Lot
Between Delaware and Maryland Avenues, and Pacific and Atlantic Avenues
Atlantic City
Walk-Up Testing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for residents with a prescription or symptoms
Appointment Required. (609) 318-6990
Resorts Casino Hotel has developed a Play Safe, Work Safe plan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to responsibly welcome back guests and team members to the most comfortable, fun and safe environment, according to a news release.
We want our guests to be able to enjoy the friendly and warm experience that has always been part of our core values but with the addition of new health and safety measures, said Mark Giannantonio, President and CEO of Resorts.
The plan includes a significant capital investment to improve air quality, as well as clean and sanitize surfaces across the property, according to the release. This investment includes the installation of advanced bipolar ionization and UV technology to purify the air and clean surfaces.
We are excited about being one of the safest destinations in our region upon reopening. We will be utilizing what research has shown to be the best sanitization and air quality technology available today, Giannantonio said. As we adapt to our new normal, we have taken the steps to provide for the safety and well-being of our team members and guests.
Advanced cleaning and decontamination efforts will be done and will include the following:
The Play Safe, Work Safe plan also includes measures to ensure the health and well-being of team members with mandatory health screening and temperature checks, according to the release. In addition, team members will be thoroughly trained on the CDC and industry-wide health and safety protocols upon returning to work. Team members will still be smiling but under masks and, in many areas, will be serving guests through a plexiglass barrier.
Guests can expect to enjoy first class hotel, dining and gaming experience with some new safety initiatives:
Additional information on safety protocols and reopening efforts will be forthcoming as Resorts Casino Hotel looks forward to welcoming back our valued guests, team members and partners soon, officials said.
Find additional updates on bookings, online gaming offerings, current promotions and more at resortsac.com/covid-19-statement.
The Tilton Square Theatre in Northfield is reopening Friday for movegoers, according to a post on their Facebook page.
"We are opening our doors to the public tomorrow (Friday, June 5th). We will be strictly enforcing CDC guidelines to ensure the safety of moviegoers and our staff," according tot he post. "Our theatres will be limited to 30% capacity. Please wear a mask inside our lobby. You will be permitted to take your mask off once you arrive at your seat. If you feel sick or uncomfortable about being in public places, please stay at home. We will save a seat for you."
Tickets for all of our movies will be $6 and went on sale last night, according to the post.
TheOcean City Boardwalk Merchants Association released the findings for a survey Friday that show revenues in 2020 are down by more than 50% for more than three out of four Ocean City Boardwalk businesses.
The survey found that 100 percent of Ocean City businesses report having social distancing, safety and hygiene plans in place, according to a news release. Additionally, business owners overwhelmingly believed stay-at-home orders and business closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were justified but are no longer necessary.
We welcome Governor Murphys announcement that he will allow certain businesses to begin opening in the coming weeks, but we do not believe it goes nearly far enough for Ocean City Boardwalk businesses and the thousands of people we employ, BMA President Wes Kazmarck said. Our businesses retail, restaurants and rides are ready to open safely today."
The survey also found:
Our businesses may not be essential to Governor Murphy, but they are essential to us, our families and everyone we employ here in Ocean City, Kazmarck said. Ocean Citys Boardwalk businesses did our part. We followed by the governors executive order and shut down our businesses, delayed opening for the season and prohibited shoppers from entering our stores, eating in our restaurants or enjoying our rides. We simply cannot survive even another month of this. It is time to open all local Ocean City businesses. Today.
Lower Township Mayor Frank Sippel said that officials are working with Cape May Ferry officials to show drive-in movies after a concert series was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We are working with the Ferry Terminal to stand-up a weekly drive-in Movie Theater, where you can watch movies from your vehicle during the month of July," Sippel said in a letter to residents Wednesday. "There will be more details to follow from our Recreation Department."
Gov. Phil Murphy is scheduled to make a major announcement Friday morning.
Murphy is scheduled to make the announcement at 10:15 a.m., according to a news release. Details on the announcement were not given.
It will be livestreamed here.
State officials have also scheduled a 1 p.m. briefing Friday to update residents on the spread of COVID-19.
Appearing for the briefing will be Murphy, Department of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli, State Epidemiologist Dr. Christina Tan, State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick Callahan and Motor Vehicle Commission Chair and Chief Administrator B. Sue Fulton.
It will be livestreamed here.
So far, Atlantic County has reported 2,348 cases with 165 deaths and 1,083 cleared as recovered. Cape May County has reported 641 cases with 49 deaths and 431 designated off quarantine. Cumberland Count has reported 2,201 cases with 85 deaths.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up within weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems are at higher risk of more severe illness or death.
Source: State of New Jersey Department of Health
By Ryan Vasquez
June 5, 2020Coronavirus, From the Front Lines, Podcast
Episode 36 explores how Floridas tourism industry is faring during this pandemic. Josh Williams talks with Rebecca Shireman, Communications Manager for Kennedy Space Center, about the extra steps being taken to protect guests.. and the centers impact on the local economy (02:21). Melissa Feito looks into how Orlandos local tourism industry has been impacted by coronavirus and how theyre planning to welcome visitors back safely (08:51). Taylor Levesque talked to water parks to find out how closure due to the pandemic has hurt business (14:25). Anthony Montalto takes a stroll along Hollywood Beach which has recently reopened and caught up with visitors and businesses about how things are going (18:56). Camron Lunn looks into how social distancing and a preference for being outdoors during the pandemic could be a boon for ecotourism in Florida (24:01). This podcast serves to provide updates on Floridas response to coronavirus, with a particular focus on north central Florida.
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The governor made the announcement even as the state had some of its highest numbers in the past six weeks.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) While COVID-19 likely fueled an unusually high number of overall deaths during April in Rhode Island, public health officials say they dont yet know how much the disease contributed to the trend.
A Target 12 analysis of total weekly deaths dating back to 2016 shows 1,168 people died this year from March 29 to May 2, which is more than the same five-week periods in each of the last five years.
The elevated number of deaths compared with normal trend sometimes called excess deaths is 114, or 10%, more than the average number of people who died during that period between 2016 and 2019, the analysis shows.
Public health officials have not yet studied the public health crisis to determine correlation between COVID-19 and the elevated deaths in Rhode Island, making it tough to tell exactly whats behind the trend. But the R.I. Department of Health nonetheless suspects the disease is playing a role.
It is a little early for us to make any final determinations about causes and trends, but when we do a deep analysis on our 2020 death numbers, we expect the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to be evident, Health Department spokesperson Joseph Wendelken wrote in an email.
The 114 excess deaths reported this year, however, is far below the 359 deaths associated with COVID-19 that the Health Department reported during that same time period, raising questions about how much of a difference the disease is making.
People who die with COVID-19 are often fighting at least one or two other illnesses, but the deaths are still counted as COVID-19 associated even if the primary cause is something else, such as pneumonia, diabetes or cancer. A similar accounting method is used to measure flu-related deaths.
There is very often more than one health condition involved in someones death, Wendelken explained last month, noting that the states accounting method is in accordance with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But health officials are not discounting the possibility that other factors are also fueling the higher number of deaths recorded during April. Fatal overdoses is one metric they are watching closely.
The COVID-19 public health crisis struck at the same time the state and much of the country was already grappling with an opioid crisis thats claimed the lives of hundreds of Rhode Islanders in recent years. An average of 302 Rhode Islanders died of drug overdoses annually from 2014 to 2019.
And theres at least some evidence to suggest 2020 could be worse than usual, as the Health Department reports overdose deaths were relatively high through the first two months of the year compared to the last five years. (More recent data are not yet completed.)
There are signs that we may have seen an increase, but it is too early to say definitively, Wendelken said. Toxicology tests are pending on many cases. We should have a little more clarity in the near future.
Rhode Islands excess deaths experience mirrors whats been seen in several other states and the United States overall, according to data provided by the CDC. But the number pales in comparison to New York City, where the pandemic has hit hardest.
About 32,000 New York City residents died between March 11 and May 2, far exceeding the normal amount of roughly 8,000, meaning excess deaths totaled about 24,000, according to a recent study by the citys Department of Health.
As in Rhode Island, however, New York City health officials are not yet sure exactly how to explain some of those elevated numbers, saying only about 18,000 of the 24,000 excess deaths are likely attributable to COVID-19.
The remaining 5,000 or so deaths may still be related to the pandemic in one way or another, according to the citys health officials, but that is currently unknown and requires further investigation.
In Rhode Island, the recent spike in excess deaths coincides with when the state started reporting COVID-19 deaths, supporting the likelihood that the two are related. And the increase marks a sharp divergence from the prior 12-week period, when weekly deaths remained relatively consistent with prior years.
Unlike other states, Rhode Island did not see an unusual spike in deaths during the first three months of the year, according to a Target 12 analysis last month. Deaths are cyclical, with more typically happening in the earlier months of the year.
As more data becomes available, the overall picture could start to look clearer in Rhode Island. The number of deaths associated with COVID-19 has roughly doubled to 756 since the states most recent available weekly data ended May 2.
Eli Sherman(esherman@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter for WPRI 12. Follow himon Twitter andon Facebook.
For the first time, Michigan has published a count of 240 probable coronavirus deaths the number ofpeople who never tested positive for COVID-19 but were suspected to have died from the virus.
The figure, when combined with the 5,597 confirmed COVID deaths through Thursday, bumped the state's death toll from the novel coronavirus 4% higher than previously thought to 5,837 total when including the presumptive deaths.
Public health experts have said the combined total, provided by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, is a truer representation of the virus's toll.
Beaumont medical technologist Michael Diskin runs a COVID-19 test specimen. Royal Oak-based Beaumont Health has started processing a limited number of COVID-19 tests in its own laboratory. On-site processing allows doctors to have results in hours instead of days.(Photo: Beaumont Health System)
That is in part because virus testing has been limited, and the official tally had so far only counted deaths where the individual had tested positive for COVID-19.
The state Friday also released for the first time a count of 4,928 probable cases of COVID-19.Those presumptive cases increased the state's total known cases by nearly 9%to 63,169 when added to the 58,241 cases confirmed by diagnostic testing.
We are continuing to improve the information we are providing as our goal is to share timely and accurate data during this pandemic, said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive, said in a statement.
Probable deaths include individuals without a COVID-positive test who were presumed to be infected due to their symptoms and an epidemiological link, according to the state health department.The definition alsocovers those whosedeath certificate listedCOVID-19 disease as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death.
Examples includesudden deaths at home attributed to COVID,deaths at the hospital before the individual could testpositive, and patients whofalsely tested negative but who were clinically considered a COVID case, experts said.
Michigans local health departments have been reporting both confirmed and probable COVID deaths to the state for weeks. Each local health departmentreceived guidance, along with recommendations to evaluate cases based on the council's standard, state health department spokeswoman Lynn Sutfin has said.
Additional information is necessary to define a probable death, requiring a report and then a public health investigation, so establishingthis class of deaths takes longer, she said. Most would be found during contact monitoring of people potentially exposed to infection, Sutfinadded.
Probable cases"provides a more complete picture about how COVID-19 has impacted the state," shesaid recently.
mburke@detroitnews.com
Read or Share this story: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/06/05/michigans-covid-19-death-toll-jumps-over-5-800-revised-count/3155383001/
(WTTW News)
New research has found that nearly one in six cases of COVID-19 in Chicago and Illinois can be connected to people moving through the Cook County Jail, which at one point was dubbed the largest-known source of coronavirus cases in the U.S.
According to anew study published Thursdayin the journal Health Affairs, cycling through Cook County Jail is associated with 15.7% of all documented cases of the virus in Illinois and 15.9% in Chicago through mid-April.
As the pandemic began, I realized this was going to be a huge driver, Eric Reinhart, a University of Chicago researcher who co-authored the report, told WTTW News. The jail cycle arresting people, cycling through the jail and back into their communities was going to be a huge driver of COVID-19 spreading to communities.
The report used zip code data to examine the correlation between this cycling, specifically at the Cook County Jail, and COVID-19 spread in both Chicago and Illinois through two models: a two-variable model and a multivariable model, which included the number of jail inmates released in March, the proportion of black residents, poverty rate, public transit utilization rate and population density.
According to the study, jail cycling far exceeded each of those other variables as a predictor of COVID-19 community spread, so much so that it accounted for 55% of the variance in case rates across zip codes in Chicago and 37% statewide.
One way to think about it, basically there is a multiplier effect, Reinhart said. For every person that you cycle through the jail whether they specifically get COVID-19 or not while in the jail on average, about 2.2 new cases of COVID-19 are going to emerge in communities of Illinois as a result of each person cycled through this one jail.
Reinhart believes the jails total impact on COVID-19 spread could now be far greater than even whats in his report as the disease has continued to spread since the April cutoff date for his study. And the report doesnt account for jail staff, who enter and leave the facility on a daily basis, and could act as super spreaders of the coronavirus, Reinhart said.
Through Wednesday, nearly 1,000 Cook County Jail employees and detainees had tested positive for COVID-19 at some point, though the majority of them have since recovered. Seven detainees, two corrections officers and one court deputy have died after contracting the virus.
The Cook County Sheriffs Officeremains in the midst of a federal lawsuitover its sanitation and social distancing measures at the jail, though it maintains it is aggressively working round-the-clock to combat the pandemic. The office continues to screen and test detainees, and said it has moved to increase the amount of personal protective equipment and sanitation supplies in the jail.
The focus is on outdated information and completely ignores the fact that as a result of our interventions, cases at the jail have dropped precipitously over the past month. As of yesterday, there were 36 detainees positive for COVID-19 at the jail, and 42 jail staff members currently positive, a Sheriffs Office spokesperson said in a statement.
More important, virtually all of the new cases in recent weeks have come from newly arrested individuals who tested positive at intake, not from those who were already in custody. Once testing became available (a well known national issue), we started testing at all incoming detainees at intake, the statement continued. The logical conclusion is that if we had the ability to test at intake beginning in January it would have shown the virus was coming in from the street, not the other way around. Further supporting this is the fact the majority of the positive cases are coming from the communities hit the hardest by COVID-19.
The jails population had been cut to historic lows in recent months down from more than 5,500 detainees in February to about 4,000 in May in order to help stem the spread of COVID-19.
But after hundreds of arrests were made in the Chicago area atprotests following the police killing of George Floydin Minneapolis, the Cook County Jails population has risen steadily and surpassed 4,500 detainees on Thursday.
Reinhart called this a huge, huge concern, and said he believes it speaks to another issue of policing policies and over-arresting that could put more lives in danger during the pandemic.
In terms of public health, its very clear that arresting these protesters and cycling them through the jail most of them are released rather quickly youre exposing them to extremely high risk space for infection he said. Even if just one of those people thats arrested, and theyre waiting in line to be processed, is sick, youre going to have a lot of people sick at the end of that.
Contact Matt Masterson:@ByMattMasterson |[emailprotected]| (773) 509-5431
Two new cases of COVID-19 reported today, one on Oahu, the other on Maui Hawaii Tribune-Herald (subscription)
