Limestone County coronavirus task force holds news conference

Limestone County coronavirus task force holds news conference

>> this is breaking news.

>> we are kurting into your regularly scheduled programming for a breaking news update.

The lime limestone county coronavirus task force is sharing an update right now.

Let's listen in.

>> we deliver supplies that we have received from the strategic [inaudible].

We took some items to two nursing homes, some to two of our assistive listening facilities, and then we also delivered some supplies to our [inaudible] cms. so hopefully that gives a little [inaudible] in being able to have that p.p.e.

A little bit of protection.

We also requested additional supplies to our home health agencies.

We also have a residential [inaudible] developmentally disabled that we requested some items for and even our public health department here requested some things for.

We do expect a second shipment of supplies but we did get notification that it has been delayed so i'm not sure when we will get those.

Hopefully it won't be delayed much.

So i'm going to ask each of our officials and department heads to give a brief synopsis of their activities and we're going to start with commission chairman, mr. collin daly.

>> mr. daly: thank everyone for being here in this crucial time in our nation.

First of all, limestone county would love to [inaudible] condolence to the jackson family and the family of [inaudible].

We're en 67 counties and one voice.

We want to express our deepest condolences to them on the loss of one of their own over there.

We continue to work closely with state and federal agencies to receive the most up-to-date information on the covid-19 virus.

With the exception of the meals on wheels program, sunday, march 15, we closed our limestone county senior centers until further notice to the public.

On march 19 with the kay ivy ordinance to suspend public gatherings, we closed all buildings to the public until further notice.

You can visit our website at www.limestone cans county.gov in the covid-19 section to get information about our commission officers and our limestone county revenue office which is there brian patterson.

Our employees continue to show up to job every day and answer phone calls.

We're all here working.

We're here to provide for our citizens in this county.

That is our number one goal is public safety for our citizens and our employees also.

You know, as of the covid-19 situation evolves, we would continue -- we will continue to inform our citizens and the media through our websites, you know, incredible sources like limestone county, city of athens , athens hospital, cdc, places like that, alabama department of public health are all incredible resources for information.

Just be sure we get good credible sources of information.

And one thing i'd like to thank, limestone hospital.

I went to a briefing press conference the other day and the doctor got up and spoke and it was a really -- he was really informing on how the virus works and all.

That really helped me understand things.

And i just want to thank him for that publicly.

As of today, you know, our county has 11 cases in it and 4 72 in the state of alabama.

You know, and i feel -- i'm like the doctor said the other day, i'm a man of faith and i believe in prayer and i mean, we all -- this county -- this is trying times and i believe that we'll make it through it.

We have eight municipalities in this county, representatives of [inaudible] athens, mooresville, huntsville, madison county all in this county.

We will work hard every day as a group, one body to do what's best for this county and get us through this.

It's like -- i want to get off here another minute and say practice good personal hygiene and washing your hands.

You know, social distancing, that is the main key to help us get through this virus is try not to spread it nowhere.

It's like yesterday, i went by huntsville and i got an uncle that's got a kidney transplant and i usually go through and see him when i go through there and yesterday i called on the phone.

I'm not going to put anybody's life in jeopardy that's had an immune suppression or anything like that.

If you have anything like that, check on the elderly through phones and stuff like that.

If you're like me, get out in the public a lot, try to social distance from elderly and people like that as much as possible.

Thank y'all for being here today >> now we'll have comments from the mayor of the city of athens, mr. ronnie marks.

>> mayor marks: thank you all the media for being here today and the attention you're giving to our community.

First, let me just tell you that we're working on critical mission statements.

You know, it goes back to good ole military terms. we're there, we're working, we're providing services.

But keep up with us on a day-to-day basis if you can, please, through the city of athens website www.athensal.u us or city of athens facebook page.

I want to echo from chairman collin daly said, practice good hygiene, good health issues and we have declared a state of emergency on march 13.

Since that time we closed the doors to city hall and all the operations in our recreation facilities.

We are there working.

But we are not open to the public.

I do have a staff meeting tomorrow morning where i'm looking at other personnel issues and we're just saying if you have any symptoms, stay home this is a very critical time in our country.

We're trying to stay positive and upbeat about this.

We'll get through it.

But as most of us are all saying , this is not something like a natural disaster of a tornado that comes through, it impacts us, and then we start putting our lives back together.

This is something we can't feel and touch and it's out there and it's very critical for all of our citizens to understand.

I want to assure the public that we are there, we're answering phone calls, and we're open to any suggestions or recommendations that you have.

We've had a couple of notes why we're not on the media like other cities are on the media and i again want to tell you how much i appreciate you being here today and covering what we're doing in athens and limestone down ti.

I'm privileged to be on governor ivey's task force and we're having calls every week and with the state health officer dr. scott harris and some of the other officials around the state and what they're doing.

We're following their guidelines there's some statements about what they're doing in tuscaloosa or what they're doing in birmingham.

We're -- we're following from the city of athens, we're following the guidelines of governor ivey and our state health official dr. scott harris and we will continue to do that.

Staying on an encouraging note, i want to pass along one thing released on this saturday morning, we've asked our mayor's commission to reach out and make positive comments and i wanted you to be aware of those comments that will be released saturday morning.

And some of these seniors and kids are so upbeat during this critical time in our country and they're giving us words of encouragement to say.

We are resilient.

We will get through this.

We've got through it before.

But we'll get through it by stoacial distancing, practicing good hygiene and god bless each and every one of you and keep us in your prayers because this country needs you right now for this horrible virus so thank you for being here.

>> thank you.

We have the mayor of the town of elkmont, mr. tracy thompson.

>> thank y'all.

I appreciate the opportunity to be here.

Under these circumstances, of coursement i don't mitch more to say but most everybody knows what we're trying to do, practicing social distancing and hygiene is critical.

Very concerned about the elderly in our community.

We want to make sure those folks are taken care of.

Those folks have gone through a lot.

They've gone through a lot worse than this.

Some of them are survivors of world war ii and survivors of the great depression but they've told those stories and impacted our lives and we know we can get through this.

I like to say in a few short months most problems will pass.

You know, if you think about it six months ago nobody heard of coronavirus or covid-19.

My prayer to everyone here across this nation six months from now this will be a bad memory.

Thank you.

>> okay.

We also have fire chief tim tune with the city of ardmore.

He's representing the mayor who couldn't be here.

>> basically we're hearing all the public health guidelines.

We work hand in hand with e.m.a.

On a daily basis.

The big thing with the city we're telling everybody social distancing.

I listened to some of the doctor 's comments, he's going to shed a lot of light to an extent but we're just in a hard time right now.

Thank you.

>> .

>> chief sloss of the sheriff's office.

>> good afternoon.

On fred sloss, chief deputy of sheriff's office.

I would just like to share some of the things we have changed in the sheriff's office.

First i'll start off with patrol dispatch we have new guidelines.

Dispatch asks specific questions when we're taking calls for the deputy's safety, things like do anybody have a fever, anybody have flu-like symptoms. for their safety and everything else.

We're not allowing entry into the sheriff's office right now.

We're keeping everybody outside.

Any business we can do online, we're carrying out those tasks.

We're taking non-emergency reports on the phone now.

All emergency situations we are answering those calls in person as we always do.

Our cher deputies are patrolling we're still enforcing all the laws in limestone county, state of alabama.

Deputy vs.

Personal information but we're limited just like everybody else.

Like to thank the e.m.a.

For giving the equipment we do have.

Our jail is a whole different situation.

We're following the recommendation of the cdc guidelines.

Checking temperatures of people being brought in and booked in the jail.

Monitored 14 days.

If someone have flu-like symptoms they're put in our medical ice isolation and checked.

We have direct supervision and our correction officers have the personal protection equipment to monitor those individuals.

Oir medical staff, they have the test, the covid-19 if needed.

Our jail staff are using personal protection equipment.

As i said before, the same as the deputies.

We have a limited supply of this right here so we're using it sparingly.

We're cleaning and disinfecting the jail on a routine basis.

We have a schedule cleaning and try to disinfect everything else in that part of it.

The attorneys can still make appointments and meet with inmates.

We have a separate place for them to meet with inmates.

We have a space just for them.

We have suspended all visitation in the jail.

Family members can still visit, but invaits to the main jail we have offsite video visitation.

We have given our jail rosters to the judges and d.a.

And they're looking at a case-by-case basis and see which inmates that are low risk inmates they can release and get out of jail.

Thank y'all very much.

>> thank you, chief sloss.

Okay, evan we have chief floyd johnson with the athens policy department.

>> not a lot to add.

We're doing a lot of the same thing with the sheriff's department we've been doing a couple weeks now.

We appreciate the help y'all give us.

We've been able to get some mask s and personal protective gear.

We already had some available but nothing like what we're figuring we're fixing to have to have.

Y'all really have helped, appreciate the governor's office kicked in supplies coming this way.

We appreciate their involvement trying to help us prepare for what we just really don't know what to do.

And i'm like tracy just a little bit, i hope that this is a -- something we look in the rearview mirror and think wow, we learned a lot and did a good job doing it.

I think as far as i know things are going real good.

We don't allow people in our building either but take ago lot of phone calls and talked to a lot of people.

But i compliment the citizens of our community.

It's really worked well.

They've cooperated and it's really been -- really been good to be able to see how the community's come together as one they kind of put a good face on a really bad situation.

Thank you.

>> thank you.

Okay.

Now we have chief brian thornton with athens fire and rescue.

>> chief thornton: brian thornton, city of athens fire department.

I don't have much more to add other than mayor marks has already told y'all.

But i do want you to know i have a outstanding dedicated group of individuals that are still manning these stations so the sub lick does not have to worry about that.

Yes, our facilities are closed for the public to come into, but they are there and they are ready to respond.

Just know if they show up on certain calls, they probably are going to look different.

So if you see a mask on a firefighter, it's to protect them and it's to protect you also.

And that's about all i've got.

Thank you.

>> thank you.

Okay.

Now we have several from athens limestone hospital.

To start with is suzanne johnson who is the emergency department director.

>> dr. johnson: thank you for having us.

We are also taking a lot of very proactive measures to protect the community and to protect our employees.

You'll hear quite a bit of the steps the hospital has already taken.

I do want to specifically address the ambulance service.

Like chief thornton said you might have an ambulance crew show up at your residence and they, too, will look a little different.

We proactively last week made some changes to our policies to protect the public and to protect our staff because they are the front line staff and the situations are often unknown.

So adopt be surprised if they arrive at your location and they are in a mask.

Whether it be on a highway or at your house.

We've done a lot of work in the last couple of weeks to prepare for what we don't know what's coming.

We can watch the statistics from other areas, learn from their situations, and try to make a better situation for our entire community.

>> thank you, suzanne.

Now we have david pryor who is the administrator from athens hospital.

>> i'll update you on what we've accomplished over the past couple of weeks, more specifically stick to the highlights because it's amazing what the team at the hospital, both the leadership and staff and the medical staff leadership has been able to accomplish.

So i'll try to hit some of the highlights i think will be most helpful for you to hear n.

A situation like this e effective communication is the key.

Effective profuse, constant communication from key stakeholders, whether it's community leaders, medical staff providers, leadership across athens but also across our health care system and around the state.

So starting at the highest level , from the state level we have been having calls organized through alabama department of public health and the alabama hospital association in an effort to both give out information on most exiewrnt guidelines, whether it's from the cdc or some other reference, and also to take input from hospitals around the state who have needs, whether it's personal protective equipment or just guidance or questions on who needs to be tested, et cetera.

It's been very effective in getting the most current information out there.

A little bit of problem with that is the information changes.

By the time we write it down, when you hear it, five minutes later there's something else.

So i'll take the opportunity right now to just talk to the public a little bit about be patient.

With not just the hospital but with emergency management, with firefighters, police.

This is a difficult situation.

And some of the things we've done at the hospital with limit visitation, et cetera, reduce elective procedures, ib know those impact people's well being , their ability to see their loved ones in the hospital just know we do these things to try to flatten the curve.

You've heard that term before.

And just real quickly, one why that's important.

When you hear about flattening the curve.

It's looking at the number of cases that could and most likely would happen if a given population and what we want to see instead of a big spike in positive cases in the community because we know there is a higher than flu mortality rate with this novel virus because nobody has immunity to it.

So you want to try to limit contact with other people so you can limit passing spreading the disease among your friends and neighbors.

You also want to limit the exposure of your health care providers in the community.

So if we can reduce the spike and spread it out over days and weeks instead of having it all occur at one time like you've seen at other municipalities that will allow us to better respond to the needs of the community over a period of time instead of seeing everybody at once.

So i ask you to separate and sanitize.

I know you've heard it a million times but really the hospital's efforts and the things i mentioned that we do is kind of a last-ditch effort, right?

Where the battle begins and 90% of it happens is in the community in the realm of health and everybody has a role to play in that initiative to limit the spread of this disease.

So the next levels are system level.

We're fortunate enough to belong in a system.

Huntsville hospital health system.

And there's roughly ten facilities across north alabama that we have begun having a daily call at 11:a.m.

To just dawz where we are as -- discuss where we are as a system, the statistics, some of the limits on supplies, try to get on the same page, identify best practice and share those across the system so we all don't have to solve the same problems. we solve them once and do it as a team.

And then at the local level.

I've worked outside of alabama i've worked all over the southeast in hospitals and i'd say i've never been so proud of a team that is the huntsville hospital team, the leadership, staff, medical staff is remarkable.

I've been through some pretty remarkable disaster scenarios and i can tell you the response here has just been remarkable in what people are willing to do, the time they're willing to spend to the health of this community.

With that some of the more specifics.

Two weeks ago we set up what we called incident command.

Back to the effective communication, incident command gives a structure as e.m.a.

Well knows that allows for the most effective communication of important information and then decision-making and then that gets back out to people that need to know.

We started there about two weeks ago and we've been meeting daily , eeghter in person or on the phone or a combination of both, to manage our incident command process.

We've and work through some of the issues.

Having done a couple weeks ago we were able to set up some processes that have been in effect pretty quickly.

One of them is a flu and fever childrennic.

If you have not heard, we turned our cordell center that's near the hospital, finance way -- fitness way, i think the address is washington street is open monday to friday, hours are 9:00 to 4:00.

>> 8:00.

>> 8:00 to 4:00 and that is a dual effort to accomplish giving anybody who has flu-like symptoms or symptoms maybe related to covid-19 to come to that one location, keep them out of all of our clinics that stretch across limestone county so those patients can then see patients that don't have infectious disease.

By cohorting them all in one location we can give them an efficient testing service and allow the other clinics to function and operate effectively one of the feedbacks we received from another hospital in the state that's been impacted pretty significantly was that people in the community want to hear information directly from hospitals and medical professionals.

So we set up a hotline at the hospital.

That number is 256-262-6188 and we can get you more info about that.

But basically it is not a medical provider giving you advice on how to treat what you're facing.

There's general information about covid and symptomology but then also at the end of the call there's opportunity to talk to a live person if you have any questions.

That was stood up with within less than a week, st.

Entire clinic.

In addition to limiting visitation as i mentioned, we closed most access points to the hospital to limit people coming in and out unsupervised.

Those two entrances we now have screening tables.

Everyone that comes in the hospital -- >> we were just hearing from members of the limestone county coronavirus task force with an update on its efforts.

Right now there are 11 confirmed cases from limestone county.

We heard from hospital leadership and some things they have implemented, including limiting visitation.

They have put together a hotline we'll put that on waay tv.com.

They have things with the dispatch and sheriff's department.

They are checking the temperatures of people before booked into jail.

Jail staff has the covid-19 test and employees are wearing protective gear.

All visitation at this point is suspended.

Local leaders also offered some encouraging words and stressed the importance of social distancing.