►
From YouTube: Buncombe County COVID-19 Community Update (May 11, 2020)
Description
To learn more visit buncombeready.org
A
Good
afternoon
and
welcome
to
the
May
11th
community
update,
my
name
is
Stacie.
Wood
and
I
serve
as
a
public
information
officer
in
the
Emergency
Operations
Center.
As
a
reminder,
this
community
update
is
available
in
Spanish
on
the
Buncombe
County
Health
and
Human
Services
Facebook
page,
and
that
can
be
found
on
Facebook,
@b
c
HHS.
A
Today's
updates
come
from
dr.
jennifer,
mullendore
Buncombe
County
Public
Health
Director
and
medical
director,
Fletch
Tove
Buncombe,
County,
Public,
Health
preparedness,
director
and
dr.
William,
Hathaway
chief
medical
officer
for
Mission
Hospital,
and
today
we
will
get
started
with
an
update
from
dr.
mullendore.
B
Good
afternoon,
as
of
noon
today,
there
have
been
102
lab,
confirmed
cases
of
kovat
19
in
Buncombe
County
residents
and
forc
Ovid
19
associated
fatalities.
Over
3100
tests
for
Cova
19
have
been
completed
in
Buncombe
County
residents.
Since
the
start
of
the
outbreak
due
to
historic
and
present-day
inequities
created
by
structural
racism,
communities
of
color
are
being
disproportionately
impacted
by
kovat
19,
both
nationally
and
locally.
Our
local
data
shows
that
34%
of
lab
confirmed
cases
in
our
County
have
been
in
individuals
who
identify
as
Latin
X.
B
They
will
rotate
throughout
Buncombe
County
in
the
coming
weeks
to
meet
the
needs
of
people
with
limited
access
to
health
care
providers
who
are
testing
for
code.
Nineteen
people
who
face
financial
or
transportation
barriers
to
obtaining
tests
and
others
who
have
no
direct
healthcare
access
testing
at
these
events
is
available
to
both
insured
and
uninsured
individuals
with
no
out-of-pocket
cost.
B
Please
call
one
of
the
following
medical
facilities
to
be
screened
for
kovat.
19
testing
and
more
information
can
be
found
on
our
website,
but
there's
may
heck
family
health
center
at
Biltmore,
jizz
off
Hendersonville,
Road,
the
for
mercy,
Urgent
Care
sites
throughout
the
county
and
range
urgent
care
on
merriman
Avenue.
B
We
also
hope
that
people
will
spend
a
few
minutes
answering
some
simple
questions
about
their
symptoms
on
our
symptom,
checker
and
remember.
The
symptoms
of
kovat
19
have
expanded
to
include
cough
shortness
of
breath
or
difficulty,
breathing
fever
sore
throat,
chills
repeated
shaking
with
chills,
muscle,
pain,
headache
and
a
new
loss
of
taste
or
smell
use.
The
Buncombe
County
Ovid
19
self
checker.
If
you
these
symptoms,
it's
a
quick,
confidential
tool
available
online
or
by
phone
to
help.
B
B
B
Currently,
testing
for
kovat
19
is
focused
on
individuals
who
are
having
symptoms
of
Kovan
19
at
this
time.
Those
without
symptoms
of
Hoeven
19
are
not
routinely
to
be
tested,
except
during
the
situation
of
an
outbreak
at
a
long-term
care
facility
or
potentially,
if
they
are
identified.
As
close
contacts
to
a
case.
B
C
C
C
C
If
you
do
need
to
leave
home
as
dr.
mullendore
said,
no,
your
w's
wear
a
face
covering
wait.
Six
feet
apart
and
wash
your
hands
with
increased
frequency
for
more
information.
I
want
Phase,
one
means
for
us
visit
Buncombe,
ready,
dot,
o
RG,
that's
Buncombe,
ready,
dot
org
there
you
can
find
an
article
for
our
buncombe
county,
stay
home,
stay
safe,
local
order,
and
you
can
find
the
newest
declaration
itself.
C
C
C
D
D
The
first
was
to
preserve
protective
equipment
for
our
healthcare
workers.
The
second
was
to
preserve
testing
for
patients
who
were
sick.
The
third
was
to
maintain
capacity
for
kovat
19
patients
when
they
came
to
the
hospital,
specifically
ICU
beds
and
ventilators,
and
lastly,
it
was
to
minimize
spread
throughout
the
community.
Well,
we
have
some
good
news
to
report.
So
far
to
date,
we
have
had
a
total
of
34
patients
at
Mission,
Health
System,
who
have
received
care
for
kovat
services
in
an
inpatient
setting
four
of
these
presented
to
the
emergency
department
and
were
subsequently
discharged.
D
Six
were
admitted
and
most
unfortunately,
passed
away.
22
were
admitted
and
discharged
to
home,
and
today
we
have
two
patients
in
the
hospital
with
kovat
19.
Our
capacity
to
care
for
these
patients
has
remained
robust.
We
put
into
place
plans
to
expand
our
ICU
capacity
by
doubling
and
even
tripling
if
needed.
Be.
We
have,
of
course,
have
of
course
not
come
to
need
that,
and
we
are
grateful
for
that.
D
In
addition,
we
have
made
a
minor
modification
to
our
visitation
policy.
We
will
continue
to
function
at
what
we
call
level
3
visitation
restriction,
meaning
no
visitors
on
the
floors
of
the
hospital,
except
in
very
rare
circumstances,
such
as
pediatric
cases
and
of
life
circumstances
and
labor
and
delivery.
D
I
want
to
emphasize
to
people
that
safety
has
been
and
always
will
be,
our
number-one
concern
for
our
patients
and
their
families
and
for
our
staff
and
I
want
to
emphatically
emphasize
that
the
hospital
is
a
safe
place
to
get
care.
At
this
time.
We
have
carefully
segregated
patients
who
are
receiving
care
for
Kobe,
diseased
and
segregated
the
caregivers
so
that
they
will
not
overlap
with
those
who
don't
have
kovat
19
and
in
addition,
we
have
strict
isolation
protocols
in
place
to
protect
all
patients
at
all
times
from
any
transmissible
diseases.
D
It's
very
troubling
to
me
that
we
have
seen
not
just
in
Western,
North,
Carolina
or
the
state
or
the
country,
but
everywhere
a
decline
in
patients
seeking
care
for
emergency-type
illnesses.
Two
examples
come
to
mind
immediately:
heart
attack
care
and
stroke
care
for
reasons
which
are
not
entirely
clear.
Those
volumes
have
dropped
25
to
30
percent
across
the
board
around
the
state.
That
is
not
because
the
disease
has
gone
away
to
me.
That
is
a
reflection
that
people
are
avoiding
care
and
there
is
nothing
worse
that
you
could
do
than
to
stay
at
home.
D
If
you
need
emergency
medical
care,
I
want
to
emphasize
again
our
hospitals
and
our
offices
and
our
practices
are
safe.
Places
for
people
to
get
care
will
continue
to
provide
masks
for
all
patients
and
visitors
when
they
come
to.
The
hospital
will
continue
to
provide
temperature
checks
and
screening
questions
at
the
door.
The
risk
of
staying
at
home,
while
you're
experiencing
a
heart
attack
a
stroke
or
any
other
serious
or
potentially
life-threatening
illness
is
far
greater
than
the
risk
of
getting
kovat
in
any
of
our
facilities.