Public Health Officer Dr Tom Locke discussed the latest national and local case statistics, including two additional Jefferson County instances bringing the count to 59. He also gave guidance for using public restrooms and for planning holiday gatherings. DEM Director Willie Bence explained how county masking surveys are conducted.
(Airdate: August 11, 2020) Our Town Host Maryanne McNellis interviews Kris Nelson, owner of four Port Townsend restaurants and bars (Sirens, Alchemy, The Old Whiskey Mill and The Inbetween). Like virtually all business owners, Kris has suffered significant losses through the great COVID-19 shutdown of 2020. She says she loses money every day she stays open throughout the spring and summer. Take out and limited seating does not really translate into profits in the restaurant business. But Kris is a fighter and hopes to weather the COVID storm and emerge with her business intact. Here’s her strategy: “I want to focus on how to succeed, not whether we will succeed.”
At today’s meeting, County Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke said we’d gone a whole week without another case.
Today’s Through Science to Health program with KPTZ host Chris Bricker and Lynn Sorensen, RN discussed local and national news regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Articles from the National Institute for Health (NIH), NPR, and The Atlantic were sources for their discussion regarding vaccine development, therapeutic tests, infection and death projection numbers through 2020, and the human immune system – its usual response to pathogens and its unusual response to coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) where it over-performs, causing more damage to the human body. The question of school re-opening is still that – a question. Local school districts have yet to announce their plan for this academic year.
At today’s meeting, County Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke said Jefferson County added two new cases over the weekend, bringing the total to 53, after having gone two weeks without a new case. Locke said the leading cause of transmission in Jefferson is visitors who come who come here from out-of-state who found out they were infected when they went home. DEM Director Willie Bence reported on the shipment of masks received and slated for distribution to county residents
(Airdate: July 29, 2020) Host Mary Robson and guest Christie Lassen of Wild Birds Unlimited review how bird-watching has expanded during the pandemic lockdown.
Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro is on KPTZ with a web-based format, in a weekly time slot Thursdays, from 12:10 to 12:40pm. Discovery Road DJ host Tim Quackenbush hosts John’s virtual online meeting as a live broadcast, with updates on the fast-changing local world in and around Port Townsend.
Topics covered include: Engage PT (the City’s new community engagement program will launch in one week); Shoreline Master Program Update; Fort Worden PDA Update; Reckoning (a conversation between BIPOC and Law Enforcement to air on July 30 from 7-9 pm); and COVID-19 regulation updates.
Stay tuned for the weekly chance to learn more about developments for the City of Port Townsend. John will take questions and encourage productive dialogue (and exemplary virtual meeting etiquette) to steer through a range of topics.
Today’s County Public Health Briefings began with a song encouraging masking, performed by Commission Chair Greg Brotherton. Dr. Locke shared updates on the need for and efficacy of face coverings, in recommending ways to “crush the curve” for which modeling recommends 95% masking compliance. He also looked at potential plans for opening schools in our area, with final determinations still not made. DEM Director Willie Bence spoke about masking enforcement.
Today’s Public Health briefing from Dr. Tom Locke addressed various concerns about the masking requirement, as well as interpretation of the impact of the most recent case count uptick both national and in smaller measure, in our county.
In the Emergency Management briefing, Director Willie Bence announced the upcoming potential difficulty in obtaining PPE, based on the recent national upswing in cases, and anticipation of receiving cloth masks to distribute, and a reminder to cover nostrils as well as mouth when wearing face coverings, as is now mandatory.
On alternate Fridays at 12:10pm, Chris Bricker and Co-Host Siobhan Canty, President and CEO of JCF, talk about new developments, new paradigms, and the “new normal” facing Jefferson County through the work of Jefferson Community Foundation and the local nonprofits the organization supports. Discussed on today’s show were an update on the COVID-19 Fund and its need for flexibility, the Good Neighbor Campaign, an update on the Interlocal Collaboration Group, back-to-school issues; and how we can grow our local economy while lessening our dependence on tourists.
