Governor’s press conference today, WEDNESDAY APRIL 15th, 2020 (link in comments):
🔘 1,569 total cases: 1,047 active cases, 489 recovered
🔘 Waiver to pay direct care healthcare workers in long-term care facilities has been approved. Extra payments start April 5th. They end May 30th unless we still have over 1,000 case. If so, we will extend another 30 days. It will not extend longer than our national public health emergency (link to details in comments).
🔘 Asking CARES Act Steering Committee to approve bonus pay for those not covered by CMS waiver: hospital direct care workers and non-direct care workers in hospital and nursing home settings.
DR NATE SMITH, SEC OF ADH:
📍Out of 1,569 cases:
83 currently hospitalized
26 currently on ventilators
📍 215 healthcare workers total
📍1 new death (33 total): a nursing home
resident
📍98 nursing home residents
88 nursing home staff
7 total nursing home deaths
28 nursing homes with active cases
📍Our testing criteria has been:
Healthcare workers
Long term care facilities
Hospitalized patients
Those with symptoms who are over 65
or have underlying medical conditions
Those with risk factors (recent travel
history/contact with a positive person).
📍Now due to ADH and commercial labs
faster turnaround time, we are relaxing
our criteria to include anyone with
symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
SEC CINDY GILLESPIE, DHS:
📍This afternoon we will release
information so facilities and home
health agencies can send in their
intention to DHS to provide this bonus
to their employees. This bonus is to go
directly to the workers. While the
applicable taxes will be taken out, no
administrative fees are allowed.