►
From YouTube: Ames Responds to COVID-19 | Episode 22
Description
On this week's episode of Ames Responds, we talk to Andrea Cardenas the Health Promotion Coordinator for the City of Ames about the rise in positive Covid-19 cases and ways that we can help the numbers decline. She also discusses the importance of this year's flu shot. We also speak with City of Ames Attorney, Mark Lambert about the Face Covering Mandate that is an ordinance in the City of Ames and also county-wide by Story County.
Do you have a covid-19 related question? If you do, please email us at covid19@CityofAmes.org and we can put your question in to a future episode.
A
Hi
welcome
to
aims
response
to
covert
19
a
question
and
answer
program
where
ames
area
organizations
respond
to
covid19
questions
provided
by
you,
our
I'm
susan
guiasta,
public
relations
officer
with
the
city
of
ames.
On
today's
show,
my
guests
are
andrea,
cardenas,
our
health
promotion
coordinator
with
the
city
of
ames
and
mark
lambert.
Our
city
attorney.
Welcome
to
the
show.
A
C
Right
so
you
know,
fortunately
with
seven
or
eight
months
into
the
pandemic
response.
We
have
enough
experience
that
we
can
look
and
see
what's
been
happening
in
other
countries
and
other
parts
of
the
united
states
to
see
what
works
and
what
doesn't
and
what
we're
finding
is
you
know,
in
addition
to
universal
masking
which
story
county
has
already
implemented,
the
the
mass
mandate
limiting
group
sizes
is
really
important.
C
So,
for
example,
in
the
state
of
arizona
back
in
june,
when
they
had
some
major
outbreaks,
they
implemented
a
lot
of
those
measures
and
they
saw
a
75
percent
decrease
in
the
spread
of
the
virus
when
they
implemented
all
of
those
combined.
So
those
are
certainly
some
things
that
we
can
do
consistently
from
a
policy
perspective.
C
What
we
can
do
as
an
individual
are
some
of
the
same
things
we've
been
talking
about,
and
that
includes
you
can
always
run
your
mask
when
you
can't
be
six
feet
or
further
from
somebody
social
distancing.
So
limiting
your
how
many
people
that
you're
around
and
also
making
sure
that
you're
staying
home
when
you're
sick-
and
you
know
I'm
seeing
a
little
more
people
getting
tired
of
following
some
of
these
practices
and
yeah?
It's
it's
not
always
convenient.
C
Yeah,
so
the
flu
has
a
lot
of
the
same
symptoms
as
covet
19..
So
even
just
from
a
practical
perspective,
you
have
to
treat
it
like
cover
19
until
you
know
that
it's
not
and
you
could
have
employees
out
with
cobia
19
and
also
other
employees
out
with
the
flu.
So
just
as
far
as
keeping
businesses
open
and
our
workforce
healthy,
it's
important
to
get
a
flu
shot
to
really
help
prevent
the
spread
of
the
flu.
A
A
B
Yeah,
okay,
thanks!
Yes,
susan!
It
is
a
real
law.
You
know
in
our
system
the
people
vote,
they
elect
leaders,
either
city
council,
state
legislature,
whatever
then
congress
and
and
those
leaders
pass
laws
and
on
the
city
level
we
call
them
ordinances.
So
it
is
a
law.
The
the
face
coverings
mandate
is
a
law
in
the
city
of
ames,
and
yes,
it's
true.
There
is
no
penalty
to
it.
That
was
a
a
policy
choice
by
the
council.
B
That
enforcement
be
made
through
encouragement
and
education
and
not
through
penalizing
people.
Now
some
people,
I've
heard
think
that
well,
if
it
doesn't
have
a
penalty,
then
it's
not
a
real
law.
Well,
it
is
a
real
law
and
you're
expected
to
abide
by
it
an
example.
I've
used
is,
you
know
most
of
us
stop
at
stop
signs,
even
if
there's
no
police
officer
around
and
we
think
the
odds
of
getting
a
ticket
are
pretty
slim.
B
B
So
I
I
think
it's
had
a
real
impact,
and
you
know
story
county
now
has
a
mask
mandate.
That
applies
in
the
rest
of
the
county.
Besides
ames
we
have
our
own
ordinance
and
so
we've
got.
You
know,
county-wide
mandate,
and
I
know,
as
we've
seen,
the
numbers
go
up
and
up
statewide
pretty
dramatically
recently
they've
been
increasing
in
story
county,
but
not
as
much,
and
I
I
have
to
think
that
mass
mandates
are
a
large
part
of
that
that
we're
seeing
better
numbers
than
the
numbers
statewide.
A
B
That's
correct:
any
private
business
can
in
fact
some
of
the
first
businesses
that
require
this
were
some
of
the
big
chain
stores
that
required
it
nationally
and
so
their
their
businesses
here
in
ames,
required
people
to
wear
masks
or
face
coverings,
and
certainly
the
ames
city
council
adopted
that
policy
for
all
city
buildings
before
they
pass
the
the
ordinance
that
applied
generally
to
everyone,
and
so
businesses
government
buildings
that
they
can.
They
can
all
decide
on
their
own
policies.
B
You
know
churches,
schools,
they
can
all
have
their
own
policies
and
and
require
masks
if
they
want
to.
I
think
the
existence
of
the
ordinance
has
helped
some
of
them
do
that.
I
think
some
businesses
were
a
little
afraid
of
the
pushback
from
some
members
of
the
public
if
they
required
masks.
But
now
they've
got
the
the
city
ordinance
to
rely
on
and
and
encouraging
their
customers
to
wear
them.
A
So
I
think
what
andrea
said
is
that
we're
seeing
evidence
that
suggests
that
they're
effective
along
with
our
other
pillars
of
healthy
behavior
from
our
cyclone's
care
campaign
about
hand
washing
physical
distancing
mask
wearing
staying
home
if
you're
ill,
it's
good
to
see
people
taking
it
seriously
and
taking
these
proactive
measures.
So
thank
you.
Mark
lambert,
city
attorney
and
andrea
cardenas
health
promotion
coordinator
with
the
city
of
ames.
A
I
just
want
to
remind
you.
Our
viewer
that
aims
response
is
an
opportunity
for
you
to
ask
your
kobit
19
pandemic
questions.
If
there's
something
you're
curious
about,
let
us
know
we
can
put
it
in
the
next
episode
of
ames
response.
Send
us
an
email
at
cobin19
at
cityofames.org
and
also
remember.
The
city
has
copic
19
information
on
our
website.