Wood County Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Operation Center’s Situation Report on COVID-19 Response
This April 27 report communicates Wood County Emergency Operations Center’s activity over the past 24 hours.
Executive Summary:
Gov. Mike DeWine – May is a crucial month. We needed to ramp up testing dramatically and to have adequate contract tracing. Testing – Thermo Fisher agreement in place to get more reagent. Now we have a method to make more swabs as well. Testing capacity numbers significantly increase as the days and weeks go on. Tracing- this goes hand in hand with testing. This is what health departments have done for years. The challenge is that the staff they have doing this normally, would not be enough for this large of a scale event. These two things will help to open the economy up even more.
DeWine said – We have got to get moving, we have to open things up, but at the same time we have to protect Ohioans. If we do this right, we can provide as much protection as we can (there is always risk). The how is very important.
May 1- Health care opening. All health procedures that can be done that do not require an overnight stay in a hospital we will be able to move forward with those operations or procedures. The old order still stands where more severe and threatening cases, even if they require an overnight stay, are still allowed.
Dentists, vets should also be able to be at full-steam ahead on May 1.
May 4 – Manufacturing, distribution, and construction will be opened up. Again it goes back, that these companies need to be doing this in the safest way possible. He referenced a best practice protocol chart for safely opening back up.
May 4 – General offices will be able to be open. Asking companies as they go back into their office space that they continue to allow people to work from home as much as possible.
May 12 – Consumer, retail, and services to open. All employees will wear facial coverings. Same thing is true for customers. Encourage Ohioans when in public to wear a facial covering, we will not mandate it. But as a customer, you will have to have a facial covering.
Stay at home orders will still be in place, they will be modified. The governor outlined specific guidelines that all companies must follow, including; all employees to wear face coverings, only 50% of the fire code capacity is permitted, daily health assessments, clean and sanitize workplaces thoroughly and more.
The 10 people gathering order remains in place. These are the first steps. We have to see how we do with these actions, watch them for a few weeks. We have to see how the numbers look, we don’t want to go backwards.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted – We realize every decision has risks. We have tried to find a balance when making ours. There is no easy decision or certainty in anything we do because this is a novel virus. The plan for opening is one that will keep employees and customers safe. The strategy today is the best that we could put together.
Dr. Amy Acton – Public health is about the collective. Takes all segments of society to ensure health. We look at individual well-being but also in the contexts of your relationships, where you school, work, live, play. To move forward we need to continue to be our best self. It is essential we do this all together.
Ohio Confirmed Cases: 15,699
Ohio Probable Cases: 626
Ohio Total Confirmed plus Probable: 16,325
Ohio Hospitalizations: 3,232
ICU Admissions: 978
Ohio Confirmed COVID Deaths: 712
Ohio Probable COVID Deaths: 41
Wood County Cases (total plus probable): 139
Wood County Hospitalizations: 42
Wood County Long Term Care Cases: 57
Wood County Deaths: 18
County EOC Objectives:
1. Coordinate the county’s response to limit spread of COVID-19; and maintain medical care.
2. Provide timely, clear, and consistent messaging to the public, stakeholders and media on the status of COVID-19 and actions the public can take to keep themselves safe.
3. Determine how county agencies will continue delivery of essential services to Wood County residents while following COVID-19 public health guidelines.
4. Prevent, identify, mitigate, and respond to COVID19 hotspots within the county.
EMA:
An abbreviated version of this report can be found at: http://woodcountyema.org/covid-19/ .
Also, please contact us If you have PPE to donate, if you have any PPE needs or have any questions. We are also looking for individuals selling cloth masks so we can connect citizens looking for them. If you are one of these people making masks for a fee or a donation please send us your information to have on hand if we find people looking. Businesses looking for large suppliers of cloth masks can contact Skyrocket/BiG Fab Labs at 419-466-0668 or kevin@skyrocketbox.com .
EMA and public health have been reaching out to areas of concern and identified “hotspots” in the county to ensure their PPE supply is adequate to meet the needs of the situation. We continue to accept, inventory, and fulfill PPE resource requests.
Able to secure additional shipment of PPE from the state EMA on Friday.
Ohio Emergency PPE Maker’s Exchange is an available online resource to share and purchase personal protective equipment created through the ingenuity of Ohio manufacturers who have answered the call to help. https://repurposingproject.sharetribe.com/
Public Health:
There are 15,699 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ohio. There are 139 cases (total confirmed plus probable) presently in Wood County, 42 of those hospitalized, 57 in long term care, and 18 deaths.
Health department staff are answering calls regarding testing, essential business concerns, employee safety, the stay-at-home order and many other questions.
Case follow-up and close contact tracing is being coordinated by a team of employees.
Wood County residents who feel they may have coronavirus are encouraged to complete a survey that will help local public health better track the illness. Wood County residents are asked to report coronavirus symptoms at https://tinyurl.com/WoodCountyCOVID19 .
Healthcare:
Please realize that our agency is continually taking in donations and pushing out resource requests. Our abilities change similar to your needs. For formal resource requests, please contact us at: woodcountyema@co.wood.oh.us .
Law Enforcement/Fire/EMS:
Many PPE requests have been submitted and addressed. If you have a need, please put in a formal request in writing to: woodcountyema@co.wood.oh.us . Please realize that our agency is continually taking in donations and pushing out resource requests. Our abilities change similar to your needs.
Wood County Health Department is implementing a new procedure for testing symptomatic first responders or their immediate household family members through UTMC. Requests for testing must be sent by the Chief to FRCovid19@co.wood.oh.us
For the past 15 months, the Wood County First Responder Support Team has been reaching out to those who need help dealing with the stress, whether it’s directly related to incidents on the job or life issues with family, marriage, kids. The support team offers first responders a chance to talk one on one, with full confidentiality, to a peer – someone who knows the drill. These volunteers have been trained through the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police.
Wood County Board of Elections:
Primary election ballots must be postmarked by April 27 (today) or it may be dropped off at the Wood County Board of Elections by 7:30 p.m. on April 28.
Wood County Commissioners:
Please call before you come. All visitors entering the Courthouse Complex should wear a mask, scarf, or other covering on their face prior to entering the building. This will become a requirement on Wednesday, April 29. Please be prepared for this. Wood County is unable to provide masks to visitors.
Public session of the board will occur on Tuesdays at 9:15 a.m. Thursday session meetings are canceled at this time.
Wood County Landfill:
The Landfill is operating and accepting traffic from commercial haulers, contractors/businesses and municipalities, however the individual public drop‐off is closed at least through May 1.
BGSU:
Publishing a situation report twice/week. Twice a week conference call with Wood County EMA.
Dining options- Starship delivery, Dunkin Donuts (7a-3p), CP Market (10a-8p), Carillon Place (10a-8p).
Provost Joe Whitehead wrote: ““We have decided to move Student Orientation, Advising and Registration (SOAR) to a virtual experience. While many aspects of SOAR will look different this year, we are committed to providing our incoming students a warm welcome and a thorough on-boarding experience.” Each entering student will need to participate in a SOAR webinar. Then advisors will do an initial scheduling of courses for students. Then after the webinar, students will meet individually with their advisors to adjust their schedules and ask questions.
BGSU Athletics is partnering with Campus Pollyeyes, Sam B’s, and Jimmy John’s to feed local hospital, nursing home, law enforcement, and grocery store workers on the front lines in the fight against COVID-19. Please click the link below to provide a free meal for these hometown heroes. For every meal purchased you will receive a FREE ticket to BGSU Football’s 2020 home opener on Saturday, Sept. 12.
Local:
The Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation is sending up to $1.6 billion in dividends to Ohio’s public and private employers this spring to ease the coronavirus impact on the economy and business community. For Wood County, the public employers’ dividend is $1.7 million. The private employers’ dividend is $16.6 million.
The next food distribution and senior food box program will be held Friday, May 1, from 10 to 11:30 a.m., at First United Methodist Church, 1526 E. Wooster St., Bowling Green. Free fresh produce and other food will be available in limited quantities. This is for anyone in Wood County who meets the income guidelines or who has recently lost their job. SeaGate Food Bank will also be present at the same time to hand out Senior Boxes to those who meet their eligibility requirements. There will also be an additional free box of food handed out by Toledo Northwestern Ohio Food Bank. There will be a new drive-thru set-up this month to distribute food in accordance with current guidelines to help prevent the spread of viruses. You are asked to remain in your vehicles in the church parking lot and wait for volunteer instructions. Our volunteers appreciate your patience as we try to continue to serve those in need safely. Contact the church if you have questions at 419-353-0682.
WIC: @NoKidHungry has launched a texting hotline to provide information about emergency food distribution sites in communities where schools have been closed due to #COVID19 . To find food near you text FOOD or COMIDA to 877-877.
The Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, announces a webinar with Keith Lake from the Ohio Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Team on Tuesday, May 12 at 8 a.m. This is open to all Chamber Investors. During this webinar, Lake will address what the priorities of the Ohio Chamber are related to COVID-19. Investors are encouraged to submit their questions on this topic, as well as the priorities our business community is facing that relate to The Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce Public Policy Agenda.
Administrative Information:
Any information and contributions your agency has for this report is valuable to maintain a common operating picture and situational awareness for the county as a whole.
Please reach out to our office via phone or email (email preferred) to share information.
EOC Hours of Operation: 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Requesting support: Call Wood County EMA at 419-354-9269 or email
woodcountyema@co.wood.oh.us
ODH Call line: 1-833-4-ASK-ODH (1-833-427-5634)
www.coronavirus.ohio.gov
