This Week in Sedgwick County

Board of County Commissioners

• Health Director Adrienne Byrne provided a COVID-19 update to the Board of County Commissioners.
• Sedgwick County has a total of 366 COVID-19 cases.
• One-hundred-eighty-four residents have recovered from COVID-19.
• Nine residents from Sedgwick County have died from COVID-19
• Testing has begun for asymptomatic first responders, law enforcement, and healthcare workers.
• Assistant County Manager for Public Safety Rusty Leeds provided a report on emergency operations.
• The County has some supplies of personal protection equipment (PPE) on-hand to serve short-term needs. 
• The County continues to work with vendors to procure protective gowns, cloth masks and face shields, but shipments are sporadic, inhibiting long-term stability.
• The County is coordinating with the Kansas Department of Emergency Management (KDEM) to use their recently-approved Battelle N95 facemask sanitizing service. A local drop-off point for masks will be identified and staffed with local resources, to be determined this week.    
• Deputy County Manager Tim Kaufman gave an update on COVID-19 sample testing.
• SCHD has 3,043 testing kits on-hand at the Health Department.
• There are 17,000 testing swabs on order. 
• The drive-thru testing site served 345 people last week.
• The criteria for testing have been revised. Residents can be tested if they have at least two symptoms of COVID-19. There are no restrictions on age or underlying condition.
• The Board approved $2 million in spending authority from funds received through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. 
• Funding will be used to recoup costs related to COVID-19.
• PPE
• “Hero Pay” stipends
• The hiring of specialized staff.
• A seven-person team of internal stakeholders and community partners is being formed to review CARES Act spending.
• The Board, which acts as the Board of Health, approved sending a recommendation to Governor Laura Kelly and to Sedgwick County Local Health Officer Garold Minns to not extend the stay-at-home order and for Minns to collaborate with the Board of Health to craft local health policy.
• Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman provided the Board with an elections progress report.
• The Election Office is collaborating with partner counties to form a COVID-19 response plan for upcoming elections.
• Social distancing will be observed and PPE will be provided for election poll workers.
• Mail-in voting will be encouraged. Vote by mail applications will be sent to all active voters before the primary election and will include applications for both the primary and general elections.
• New poll workers will be hired to operate voting locations.  

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View the meeting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVC16ZVpnoI&t=8s

https://sedgwick.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=34&clip_id=4291

For questions, contact Public Information Officer Kate Flavin at (316) 660-9370.