April 28, 2020: Coronavirus Community Call -

National and State Update-Ben Moser

Ben gave the following updates for Day 47 of the National Emergency over the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 from national, state and local news sources:

The Centers for Disease Control expanded the list of COVID-19 symptoms to include chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and new loss of taste or smell. Those are in addition to cough, fever and shortness of breath
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) coronavirus model has upped its predicted death toll again. They are projecting that 74,000 Americans will lose their lives to the virus by August. The projection was adjusted due to longer peaks in some states and signs that people are becoming more active again
President Trump announced a White House blueprint for increasing testing capacity yesterday. A White House document said that the federal role would include strategic direction and technical assistance as well as the ability to align laboratory testing supplies and capacity existing in anticipated laboratory needs
Dysfunction in the oil market intensified sending the most popularly traded U.S. oil benchmark to its lowest level since 1986 before a rebound
In Georgia, as of noon yesterday Georgia had 23,773 confirmed cases and 942 deaths
In Alabama, reminder for COVID-19 resources for businesses and individuals, visit altogetheralabama.org

Columbus Area Updates

MercyMed Update-Dr. Joyce Kim

Dr. Kim gave the following updates:

Some of this information can be found in the MercyMed Zoom Community Call from April 15
There were 1,243 people tested during the Community Wide testing at Cascade Hills Church; 186 people tested positive
Of those that tested positive 146 opted into the MercyMed follow up plan; 87 of those were seen in the MercyMed office
During office visits patients were given physicals, chest x-rays, EKGs, lung ultrasounds and bloodwork and histories were taken
The 146 patients that were included in the follow up plan were called daily; Nurses called the highest risk patients; Mercer medical students called the remaining patients
Fourteen patients were treated with a Z-Pak; 6 patients completed a 5-day course of hydroxychloroquine; 7 additional patients completed a full 10-day course of hydroxychloroquine; 1 patient refused
Twelve of the 14 that were started on treatment are now asymptomatic; the remaining 2 are still receiving daily phone calls; 4 patients had to make trips to the emergency room; 3 were discharged home and 1 was hospitalized for 2 days for rehydration
From the non-treatment group, 1 was sent to the emergency room but was discharged home; 113 patients are now symptom free
Psychosocially, there were prayer request; patients also signed up for the group COVID-19 calls so that they could connect to each other; patients reported that this was helpful for them

Department of Public Health (Columbus Health Department) Update-Natalie Man

Natalie gave the following updates:

There are 1387 confirmed cases in the 16-county health district
There are 287 cases in Muscogee County; 159 in Crisp County; 120 in Dooley County; 73 in Macon County; 156 in Randolph County and 367 in Sumter County
Check the Georgia Department of Public Health website for daily updates; dph.georgia.gov

Muscogee County School District Update-Dr. David Lewis

Dr. Lewis gave the following updates:

Nothing new to report today

Alabama State Representative Update-Chris Blackshear

Representative Blackshear gave the following updates:

There are 6580 confirmed cases in Alabama
There are 368 cases in Lee County; 289 cases in Chambers County; 53 cases in Russell County
There are 845 people hospitalized and 241 confirmed deaths
Governor Ivey will hold a press conference at 12:00noon today to announce plans for gradually reopening the state

Columbus Area Vulnerable Population Update

Home for Good Update-Pat Frey

Pat gave the following updates:

There will be a virtual monthly Housing Navigation meeting on Tuesday, May 5, 2020 at 3:00pm. The meeting is open to all participants of the Continuum of Care and anyone in the community that would like to participate. Additional information to join the meeting to follow

Coronavirus Response Fund (Crisis Fund) Update-Betsy Covington

Betsy gave the following updates:

This week’s grant awards will be announced on tomorrow; staff reaching out to those organizations today
As of this week over 700,000 has been awarded from this fund
AFLAC has issued a challenge. They will match individual gifts to the fund up to $2,000 for a total of $100,000; this is being announced today on both the Facebook pages and Instagram pages of the Community Foundation and United Way
Asked callers to email her at bcovington@cfcv.com to let her know who has been on the call, so that they can reach out and fill gaps in groups that are not on the call; want to make sure that they are being responsive to the community

Open Forum Updates

Open Door Community House Update-Kim Jenkins

Kim gave the following updates:

Open Door is maintaining daily contact with the children from their Mathews Promise Academy by delivering an evening meal along with worksheets and coloring sheets
This gives them a chance to touch basis with the children and their families to identify needs if any. i.e. food insecurity, housing, stress levels, etc.; face to face contact is important for the families and the Open Door staff

St. Anne Church Update-Margo Truitt

Margo gave the following updates:

Coordinating for the church’s mask making ministry; they have given out over 2,600 masks; they are getting request from all over the region and they are getting overwhelmed; want to know where they can funnel some of their request as their volunteers start to slow down
Hollie Browder of Columbus Parks and Recreation reminded callers of Face Mask Sewing of Columbus Georgia. Anyone interested can contact: hbrowder@columbusga.org or 706-225-4658 or https://www.facebook.com/Face-Mask-Sewing-for-Columbus-Georgia-104673267851037/
Nancy Williams of Piedmont Columbus Regional and Melody Trimble of St. Francis Emory Healthcare added that they are in constant need of masks and that they appreciate everything that is being done to provide mask for the community
Betsy also referred callers to bhamfacemasks.com