Video Transcript

Kelsey DeClue:

Good afternoon. My name is Kelsey DeClue. I'm the Public Relations Coordinator for Columbus Regional Health. Welcome to the second edition of the Community COVID-19 Task Force video update. Today we have the City of Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop. County Commissioner President, Carl Lienhoop. As well as representatives from Columbus Regional Health and the Bartholomew County Health Department here to provide you with the latest update on our community's readiness and response to COVID-19. First of all, let's start with Mayor Jim Lienhoop.

Mayor Jim Lienhoop:

Thank you Kelsey and good afternoon to everybody. Just to again give us a little marker with respect to date and time. This is March 23rd, 2020, a little bit after 4:00 PM. A couple of things we want to comment on today to give you a little bit of an update on what's going on in the community with respect to COVID-19, but really want to emphasize as much as anything else how serious an issue this is. If there were 20 things that I could tell you about COVID-19 Coronavirus and what you need to do, those 20 things would be stay at home. This morning the Surgeon General came out with a few comments and that's one of the points that he emphasized several different times, that we want you to stay at home. Now, staying at home doesn't necessarily mean stay inside. You can go out. You know, you can go out for a walk, you can take the dog for a walk, you can get a little bit of exercise in. We think that's good, but when you're outside, we want you to practice what we call social distancing.

And when we say social distancing, we're talking about several different things, and I'll try to go through a quick list. One is to stay six feet away from the person nearest to you. Cover your cough. Avoid handrails and doorknobs. Leave home only when you need to and limit your trips away from home to essential travel only, which for the most part for most people will include grocery stores, pharmacies and trips to work. Earlier today the Governor issued a stay-at-home order, but I want to make sure everybody's aware of what that order is and part of what it includes. It's effective midnight tomorrow, which should be Tuesday night, Wednesday morning. There's a lot to that order. As I recall, it's about 10 pages long. We have a link to that on the City of Columbus's homepage.

But when it says stay at home, it's important to understand that there are some exceptions. What they try to do is define essential and non-essential businesses. They provide 24 exceptions to the stay-at-home rule and because there's 24 of them, I can't go through the list with you right now. We just don't have time. But one of the things they did provide that I think could be of some help is a toll free hotline, 877-820-0890. So if you're wondering whether the business that you work for or the business that you own is one of these that are excepted from the stay-at-home order, call that number and they'll be able to give you some guidance. You know it's kind of funny and kind of not, but as soon as the Governor stopped talking, our phone started to ring. I mean it was literally 30 seconds between the end of his speech and when we got our first phone call and most of it were people asking us how to interpret the Governor's order.

And we've got a copy of it and we'll do the best we can to try to provide guidance, but I really think you'd be better served if you went to the source. So 877-820-0890. And that order from the governor will be in effect until April 7th. People are asking us where to go for information. The City of Columbus has a homepage that provides various links and some information about that. We're going to be building that out as time goes on, but once you get to our page, there is a link to a Facebook page that I think we're going to talk about a little bit later, that will provide some information related to COVID-19. As I said earlier, we've got links to the Governor's order so you can read his stay-at-home order as well as about three others that he issued.

And then like I said, there are links to other places where you can find information about this. And if you have a question that you can't get answered anywhere else, you're welcome to call us. But please understand we may not have the answer directly. We may have to refer you to someplace else.

Want to emphasize again that the next two weeks are critical. It is important that you understand that this is serious and that you need to stay at home. I want to thank those people who have called with offers for masks and other equipment, it's much appreciated. But I especially want to thank our health care workers, our first responders and all others, particularly our staff people who are helping direct our response and helping get the word out. So from the City of Columbus, I want everybody to stay well. God bless. Carl.

Carl Lienhoop:

There are just a couple of other things that I would like to add to what Jim said here today. In reading through the Governor's directive, again, groups that are exempt are in kind of the county arm of local government. Exempt people will be first responders, law enforcement, emergency dispatchers and management personnel, the judges, court personnel, jurors and grand jurors, corrections personnel, child protection and child welfare. We know that when the public calls for an emergency, they expect an answer. So we want the public to realize that again, CPD as well as the Sheriff's department and our 911 services will be here to defend and protect as they always do. In addition, I think speaking for Jim, Public Works has a modified schedule. Trash needs to be continued to be picked up, and I think both the City and the County's highway departments are going to undergo modified schedules as well.

It will be up to the judges in the Courthouse to determine their schedule of activities over there and I think they are meeting right now to kind of iron out those items. Again as Jim mentioned, the next two weeks are critical. We need to limit physical contact. And as much as anything, we discussed it yesterday as well, this six foot minimum distancing is so critical. If everyone could practice that, I think we could keep this situation a lot more under control. In the last 10 days and that has probably not been followed near as well as it should have, and hence it has hastened the Governor's orders today. Again, government's here to try to provide the essential services, they're very essential, that need to be done. But as of tomorrow, Bartholomew County government will essentially be shut down except for these exempt services. We wish you well and God bless you as well. Thank you.

Kelsey DeClue:

Thank you Mayor Jim and Commissioner Carl. We'll now hear from our County Health Officer, Dr. Brian Niedbalski.

Dr. Brian Niedbalski:

Okay, thank you Kelsey. So the current COVID-19 pandemic is leading into widespread disruption in our communities and definite sacrifices are needing to be made at all levels. Due to the far reaching health concerns of the situation, more extensive measures were implemented locally earlier today to help control the spread of the virus. This included closing barbershops, beauty salons, nail salons, tanning facilities, and tattoo parlors. As the Mayor discussed earlier, Governor Holcomb then subsequently issued a directive for all Hoosiers to stay at home effective 11:59 PM tomorrow except for essential needs. This decision is a necessary step to keep Hoosiers healthy and limit the spread of COVID-19 in our state. This will hopefully help to limit the load placed upon our healthcare system. A large influx of ill patients needing hospital care would cause significant stress on our healthcare team.

I also want to stress this point. For those of you who believe COVID-19 is nothing more than the common cold or some variation of influenza, you are mistaken. Many are becoming sick enough to be hospitalized with this virus. It is even more deadly than influenza. This virus may lead to pneumonia, which can become deadly in our vulnerable population. We're still extremely worried about individuals who may exhibit little to no symptoms but are going out and exposing others who are less fortunate. Unless we as individuals start to take this disease more seriously, we are bound to see an exponential increase in cases locally and in the state. Therefore, I as well as the Governor encourage all of our residents to stay home unless travel is a necessity.

If you were on spring break last week and traveled to a location of high incidents of COVID-19 cases, then you should follow a 14 day quarantine at home. I would also encourage this if you'd been on a cruise. If you're over the age of 60 or have an underlying health condition putting you at increased risk for COVID-19, ask a family member or friend to run your essential errands. Everyone should practice appropriate hygiene at this time with frequent hand washing or use of hand sanitizer. We continue to strongly recommend to you following the social distance guidelines.

I also want to take this time to strongly encourage our residents to stop hoarding practices while shopping at local stores. Please be considerate and think about everyone's needs at this important time. Supply chains are still working around the clock to keep our stores stocked. We appreciate everyone's cooperation at this time. Lastly, I would like to update everyone on our local testing for COVID-19. As of 7:00 AM this morning. we had performed 244 tests in our health system. We had seven positives and five of those have been from Bartholomew County. The other two were inpatient at Columbus Regional. A total of 39 tests were negative and 198 are still currently pending.

Kelsey DeClue:

Thank you, Dr. Niedbalski. And now Columbus Regional Health President and CEO, Jim Bickel will provide an update.

Jim Bickel:

Good afternoon. Thank you for allowing me to give you a little bit of information on what Columbus Regional Health is doing to help with this virus situation... how we're attempting to make sure all of you are cared for in these times when you're asked to not leave your home. That obviously presents a number of challenges for us as we've been working over the last couple of weeks to figure out how to do just that. So here are a few updates on the current services that we have in place which are in direct response to the COVID-19 situation.

Our Triage Resource Call Center continues to be our go to source of information and guidance for our community and those we serve. Our trained staff assist between four to 500 callers daily to get the information and the direction they need. The number is 812-379-4449. This call center remains the best first option for our community members who have concerns or questions, especially those related to symptoms you may be experiencing.

Additionally, Columbus Regional Health has modified some of the ways we deliver care to our patients. These modifications offer options for our community that keeps safety at the forefront as individuals shelter in place. First, we've repurposed and designated two of our outpatient physician locations to see patients with COVID-19 symptoms and keep them separated from other outpatient and physician locations. This really is important in an aid for social distancing while we care and provide our services to our community and our patients. All of this is to minimize exposure risk. I must emphasize though that in order to access these locations, please call the triage resource call center first to determine if you need to be seen at one of those locations.

As Dr. Niedbalski stated, testing and testing supplies remain in very short supply and the criteria for testing as identified by the CDC is still very specific to the most critical and at risk populations. Most people will not require testing, which is why it is so important for the public, especially those with symptoms or concerns of exposure to call first. Locally through CRH, those that do meet criteria for testing are being directed to one of our dedicated facilities that I just mentioned to receive care and further direction as needed to obtain testing.

We also realized that there are needs not related to COVID-19. As such, our physician practice locations launched virtual visits and tele-health options for our patients this past weekend. Each office is reaching out to their patients to determine if they have the capabilities for a tele-health visit. You may have already received a call from your physician's office about this option. At our main hospital facility, we continue to ramp up efforts in preparation for a potential surge of patients requiring hospital care. Currently, our staff are equipped with personal protective equipment, which includes masks, gowns, face covers and gloves, but this is based on current demand.

Thanks to the generosity of many local businesses, organizations, and individuals that reached out to us to help build this needed supply. We know that more will be needed as we prepare for an anticipated increase in individuals who may need to be hospitalized. We are doing our very best to remain prepared and ready as much as any of us can be across this country. We are working diligently to add to our current supply of personal protection equipment, ventilators and other needed equipment to be as prepared as possible. We know we must have the healthcare professionals available for this anticipated surge. All of our efforts and planning are with this goal in mind. Columbus Regional Health is no stranger to broad community crisis and we are thankful for a community that rallies together because we know from experience that is the best way to make it through this unprecedented time.

Finally, I want to leave you with a heartwarming story. We recognize it is not life as usual during these times and the changes taking place impact us all. This is baby Braelyn. Even though her extended family could not visit her in her room in our birthing center last week, the families still graciously found a way to celebrate by visiting via phone and taking pictures from outside the hospital's birthing center. It's little moments of joy like this for the Krueger family that remind us of the profound impact we make in the lives of those we serve. Thank you.

Kelsey DeClue:

Thank you. That concludes our update for today. We will be sending these videos out on a regular basis. Thank you so much.