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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-10-28 - Minutes -CITY OF .'FAYETTEVILLE ARKANS ARKANSAS MEETING MINUTES Fayetteville City Board of Health 10/28/2020 4:30 p.m. Virtual Meeting Members: Hershey Garner, Lenny Whiteman, Huda Sharaf, Gary Berner, Stephanie Ho Ex-Officio Members: Meredith Lowry, Richard Taffner, Lance Reed, Lioneld Jordan, Brad Hardin Health Officer: Marti Sharkey Guest: Kit Williams, Stephen Boss 1. Call to Order and Roll Call — Hershey Garner, Chair (5 minutes) 2. Approval of Minutes a. Motion to approve minutes as submitted by Lenny Whiteman; seconded by Kit Williams 3. Status of cases a. Dr. Stephen Boss i. Will try and run a model for number of cases the difference that wearing masks have made ii. Would be good information to get out to the public once model is done iii. Will send to Dr. Starkey for publishing in the newspaper and on Social media 4. School status discussion a. Fayetteville Public Schools had 5 new cases since yesterday i. 7 cases in FHS and 6 at Ramay Jr High ii. Everyone else has less than 6 iii. The New School is now reporting cases, but they are under 5 total cases 5. Testing update a. Dr. Sharkey i. Deaths projections - 3500 deaths with current restrictions in place by January 1, 2021 b. Deaths are continuing to go up i. The Washington County Coroner's Office has worked over 2000 deaths in Washington County ii. Coroner is overworked and discouraged by the number of deaths c. Hospitals i. Covid positive numbers are maintaining in the range of high 50's to low 60's ii. Non -Positive cases increased to 97 patients; up 10 from yesterday a. ICU rooms are nearing capacity iii. At Washington Regional, 25% of patients are transfers from 60 miles outside the area. Mailing Address: 113 W. Mountain Street www.fayetteville-ar.gov Fayetteville, AR 72701 a. Mostly from the Fort Smith and Harrison area 6. Messaging for the community -Update a. Dr. Sharkey i. Halloween is top priority this week with TV and Social Media exposure ii. Arkansas Air museum had an event this weekend a. Covid protocol was followed 7. Discussion of masks for polling places i. Mask compliance for early voting is going well with everyone following mask and social distance restrictions 8. Discussion of Halloween a. Had 2 interviews with the newspaper and the Northwest Arkansas Covid-19 Task Force in the past 24 hours 9. Youth football discussion a. Received another complaint this week about Saturday football b. Boys & Girls Club has briefed everyone correctly i. Did talk to them again about talking to coaches and participants about wearing masks and staying 6 feet apart 10. PPE shortage discussion a. Concern on cost of gloves i. Backlogs on supplies from normal vendors; if available, they are 5 times as much as it usually is ii. Check with Attorney General for price gouging iii. Dr. Sharkey is going to draft a letter iv. Small gauge needles are in short supply due to the government stocking up on them for the Covid vaccine 11. Vaccine discussion a. Will come with syringe and needles b. Pfizer is on track to be the first one out of the gate, possibly around Christmas for group 1 A c. Requires 2 doses d. State is going to be working on storage e. Do we want to request to be a vaccine distributor? f. Vaccines for employees? Kit Williams will talk to the Mayor about this. Not sure if the board has the capability to administer shots g. Hospitals clinics will be getting vaccines — employees may have to be on their own h. Johnson and Johnson is a 1 dose vaccine, but they are 3 months behind 12. Other Business a. Experience Fayetteville -Molly Rawn i. Mayor will give a virtual message and flip the light switch from Channel 5 newsroom ii. Will stream on Facebook, YouTube and Channel 5 iii. Promote as a virtual event. iv. No parade, light ceremony, Streets will not be closed v. Only allowing 3 vendors on East Mountain and Block vi. Hand sanitizers and signage to wear masks and social distancing vii. Police department may be on scene to hand out masks if needed viii. Public restrooms will be open till 11 pm. Only accessible from the outside of the building. Cleaned and disinfected regularly ix. People will be coming out, but we do not want to give the impression that we are encouraging citizens to come out that night. Want to promote it as a virtual event. x. Media — virtual meeting with Santa? a. Will consider and look into this xi. Carriage rides will be talked about tomorrow b. Next meeting is November 11 I" -Veterans Jay- a. Discuss options i. November 12tn ii. Will send out email poll to see if this is a good date b. Pledge for businesses to follow i. Looked at Rogers proposal for small businesses ii. Most Businesses are going above and beyond Covid protocols iii. Looking for consumer confidence iv. Push to highlight businesses that are going above and beyond to promote safety at their business v. None mask compliance outside of business is still a big concern a. Try to reach out to University to try and get some target messaging from their peers b. Need to be early and aggressive on this platform vi. Library Tour a. Will meet with director to have him come to next meeting vii. PDF will be sent out for Halloween Safety Tips Adjourn