Reopening Washington: Look up the phase of your county
Reopening Washington: Look up the phase of your county
WA Gov. Inslee’s new ‘Healthy Washington’ reopening plan
What's open? | Washington State Coronavirus Response
What does Phase 2 mean for social distancing and safe
Here's what's allowed in each phase of Washington's new
What's open in each phase? | Washington State Coronavirus
Where Eastern Washington stands in meeting Phase 2
What's open in each phase? | Washington State Coronavirus
Washington counties in Phase 2 allowed to open to day
COVID-19 Reopening Guidance for - Washington State
what's open in washington state phase 2
what's open in washington state phase 2 - win
Lost in the Sauce: Tracking Trump appointees after office
Welcome to Lost in the Sauce, keeping you caught up on political and legal news that often gets buried in distractions and theater… or a global health crisis. TLDR in comments Housekeeping:
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Impeachment
Impeachment timeline: Feb 2: Trump answer to article/House pre-trial brief; Feb 8: House reply to Trump answeTrump pre-trial brief; Feb 9: House pre-trial rebuttal/Trial resumes UPDATE: Read the House brief here and Trump's response to the article of impeachment here. Donald Trump’s entire impeachment legal team disbanded - with just a week to go until trial - after the former president demanded his lawyers argue that the 2020 election was stolen from him. His team had included experienced South Carolina lawyers Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, who reportedly disagreed with Trump’s approach, preferring instead to focus on the legality of convicting a president after his term ended.
But the former president repeatedly said he wanted to litigate the voter fraud allegations and the 2020 race — and was seeking a more public defense of his actions. Bowers told Trump he couldn’t mount the defense that Trump wanted, the person said.
The new line-up is led by Alabama attorney David Schoen and Pennsylvania’s Bruce L. Castor, Jr. Schoen represented Trump associate Roger Stone in a sentencing appeal last year and met with Epstein in the days before he died.
Monday night, Schoen appeared on Fox News’ Hannity show to publicly defend Trump and bash the Democratic senators. In a stark departure from how Bowers operated, Schoen told Hannity the Democrats should be called as witnesses “because of the awful biases and prejudgement they’ve shown.” Schoen continued, arguing that videos of the insurrection should not be shown at the trial because “this was nothing to do with President Trump” and added that the impeachment is “tearing this country apart.”
Meanwhile, Castor has come under firing for declining to prosecute Bill Cosby on sexual assault charges in 2005 when he served as the D.C. of Montgomery County, PA. Castor then spent years fighting the prosecution of Cosby, arguing that his decision not to prosecute somehow prevented future prosecutions.
Castor explained that he made the decision so that Cosby couldn’t plead the Fifth Amendment in a civil case brought by the woman, Andrea Constand, which was ultimately settled in 2006. Cosby’s team used the supposed agreement in failed attempts to get the later criminal case dismissed and to argue that Cosby’s deposition in that civil case couldn’t be used at trial...The judge ultimately rejected Castor’s claims and found him to not be a credible witness.
The House impeachment managers plan to use video evidence and witness testimony of the Capitol attack during the Senate trial, aiming to make a vote to acquit as uncomfortable and damaging as possible. According to the Washington Post:
House Democrats are assuming they will be permitted to play a compilation of footage from Jan. 6, including newly released cellphone recordings of protesters attending Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally that morning...The compilation will also likely feature footage from inside the Capitol after protesters breached it.
However, the exact details are up in the air as Democrats are divided on whether there should be witness testimony.
in interviews Monday, several Democrats said this time is different because senators themselves are first-hand witnesses and don’t need to hear from others; they also argued that the Senate shouldn’t be bogged down with a trial when there’s urgent work to be done on the coronavirus pandemic, among other matters.
Witness testimony would extend a trial that some already believe has a predetermined outcome... Last week, 44 Republicans joined with Sen. Rand Paul to declare the trial unconstitutional because Trump has already left office. Only Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Mitt Romney (Utah), Ben Sasse (Neb.), and Patrick J. Toomey (Pa.) joined with the 50 Democrats to allow the trial to proceed. Based on these numbers, it seems unlikely that 67 senators will vote to convict Trump after trial. Democrats in the Senate are therefore considering other options to hold Trump accountable after the impeachment trial, including a possible censure resolution. Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are working on a censure resolution that would contain elements of the 14th Amendment to disqualify Trump from holding office in the future. Under this thinking, the main goal of the trial would be creating a record of the events of Jan. 6 and hoping more Republicans would be behind censuring the former president. Further reading: “Meet the impeachment managers who will argue Democrats' case against Trump,” CBS News, “Man who wore horns at riot willing to speak at Trump’s trial,” AP.
Congress tidbits
A group of ten Senate Republicans met with Biden last night to discuss coronavirus relief legislation, their separate proposals over a trillion dollars apart. The GOP contingent was made up of Sens. Collins (ME), Cassidy (LA), Tillis (NC), Rounds (SD), Romney (UT), Capito (WV), Murkowski (AK), Portman (OH), Young (IN), and Moran (KS). Collins told reporters after the meeting, “I wouldn’t say we came together on a package tonight.” Despite the meeting, Democrats began the process of budget reconciliation, which will allow them to pass Biden’s relief package without Republican votes if necessary.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer: “We cannot do the mistake of 2009 where they whittled down the program so that the amount of relief was so small that the recession lasted 4 or 5 years. And then on the ACA, when they spent a year, a year and a half negotiating and then didn't come to any agreement."
The Republican plan is a total of only $618 billion compared to Biden’s $1.9 trillion. For direct relief, the GOP plan offers $1,000 checks that begin phasing out at $40k a year with a $50k cap for single filers. Biden’s, in contrast, contains $1,400 checks that begin phasing out at $75,999 with a $115k cap. Additionally, the Republican proposal does not provide funding for state and local governments and does not contain language to begin the process of increasing the minimum wage to $15/hour. Biden’s nominee for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, is finally getting a confirmation vote today after numerous delays. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) led the Republicans in holding up the nomination last week, demanding Mayorkas have a second hearing before the Judiciary Committee - which has never handled DHS nominations before. Previous DHS heads called the move dangerous and unconscionable:
Janet Napolitano, who ran the department under Democrat Barack Obama, also rejected Cornyn’s argument for a Judiciary hearing. “If a committee having overlapping jurisdiction is the reason given for having another hearing before Senate Judiciary, Ali would spend the next year having hearings,” she said.
Both Obama and Trump had Senate-confirmed Homeland Security chiefs on their first day. The delay is particularly irresponsible when the nation faces numerous serious security threats, including the unprecedented Russia hack and the ongoing threat of right-wing extremism.
Five Republicans joined with Democrats to defeat Cornyn’s filibuster: Capito, Murkowski, Portman, Romney, and Sullivan.
Biden’s Attorney General, one of the most important officials in the U.S., has not even had a hearing scheduled due to Republican obstruction and delays in the Senate. Sen. Dick Durbin is set to chair the Judiciary Committee as soon as the power-sharing agreement between Schumer and McConnell is finalized. Until then, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is still committee chair. Durbin requested.pdf) a hearing for Garland on Feb. 8, before the impeachment trial, but Graham refused, saying there’s not enough time. House Republicans appointed QAnon conspiracist Marjorie Taylor Greene to two powerful committees, sparking a conflict with House Democrats. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer delivered Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy an ultimatum: remove Greene from the House Education and Labor Committee and the Budget Committee or the House will vote on it. The Rules Committee is set to meet on Wednesday to begin that process.
Cleaning out loyalists
The Biden administration has blocked the installation of several Trump loyalists to Defense Department advisory boards. One of the committees affected is responsible for renaming military bases that honor Confederate leaders. In the final days of the Trump administration, then-acting Secretary Chris Miller appointed three former White House aides to the board. Loyalists like Trump’s 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and deputy campaign manager David Bossie, who were appointed to the Defense Business Board, are also prevented from serving while under review. The new acting Chief of USAGM, parent agency of Voice of America, approved visa applications for foreign journalists - reversing the policies of former CEO Michael Pack. Foreign nationals struggled to get their visa applications approved under Pack due to his unfounded belief that the process was susceptible to outside intelligence operations: “It’s a great place to put a foreign spy,” he said.
“VOA uses this type of visa to recruit journalists with in-depth knowledge of foreign media markets and highly specialized language skills that cannot be found in the U.S.,” a spokesperson for the network said.
Career Education Dept. staffers are recommending that an accreditation agency backed by former Secretary Betsy DeVos be stripped of federal recognition. The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) was dropped by the Obama administration in 2016 following the collapse of Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute, which were backed by ACICS. DeVos reinstated the council over department objections in 2018.
The Obama administration pointed to ACICS’s “pervasive compliance problems,” while advocates decried the agency’s lax oversight of several failed and deeply flawed for-profits, including Corinthian Colleges and FastTrain College. Ted Mitchell, then under secretary of education, cited “such wide and deep failure that they simply cannot be entrusted with making the determinations we, you and the public count on.” ...ACICS continued to come under scrutiny after it was accused last year of accrediting Reagan National University in South Dakota, which, according to a USA Today report, has no faculty, staff or classrooms.
Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) sent a letter to President Biden last week calling for the firing of the U.S. Postal Services board of governors and Postmaster Louis DeJoy. The board oversees the Postal Service and appoints the postmaster general. A new board could replace DeJoy. Currently, the board is chaired by Robert Duncan, a former chair of the Republican National Committee and a board member of the GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund
“After several years of unprecedented sabotage, the United States Postal Service is teetering on the brink of collapse. Through the devastating arson of the Trump regime, the USPS Board of Governors sat silent. Their dereliction cannot now be forgotten. Therefore, I urge you to fire the entire Board of Governors and nominate a new slate of leaders to begin the hard work of rebuilding our Postal Service for the next century,” Pascrell wrote.
Moving forward
President Biden signed an executive order to phase out the federal government’s use of private prisons. The order directs the Attorney General not to renew DOJ contracts with privately operated detention facilities, stating that “we must reduce profit-based incentives to incarcerate” and “ensure that time in prison prepares individuals for the next chapter of their lives.”
Crucially, the order does not apply to immigration detention facilities, which are contracted by the Dept. of Homeland Security. More than 80% of detained immigrants are held in private, for-profit prisons. David Fathi, director of the ACLU's National Prison Project told NPR Biden’s order is “a first step” and “only directly affects the approximately 10% of all US prisoners who are held in federal custody.”
Biden has begun setting up a commission to study reforms to the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary. There are expected to be between nine and 15 members total. So far, three have been names: Co-chair Bob Bauer, Biden’s campaign lawyer; Co-chair Christina Rodríguez, Yale Law School professor and former Obama DOJ official; Caroline Fredrickson, former president of the American Constitution Society; and Jack Goldsmith, Harvard Law School professor and former Bush DOJ official.
Fredrickson has made statements interpreted as supportive of expanding the size of the Supreme Court while Bauer has come out in favor of term limits for federal judges. Goldsmith, on the other hand, may not support changes to the courts as he advocated for Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.
The Biden administration is also looking to reshape the federal judiciary by nominating more civil rights lawyers and public defenders to the bench. Numerous legal experts and commentators have called this the right move, citing the stunning lack of diversity in the federal courts. For instance, only one percent of serving circuit court judges were once public defenders. The vast majority of federal judges served as prosecutors and, thus, may “disproportionately reflect the viewpoints of the most powerful institutions and individuals in our country.” The State Department has paused two major arms deals with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates made in the final days of the Trump administration. A bipartisan group of senators conducted a failed attempt to block the $23 billion sale of F-35 fighter jets, Reaper drones, and other military equipment to the UAE in December. Last week, the Democratic chairs of multiple House Committees urged Biden to block the sale of $500 million of bombs to the Saudis as well, citing humanitarian concerns in both countries.
The new administration is reviewing the sales but has not made any determination about whether they will actually go through, the State Department said. It called the pause “a routine administrative action” that most incoming administrations take with large-scale arms sales.
The Department of Agriculture is expanding pandemic food assistance programs to include infants and young children following Biden’s executive order to assist struggling families during the pandemic. The new guidance both increases funding and the scope of who is eligible while also allowing states to be more flexible. Further reading: “Biden confronts a budget office broken by Trump: Before Biden can tackle the pandemic, he must first rebuild the federal agency that is the nerve center of the White House,” Politico. “Biden reverses Trump last-minute attempt to freeze $27.4 billion in programs,” The Hill.
Tracking former Trump officials
Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty (TN) has hired 13 former Trump administration officials, including ex-deputy White House press secretary John Deere.
“Senator Hagerty ran on and told the people of Tennessee to send him to Washington to build on the successes of President Trump, and there is no better way to do that than by hiring the best from the outgoing administration," Deere said in a statement
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is joining a conservative think tank called the Hudson Institute. Former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao (wife of Mitch McConnell) is also joining the Hudson Institute as a distinguished fellow, focusing on labor and transportation policy. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows reportedly had such a tough time finding a job after the administration that he considered a position at the Trump Organization. It seems he finally found an opening as a senior partner at the Conservative Partnership Institute, launched in 2017 by Former South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint (R) to promote conservatives in Congress. Three of Trump’s top DHS officials - Chad Wolf, Ken Cuccinelli, and Mark Morgan - joined an influential conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, as fellows. Former Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought is taking a slightly different path, starting his own think tank dedicated to advancing Trump’s agenda. He is bringing along his former chief of staff at the OMB. Trump’s Department of Energy sent “a small number” of loyalists to international positions for temporary two-to-three-year terms.
Efforts to send loyalists abroad raised eyebrows among career staff, the sources said, because it appears similar to "burrowing" — the practice of political appointees trying to stick around after a power transfer. But this issue is harder to track because the temporary deployments do not have to be reported to the Office of Personnel Management.
Some Trump alumni are pursuing their own political careers - former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has already launched a bid for Arkansas governor and former Navy secretary Kenneth Braithwaite may run for Sen. Toomey’s open seat in 2022.
Full mock availablehere. I used Overthecap for comp picks. Trades WAS gives 1.19, 2.51, 4.124, 22 1st, 22 3rd, 23 1st, DT Ioannidis, LB Holcolmb to HOU for QB Watson - I know there has been speculation of Watson avoiding WAS due to Snyder, but I think Rivera can win him over. WAS might not be just a QB away, but they should be more than willing to be aggressive in their QB search. BUF gives 2.61, Conditional 22 4th to HOU for DE Watt - Houston commits to a full rebuild by shipping off Watt, who garners a Day 2 pick. Watt can help fuel a Buffalo defense that was very underwhelming last year. CHI gives 2.52, 3.83, 22 3rd, QB Foles to PHI for QB Wentz - Ultimately, I don't think Howie is getting a 1st for Wentz. But a 2nd and a pair of 3rds is not a bad haul for a "washed up" QB with a lot of money on the books. Chicago preserves their 1st while taking another shot at a franchise QB. IND gives 2.54 to NYJ for QB Darnold, 5.147 - With Watson and Wentz gone, I didn't like any of the options for Indy. Ultimately, I think they'll bring in a veteran QB like Dalton or Newton to battle with Darnold. But for now, we'll give them Darnold, who still flashes some great tools. CLE gives TE Njoku, 5.170 to NE for CB Gilmore - In a rare player swap, the Pats pick up an offensive weapon and the Browns find a CB to play opposite Ward. Day 1-2 explanations
JAX - QB Trevor Lawrence, Clemson - Won't discuss this too much. Lawrence is clearly the pick.
NYJ - QB Justin Fields, Ohio St - While I could see Wilson being the pick, I still have Fields higher on my board.
TRADE - CAR gives 1.08, 2.39, 5.152, 22 1st, 22 3rd to MIA for 1.03 - QB Zach Wilson, BYU - I used the 2018 IND-NYJ trade as a general outline for this deal. Unable to give up the picks necessary to secure Watson, Carolina takes the talented Wilson, who has an insanely accurate arm. It might be a lot to give up, but there's a real gap between Wilson and Lance.
ATL - OT Penei Sewell, Oregon - I wasn't in love with any real options for ATL here. It's too early for Paye or Rousseau, and I'm not convinced Lance is the guy for Arthur Smith. So I'll do the "safe" thing and take Sewell. He'll shift around the OL a bit, but it'll allow Arthur Smith to continue some of the hogmolly work he was doing in Tennessee.
CIN - OT Rashawn Slater, Northwestern - Even if Sewell is gone, OT is the clear need for this team.
PHI - WR Ja'Marr Chase, LSU - Chase should open up this offense and keep the likes of Greg Ward and Travis Fulgham to a limited snap count.
DET - LB Micah Parsons, Penn St - While I debated going Devonta, I think Parsons makes sense for what Dan Campbell wants to do. He's a rough, tough player that'll bite your kneecaps off.
MIA - WR Devonta Smith, Alabama - The first Bama player off the board, this was a pretty easy pick for a team without a true WR1.
DEN - CB Caleb Farley, VT - I'm not sure if Farley or Surtain will be the pick, but I'll take Farley due to the upside.
DAL - CB Patrick Surtain, Alabama - The 2019 Bama CB group is reunited in Dallas. Surtain should be a day 1 starter for a terrible defense.
NYG - EDGE Kwity Paye, Michigan - I really like the progress Paye showed in 2020. Judge should feel confident that he can step up in a big way as a rookie.
SF - QB Trey Lance, NDSU - In this mock, the 9ers don't get their hands on a veteran QB. Instead, they keep Jimmy G as a mentor for the young Trey Lance, who takes a graceful fall out of the top 10. Lance should learn plenty from a year on the bench.
LAC - OT Christian Darrisaw, VT - Darrisaw is actually one of my favorite prospects in this class. I think he's right up there with Slater. The Bolts get a steal.
TRADE - JAX gives 1.25, 3.65 to MIN for 1.14 - TE Kyle Pitts, Florida - The Jags jump ahead of the Pats for the draft's star TE. Pitts should be an early favorite for non-Lawrence rookie of the year and a Day 1 starter for Jacksonville.
NE - WR Jaylen Waddle, Alabama - The Patriots should have one goal this offseason: fix their passing game. Waddle is a dynamic threat that should help with that.
ARI - CB Jaycee Horn, South Carolina - Horn is alone in the 2nd tier of my CB rankings. He should be an early starter for a lackluster Cardinals secondary.
LV - LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Notre Dame - JOK is a solid value here for a Raider defense that didn't have any star power in 2020.
MIA - EDGE Gregory Rousseau, Miami - I really like Rousseau's value here. He's a bit raw, but he should develop beautifully under Flores.
HOU - QB Mac Jones, Alabama - I think Mac will only continue to rise up boards. I have Houston taking him here as their QB of the future.
CHI - OL Alijah Vera-Tucker, USC - Whether he plays OT or OG, AVT is a beast. He should add some toughness to a poor Bears blocking group.
IND - OT Sam Cosmi, Texas - I'm not in love with any OTs after Darrisaw and Slater, but Cosmi is a decent value. He's a bit raw, which is a concern. However, he'll give the Colts a great shot at replacing Castanzo.
TEN - EDGE Joe Tryon, Washington - I'm in love with Tryon after watching his tape. He's a tough, physical, versatile edge rusher that can set the tone of the game.
NYJ - EDGE Quincy Roche, Miami - Roche might be the most polished edge player in this class. The Jets get a day 1 contributor here.
PIT - RB Najee Harris, Alabama - Everything about Harris just screams Pittsburgh to me. He's a tough nosed, patient runner that combines the best parts of Derrick Henry and Le'Veon Bell. I know they need OL, but I think there's a huge drop at RB after Harris.
MIN - DT Marvin Wilson, FSU - I know that Wilson had a down year, but his 2019 tape screams top 10 pick. I think the Vikings take a shot on him to fill their 3T spot.
CLE - EDGE Joseph Ossai, Texas - Ossai is a fun powerful prospect that should fill the role of the departed Olivier Vernon.
BAL - WR Rashod Bateman, Minnesota - Bateman is a tall chain mover that gives Baltimore an alpha WR. It'll let Hollywood open up the field and allow Lamar to play a more relaxed game.
NO - CB Tyson Campbell, Georgia - While I am tempted to reach for Trask here, I think Loomis will want to transition the team to a defense first organization focused on running the offense through AK and MT.
GB - DT Christian Barmore, Alabama - With Campebll off the board, I'm not sure there's a CB that fits the Packers' needs. Barmore is a powerful upside prospect that should eventually start at 3T for the Packers.
BUF - OG Wyatt Davis, Ohio St - The Bills want to address their running game, and Davis is a great way to do that. He's a hard nosed tough lineman that is scheme versatile.
KC - C Creed Humphrey, Oklahoma - Come on. We all saw what just happened to Mahomes. Chiefs go OL.
TB - EDGE Azeez Ojulari, Georgia - With Barrett entering free agency and JPP getting up in age, Ojulari is a prime pick for a Bucs team that hopes to keep riding their defense to another championship.
JAX - DT Daviyon Nixon, Iowa - Jags have needs all over. Nixon is BPA for me right now.
NYJ - OT Liam Eichenberg, Notre Dame - Similar to JAX, the Jets have plenty of needs. But I think protecting Fields is the priority.
ATL - RB Javonte Williams, UNC - Smith continues to build his team in the mold of the 2019-20 TEN teams with this pick. Williams is a rough runner that plows through traffic.
MIA - C Landon Dickerson, Alabama - The Dolphins OL isn't bad by any means, but Dickerson will be a great asset.
PHI - CB Greg Newsome, Northwestern - Eagles have a bunch of needs on defense. They haven't shown the wanting for a LB, so I'm taking the next best DB.
CIN - DT Levi Onwuzurike, Washington - Onwuzurike was a lot of fun to watch. He's a powerful 3T that consistently gets a bull rush. He'll look to replace Geno Atkins as the next phase of the Bengals defense.
MIA - RB Travis Etienne, Clemson - The Phins stop Etienne's fall at 39. He's a dynamic back that can take any carry to the house.
DEN - OT Alex Leatherwood, Alabama - Broncos take Leatherwood, who's up there with Eich and Cosmi in the 3rd tier of OTs. He'll take over at RT for this team.
DET - WR Rondale Moore, Purdue - The Lions' patience pays off as they see Rondale fall to them. Moore is a super dynamic big play threat. He's struggled to stay healthy, but he can be a huge asset when on the field.
NYG - WR Tylan Wallace, Oklahoma St - The Giants select one of my favorite WRs in the class. Wallace doesn't look super impressive, but he plays taller than he stands and he runs faster than he looks.
SF - OG Trey Smith, Tenn - After grabbing the QB of the future, the 9ers address their iOL, which was terrible in 2020. Smith is a tough player that has a great upside.
DAL - EDGE Jaelan Phillips, Miami - Dallas defense needs help everywhere. I'm taking BPA, which is Phillips.
JAX - OT Jalen Mayfield, Michigan - I'm not super high on Mayfield myself, but I don't actually see him falling that far. Look for a team like the Jags to take a chance on him to be their LT.
NE - QB Kyle Trask, Florida - I doubt Pats fans are jumping with joy over this pick, but I think it makes sense if Bill isn't able to bring in a big name veteran. I think the Pats bring in a Dalton/Tyrod/Fitzpatrick type player to battle with Trask.
LAC - OT James Hudson, Cincinnati - I think Hudson might move to OG, but he's a solid prospect. High upside, good athleticism, and good functional strength. Chargers give Herbert a lot of help early in this draft.
LV - S Trevon Moehrig, TCU - Raiders keep adding to their defense by getting what might be the best coverage safety in the class.
ARI - WR Kadarius Toney, Florida - While Kirk has been solid, the Cards could use a real WR2 next to Nuk. I think Toney fits the mold.
MIA - S Jevon Holland, Oregon - Holland is actually my top safety. He's a physical versatile player that didn't have a true position in college. I expect Flores to convert him into a stellar safety.
WAS - WR Terrace Marshall, LSU - WAS adds a real WR2 to play next to Terry. No more Cam Sims.
PHI - LB Zaven Collins, Tulsa - I think Collins is really getting underrated. He'll be a great player in the pros, and Philly should feel comfortable taking him here, LB or not.
TEN - TE Pat Freiermuth, Penn St - With Jonnu and Firkser both entering FA, TE makes sense for the Titans. Pat F should help the run game just as much as he helps the passing game.
NYJ - WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, USC - With ARSB next to Mims, Fields should have a solid young WR duo to chuck it up to.
PIT - OT Dillon Radunz, NDSU - Steelers need to add youth to their OL. Radunz is my favorite OL on the board.
SEA - EDGE Jayson Oweh, Penn St - Oweh has been rumored to run better than a 4.5 at 250, which would be crazy. He's a super high upside prospect that can help with getting pressure on the QB.
LAR - EDGE Carlos Basham, Wake Forest - I'm not too high on Basham, but he should be a fine value for the Rams here. Playing next to Donald should make the transition to the pros a lot easier.
BAL - OG Deonte Brown, Alabama - After adding a big bodied WR in the 1st, the Ravens shore up a depleted OL with a mauler from Bama.
CLE - DT Jaylen Twynam, Pitt - With Vernon leaving an opening at DE, that leaves DT as the next position to address. The Browns take Twynam, one of the more under the radar 3T prospects in this class.
NO - LB Nick Bolton, Mizzou - Bolton is a dynamic player. He plays fast and hard. He should add some toughness to this defense.
HOU - CB Eric Stokes, Georgia - While Stokes doesn't have the upside of his UGA teammate, he should be a solid all around player in the pros. He'll take over as a crucial player on a young defense.
GB - CB Aaron Robinson, UCF - While Robinson won't run a 4.4, he's a well rounded tough DB that should help a porous secondary.
KC - EDGE Hamilcar Rashed, Oregon St - Chiefs had so much trouble stopping the run on Sunday. Rashed should help.
TB - DT Marlon Tuipulotu, USC - Suh's impending free agent status makes Tuipulotu a solid pick here.
MIN - S Ar'Darius Washington, TCU - Washington is a bit small for the position, but playing next to Harrison Smith should allow him to play comfortably.
NYJ - CB Shaun Wade, Ohio St - I still really like Wade as a slot player. He's super tough. He's a BPA pick for the Jets.
HOU - EDGE Victor Dimukeje, Duke - Dimukeje is a solid prospect that should help put pressure on opposing QBs.
ATL - CB Asante Samuel, FSU - After going OL-RB, the Falcons finally grab defense. Samuel should help a bad defense.
(nice)CIN - WR D'Wayne Eskridge, W Mich - I love Eskridge. I think he can go in the top 50. He should quickly become one of Burrow's favorite targets in Cincy.
PHI - S Paris Ford, Pitt - Eagles keep adding to their defense with a downhill player in Ford.
DEN - S Hamsah Nasirildeen, FSU - Nas is a high upside athlete with a great profile. He'll push for snaps next to Simmons.
DET - DT Tommy Tagiai, Ohio St - Lions keep adding to their defense, rebuilding the front 7 quickly.
CAR - LB Dylan Moses, Alabama - While Moses's stock has taken a big drop this year, the Panthers need help at LB. Moses is a solid prospect here.
WAS - TE Brevin Jordan, Miami - WFT keeps adding weapons for Watson with Jordan, who is a great value here considering where Pitts went in the 1st.
DAL - OT Walker Little, Stanford - Little seems like a very Jery Jones pick to me. He adds depth to a shallow OL.
NYG - CB Deommodore Lenoir, Oregon - Lenoir is one of the prospects I think is going under the radar. He's a solid value for a Giants team with a need at CB.
LAC - Patrick Jones, Pitt - Chargers add a rotational pass rusher to replace Ingram.
MIN - OG Ben Cleveland, Georgia - Vikings add a potential starting OG to their terrible iOL.
ARI - RB Kenneth Gainwell, Memphis - Gainwell in the Kingsbury system is something I really want to see. He's an exciting runner with great hands.
LV - DT Jay Tufele, USC - A lot higher on some boards, Tufele takes a bit of a fall to the Raiders, where he'll push for snaps as the 3T.
MIA - LB Jabril Cox, LSU - A transfer out of NDSU, Cox goes here to a Miami team that has gotten consistently good play out of underrated LBs.
WAS - S Richard LeCounte, Georgia - LeCounte is a smart patient free safety that should slot in next to Kam Curl for this Rivera defense.
PHI - EDGE Dayo Odeyingbo, Vandy - Eagles keep adding to their defense. They need to get a deep stable of pass rushers if they're ever going to see the Superbowl again.
IND - CB Paulson Adebo, Stanford - Adebo is a raw but super physical prospect. I trust this Indy staff to get the most out of him.
TEN - WR Nico Collins, Michigan - I'm not sure where Collins will go after playing with some miserable QBs, but he has a decent shot at replacing Corey Davis as the WR2 in Nashville.
NYJ - RB Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma St - While Hubbard isn't garnering as much hype this time as he was last year, he's still a solid runner with good vision. He's a good value for the Jets, who I don't expect to enter the year with just Gore and Perine.
PIT - TE Hunter Long, BC - PIT is taking Long to add to their TE depth.
DET - EDGE Jordan Smith, UAB - Lions really focused on front 7 in this draft.
CLE - LB Cameron McGrone, Michigan - Browns finally take a LB, and it's a pretty good value. McGrone has shown good traits in coverage and should see a lot of snaps as a rookie.
MIN - WR Tutu Atwell, Louisville - Atwell is a super interesting prospect. He should add a unique element to this Vikes' offense.
CLE - CB TJ Carter, Memphis - Browns add some depth to their DB room, giving them flexibility on the expiring deals of Gilmore and Greedy.
GB - WR Sage Surratt, Wake Forest - Surratt is the premier big bodied WR of the draft. There are some questions on his separation skills, but he fits the mold of Packers WRs.
BUF - CB Elijah Molden, Washington - Bills add depth across to Tre White.
KC - WR Dyami Brown, UNC - Chiefs are projected to lose a lot of WR talent in FA. Brown should provide something different from Tyreek and Mecole.
TB - RB Jaret Patterson, Buffalo - Patterson should fill the role that Fournette will be leaving. He's a tough between the tackles runner.
DAL - S Andre Cisco, Syracuse - Cisco is a high upside player that adds to a bad Dallas defense.
LAC - CB Ifeatu Melifonwu, Syracuse - Chargers add depth at a depleted position.
SF - CB Israel Mukuamu, South Carolina - 9ers are facing a mass exodus at CB. They need replacements.
NE - DT Tyler Shelvin, LSU - Shelvin is the best pure NT of the class. Pats need a true NT.
TEN - DT Alim McNeill, NC State - Titans look to improve one of the worst defenses in the league.
LAR - OT Jackson Carman, Clemson - I think Carman might need to kick in to OG, but the Rams could use depth across the OL.
LAR - LB Pete Werner, Ohio St - Another combination of BPA and need for the Rams.
BAL - EDGE Ronnie Perkins, Oklahoma - With Yann and Judon both entering FA, the Ravens look for a cheap productive player.
NO - QB Kellen Mond, Texas A&M - While the Saints didn't want to reach on Trask in the 1st, Mond might make sense at this price if things don't work out with Jameis.
NO - WR Elijah Moore, Ole Miss - Moore is a fun playmaker that should open things up for the likes of MT and Adam Trautman.
Whatcom businesses get green light to move to Phase 2
From the Bellingham Herald:
Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday, Feb. 11 — one day earlier than expected — announced in an online briefing that Whatcom County will be moving to Phase 2 of the state’s “Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery Plan” on Monday, Feb. 15, along with North Region cohorts Island, San Juan and Skagit counties. What that means is, beginning Monday, Whatcom County restaurants and indoor fitness centers will be allowed to open indoors at 25% capacity. In addition, sports competitions could resume with limited spectators, and wedding and funeral ceremonies can increase capacities.
Hopefully this allows some local businesses to reopen indoor seating. Or, if they're doing indoor-outdoor, to close some windows and preserve heat. I'm assuming that the indoor capacity is in addition to the outdoor capacity? Anyone have early word on businesses reopening Monday that we can go support? If you were wondering, like I was, there is not currently a Phase 3 on the Roadmap.
New deaths by county: 93 F Anderson, 90 F Bath, 92 M Bath, 91 F Boyd, 76 F Boyle, 77 F Boyle, 79 M Boyle, 90 F Casey, 72 M Daviess, 80 M Daviess, 87 M Daviess, 91 M Daviess, 91 M Edmonson, 57 M Fayette, 80 M Fayette, 101 F Fleming, 73 M Fleming, 79 M Graves, 81 F Hardin, 83 F Hardin, 83 F Hardin, 53 M Hardin, 69 M Hardin, 73 M Hardin, 89 M Hardin, 61 F Harlan, 77 F Harlan, 77 M Hart, 83 F Henderson, 88 M Henry, 83 M Jackson, 75 F Jefferson, 81 F Jefferson, 85 F Jefferson, 62 M Jefferson, 74 M Jefferson, 77 M Jefferson, 86 M Jefferson, 88 M Jefferson, 90 M Jefferson, 94 M Jefferson, 83 F Knox, 92 F Lincoln, 77 F McCracken, 80 F McCracken, 67 M McCracken, 80 F Madison, 72 M Marshall, 80 F Mercer, 95 F Mercer, 83 F Oldham, 71 M Oldham, 87 M Oldham, 71 F Perry, 59 M Pike, 64 M Pulaski, 80 F Rowan, 84 F Shelby, 74 M Shelby, 77 M Taylor, 72 F Todd, 74 F Warren, 69 F Washington, 83 F Washington, 94 F Washington, 41 M Washington, 63 M Wayne, 89 F Webster, 71 M Webster
2.Today I signed a proclamation declaring January 28, 2021 as “Hunger Free Day” in Kentucky. Hunger is something that has been around for far far too long, but in a modern world, and in a state where we grow so much food, it's something that we ought to be able to finally solve. Too many of our Kentucky kids and Kentucky families don't know where their next meal is coming from. <...> I was also excited to announce a donation from the Beshear-Coleman Inaugural Fund of about $16,000 to Feeding Kentucky.
Vaccine:So today, we're announcing four new regional vaccination sites, and the first site as one of these four, operated by Kroger. The three sites that you will see in just a little bit when we unveil our http://vaccine.ky.gov website are two in Western Kentucky we'll show you those in a minute, Lourdes and Baptists in Paducah, as well as Ephraim McDowell .
As of today, all vaccination sites are asked to prioritize the 70 and older population, until further notice. Other persons from phase 1A and 1B remain eligible for vaccination. As vaccine quantities and available appointment times allow, persons in 1C may also be scheduled to ensure each site administers 90% or more of all their vaccine doses received in seven days.
Today we're also unveiling a new state website, http://vaccine.ky.gov, and a hotline, 855-598-2246 also 855-326-4654 (TTY), that helps Kentuckians determine if they're eligible to receive a vaccine, and then it helps them find the vaccine in their region. The “Find a Vaccine” website and hotline will both be live after this news conference.
Pheli Roberts/Kroger: <...> So, super excited about what we're able to offer, and just want to remind and engage all of our eligible phase 1A and 1B Kentuckians to visit our http://kroger.com/COVIDVaccine website to schedule, or call 1-866-211-5320.
There is a new program available that was put into place under the Continuing Assistance Act that was signed into law at the end of last year. It's called the Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation Program. If you have regular W2 wages but also work some on the side and on a contract basis, then you may be eligible for this program.
I'm still getting a lot of questions about 1099. We know a little over 600,000 of those were mailed out over the last few weeks and there is also a new FAQ on the website to help you with questions about that. [...] Now, if you believe that you got a 1099 and that you did not actually draw benefits, either because your business, the place where you work, filed a mass claim and you never actually claimed benefits, or because of some kind of identity theft or fraud, you can email we discussed on Monday, the [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) email.
Are there any specific plans or maybe public transit services being recruited in making sure that Kentuckians who don't have access to a car, or aren't able to drive to the regional sites, that they do still have the opportunity to get vaccinated? -- Yes, this is when we talk about thinking big, and thinking small, there's this regional program that can get a lot of people through, and and I hope that family members will reach out and solve some of those transportation issues, but then there's our local health department, some of our hospitals that are embedded in each community, understand where folks are, that struggle with transportation needs, understanding that the equity needs in getting this vaccine out. They're going to play an absolutely essential role in getting that done.
Dr Stack, in his comments, mentioned about the possibility of once vaccinated you can still spread the disease. So after your initial shot and a booster should that person anticipate wearing a mask, say, into the fall? -- Right now we believe that vaccines protect you from getting sick and protect you from getting very sick with that 95% effectiveness. There isn't data at the moment on the transmissibility. And so we have to believe that you can transmit it, until we have the data showing that you don't.
Good afternoon everybody. Good afternoon Virginia. This is that time we come together, and the last time we'll come together this week, to remember that we will get through this, and we will get through this together. There is a big, bright light that will be the end of this pandemic. We’ve got to be careful, protect one another as we move towards it. But today, you're going to hear a lot more about our plan to make sure that we answer that critical anxiety of individuals of “when it's my time, where do I go to get my vaccine?”, and that we are also putting the infrastructure in place to where when we have, we pray for this, significantly more vaccine supply that comes that we can get it out pretty quickly.
Let's start with some good news. Today, I'm happy to announce a new project from a homegrown Kentucky company that’s creating 200 new jobs in the Bowling Green area and helping to create a better Kentucky for our residents. Material Handling Systems got its start right here in the Commonwealth, more than 20 years ago. Since its founding in 1999, the Mount Washington-based business has grown from a small one-room operation to a global company that employs more than 2,000 people, including more than 500 Kentuckians, and it helps distribute products all over the world. The $7.6M investment to locate in a 181,000 square foot facility in Warren County's Kentucky TransPark will support the global headquarters in Mount Washington with steel structures for conveyor, and sortation systems. This project is just the latest reminder that Kentucky is home to successful businesses that got their start right here in the Commonwealth. We talk a lot about businesses that we attract to Kentucky, but most of our jobs are created by Kentucky businesses that grow and thrive. MHS is among the nearly 60 material handling equipment manufacturers located in Kentucky that employ over 3,200 of our Kentucky families. A key part of this project is MHS is important to our distribution and logistics industry, which consists of more than 580 facilities, and nearly 78,000 employees. MHS supports major logistics companies in our state like UPS and FedEx Ground, that's just another reason this is a great project for Kentucky as we continue to build ourselves into the logistics capital, certainly, of this country. Thank you to the leadership and Material Handling Systems for selecting Kentucky for this next great expansion, and to everyone at the state and local level that helped make it happen, thank you. Our Kentucky families thank you. This new MHS location is a great addition to the Bowling Green business community, and to Kentucky, and I look forward to helping you make that next great expansion. With every one of our great Kentucky companies that adds jobs and expands, the first thing we tell them is: feel free to do more. And that's what we'll try to continue to foster.
Second, today I signed a proclamation declaring January 28, 2021 as “Hunger Free Day” in Kentucky. Hunger is something that has been around for far far too long, but in a modern world, and in a state where we grow so much food, it's something that we ought to be able to finally solve. Too many of our Kentucky kids and Kentucky families don't know where their next meal is coming from. I hope, as we come out of COVID, where we have taken care of each other in ways that we've never seen in our lifetimes, that this can be one of those other crises that has been around that we can truly start to address. I was also excited to announce a donation from the Beshear-Coleman Inaugural Fund of about $16,000 to Feeding Kentucky. I couldn't think of a better use of dollars from that time of celebration to help people through this time of need. The work of those and Feeding Kentucky has been nothing short of heroic during COVID, and we have been honored to have our National Guards- men and women working in their facilities to ensure they have the necessary personnel to give food to those that are in need. Their efforts deserve our full support. Thank you to Feeding Kentucky, to all of our food pantries, and to everybody out there who helped someone find that next meal.
Alright, today's COVID report. Good news, and tough news, and it seems like it's the trend we're seeing every day. Let's start with the good news.
Positive cases today: 2,947 - Doesn't sound like good news, and it's far too high, but this is the lowest Thursday we've had in four weeks.
Total tests conducted: 3,985,343 (PCR: 3,560,903, Serology: 107,732)
Positivity Rate: 9.04% - Our current positivity rate is 9.04% the fourth straight day under 10% and I believe we've had almost a week if not more of that number going down and down. Folks, our trends are going in the right way, and that's a good thing and it's because of your work, wearing a mask, social distancing, cutting down on your contacts, thank you for that.
Our numbers of Kentuckians hospitalized currently in the ICU, and currently on a ventilator are all down compared to yesterday.
Total hospitalized: 16,404
Currently hospitalized: 1,561
Total in ICU: 3,520
Currently in ICU: 370
On a ventilator: 205
Total recovered: 42,684
New deaths today: 69 - But the result of so many cases, and of our exponential growth, and times when we were having 5,000 cases in a day, is we're seeing significant loss that that creates. Today is our highest day of announced deaths with 69 new deaths we're announcing in Kentucky to bring our total lost to 3,611.
Total Deaths: 3,611
New deaths by county: 93 F Anderson, 90 F Bath, 92 M Bath, 91 F Boyd, 76 F Boyle, 77 F Boyle, 79 M Boyle, 90 F Casey, 72 M Daviess, 80 M Daviess, 87 M Daviess, 91 M Daviess, 91 M Edmonson, 57 M Fayette, 80 M Fayette, 101 F Fleming, 73 M Fleming, 79 M Graves, 81 F Hardin, 83 F Hardin, 83 F Hardin, 53 M Hardin, 69 M Hardin, 73 M Hardin, 89 M Hardin, 61 F Harlan, 77 F Harlan, 77 M Hart, 83 F Henderson, 88 M Henry, 83 M Jackson, 75 F Jefferson, 81 F Jefferson, 85 F Jefferson, 62 M Jefferson, 74 M Jefferson, 77 M Jefferson, 86 M Jefferson, 88 M Jefferson, 90 M Jefferson, 94 M Jefferson, 83 F Knox, 92 F Lincoln, 77 F McCracken, 80 F McCracken, 67 M McCracken, 80 F Madison, 72 M Marshall, 80 F Mercer, 95 F Mercer, 83 F Oldham, 71 M Oldham, 87 M Oldham, 71 F Perry, 59 M Pike, 64 M Pulaski, 80 F Rowan, 84 F Shelby, 74 M Shelby, 77 M Taylor, 72 F Todd, 74 F Warren, 69 F Washington, 83 F Washington, 94 F Washington, 41 M Washington, 63 M Wayne, 89 F Webster, 71 M Webster
Now, not all of these deaths are from the last couple weeks. We have the committee that meets to ensure that each individual that we list as a loss that COVID was a real contributing factor. And some of that made that list larger, but these are all people we've lost, at least in part because of COVID. So let's remember how dangerous it is, even if our cases are headed, our trends are headed, in the right direction.
Racial breakdown of all cases: 85% White, 8.5% Black, 5% Multiracial, 1.2% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific Islander
Ethnicity breakdown of all cases: 94.2% Non-Hispanic, 5.8% Hispanic
Racial breakdown of all deaths: 87.6% White, 8.9% Black, 2.7% Multiracial, 0.6% Asian, 0.1% American Indian
Ethnicity breakdown of all deaths: 98.1% Non-Hispanic, 1.9% Hispanic
Today's memorial is a man we lost again, a state employee who's my age. Today we honor another one of our own on Team Kentucky, as we share the story of Jonathan Alexander, a team member of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Office of Information Technology. He was 43, far too young to be taken from us. He passed away on January 23rd at the University of Kentucky Hospital after complications from surgery and COVID-19. Jonathan was known by all for his kindness. He always went out of the way to help those in need, not only in his personal life but through his work. An example of this was through organizing the “Big Tip Challenge”, a fundraiser for restaurant workers whose jobs had been impacted by the COVID pandemic. He also organized the annual Salvation Army's Angel Tree Drive for OIT, making sure every Kentucky family had something under the tree at Christmas. Jonathan always said if you're fortunate enough to be able to help somebody-- do it, it's an amazing experience. Jonathan's passing is such a loss for Kentucky. I hope we can learn from his words and do right by our people. Our prayers are with Jonathan's mother, Brenda Whitaker, his brother, Jason, and his many great friends, and co-workers. We're also thinking of his beloved dogs who are family to him. That's Reesy, Roxy, Riley, Rosie, and Rowdy. This is one of ours that works with us here in state government. We mourn his passing. We think about, and pray for, his family which I know is grieving. I think about his work family around him that feels this loss. And we know we've got to continue to mask up to protect one another, to make sure other families don't have to feel this loss and go through what Jason's family has gone through. So let's mask up in honor of him, let’s light our homes up green, so his family and friends know they're not alone, and we're holding them close in prayer. 43. To think we have through the course of this had at different times people try to argue that this only impacts our seniors-- 43...
Alright. Let's move to the exciting news. So today, we have some very exciting news about how we're building out the infrastructure here in Kentucky to efficiently vaccinate our people, so that everybody knows where the place, when it's their turn, that they should go to get vaccinated is. Today, we'll be announcing some new regional facilities. Next Thursday, we'll be announcing more, and the Thursday after that, we will have some additional. So we will have announcements today, and each Thursday of the next two weeks, as we build out this infrastructure so that everybody has a high speed throughput vaccination operation in their region, and they know exactly when it's their time, where they can go.
So today, we're announcing four new regional vaccination sites, and the first site as one of these four, operated by Kroger. The three sites that you will see in just a little bit when we unveil our http://vaccine.ky.gov website are two in Western Kentucky we'll show you those in a minute, Lourdes and Baptists in Paducah, as well as Ephraim McDowell.
But our first Kroger site will be operated at the Kentucky Horse park, and it's going to begin February 2 at 10am. It's going to be done in the Alltech Arena site which is in-person indoors, but we're going to look at expanding to drive-thru as the weather warms and supply increases. Signups for this site, again, at 5pm today. You can see http://kroger.com/COVIDVaccine is the website to go to. It's going to schedule out for the next three weeks, one week at a time. They're going to be 3,000 appointments in week one. Each day it's going to open for, after today, for that one next day a week ahead of time. Now this is important, these appointments, which are currently limited due to supplies are for Kentuckians in phase 1B, particularly those 70 and older. There should be 3000 appointments at the horse park and others across the state, aimed at getting our Seniors 70 and up vaccinated. So, today at five o'clock, please know 70 and up you ought to be getting on this. If you don't fall into that category or 1A we need you to wait, we'll be able to expand soon. And we've already told all of our regional providers that if they have extra doses, they can and should reach into 1C, to make sure absolutely nothing goes to waste.
As of today, all vaccination sites are asked to prioritize the 70 and older population, until further notice. Other persons from phase 1A and 1B remain eligible for vaccination. As vaccine quantities and available appointment times allow, persons in 1C may also be scheduled to ensure each site administers 90% or more of all their vaccine doses received in seven days.
So, we're pretty excited. Next week, we got four new regional vaccination sites coming online and our first Kroger site. Again, these are for 70 and up, at least for the next several weeks. But here's the other exciting part. Today we're also unveiling a new state website, http://vaccine.ky.gov, and a hotline, 855-598-2246 also 855-326-4654 (TTY), that helps Kentuckians determine if they're eligible to receive a vaccine, and then it helps them find the vaccine in their region. The “Find a Vaccine” website and hotline will both be live after this news conference. Dr Stack and Secretary Gray will offer more details in a minute but I want to first share a video that walks through what Kentuckians can expect when they get on this website. How it's going to show them when they're eligible, and where they should sign up to get their back and let's show the video.
<VIDEO PLAYS IN BACKGROUND> You've probably heard a lot about the new COVID-19 vaccine in Kentucky. If you think you're currently eligible for the vaccine, you can use Kentucky's online screening tool to check your status and find vaccination sites near you. As vaccine supply is limited, Kentucky is following a phased distribution system of eligible groups. The Commonwealth is committed to making the vaccine available to all willing Kentuckians as quickly and as efficiently as vaccine supply allows. Meet John. John is 72 years old and believes he's eligible for the vaccine. John heads to the Find a Vaccine website to begin the quick and simple screening survey. The Find a Vaccine website is powered by Google Translate and the website is available for translation. This will take just a few minutes.
John clicks, “Get Started” to begin.
After answering a few quick questions, John sees he is eligible for the vaccine.
By entering basic information, Jon can select a location on the map to see different locations in his community where he can schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment and get his “Shot of Hope.”
Now John wants to see if his granddaughter Sarah, a college student, is also eligible.
John clicks, “start over” to start the survey again.
The screening survey asks some quick demographic questions to determine Sarah's eligibility status, such as age, occupation, and whether she has certain health issues that put her at high risk if she gets COVID-19. Any basic information entered in the Find a Vaccine website is secure.
Once John answers all the questions, John learns that Sarah is included in phase 3 of Kentucky's vaccine distribution plan, and is not currently eligible for the vaccine.
In the meantime, John can sign Sarah up to receive an automatic email or text message notification when her eligibility status changes. Signing up for notifications is fast, secure, and only requires your name, county of residence, and email address or mobile phone number.
New deaths by county: 91 M Barren, 53 M Calloway, 63 M Calloway, 77 F Clay, 78 F Crittenden, 89 F Fayette, 91 M Fleming, 38 M Harlan, 59 M Harlan, 73 M Harlan, 66 M Hart, 92 F Jefferson, 66 M Jefferson, 71 M Jefferson, 55 M Laurel, 92 F Lawrence, 94 F Lawrence, 69 F Letcher, 62 F Letcher, 62 F McCracken, 82 F Madison, 86 F Madison, 91 F Madison, 66 M Madison, 75 M Madison, 76 M Madison, 96 M Madison, 89 F Marion, 64 M Marshall, 69 M Marshall, 75 F Meade, 84 F Mercer, 85 F Mercer, 84 M Nelson, 88 M Nelson, 70 F Perry
First I want to start with the Bluegrass Action community partnership. They announced today, their transit service will immediately begin offering free transportation to two regional COVID-19 vaccination sites. Residents within its 11 County service territory are eligible to receive appointments for round-trip transportation, from their home to either the Kentucky Horse Park Vaccination Site or Ephriham McDowell hospital. <...>Anderson, Boyle, Casey, Franklin, Garrard, Jessamine, Lincoln, Mercer, Scott, Washington, and Woodford counties.
The speed test is the first step to bringing internet connectivity to every Kentucky home. It takes 30 seconds and is completely anonymous, please visit http://speedtest.ky.gov to take the test.
Financial Aid is not just for four year colleges, if you are interested in a short term program, or two year degree, there's financial aid available for you too. There is no downside to applying. It's free, it takes 30 minutes or less to complete, and you have an 85% chance to receive some form of financial aid. In order to apply, visit http://FAFSA.ky.gov. If you aren't sure how to get started, contact the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority outreach counselors at http://KHEAA.com.
This is what has made the news, this is from February 10th, they released a research study where they were showing different combinations of masks, and how they would protect you differently. And in these laboratory experiments, they find that the biggest problem is not the mask itself, it's the gaps around the edges of the mask. <...> So this is straight from the article, if you look on the left hand side of your screen, you'll see a mask with a gap-- there's a circle there. When people wear masks incorrectly, they either don't cover their nose-- that's a big no-no; your nose should not be seen. And they also have big gaps at the edges of the sides. So here's what they did with the masks: they have someone wear a double mask, and these are dummies, where they have a gas, you know, come out from the dummy's mouth. They put a double mask and the tightness of the extra mask and a larger mask over a smaller one underneath helped to seal those edges in front of your ears, and probably around other parts under your chin and over your nose. The double mask helped to make a better barrier, so you didn't have leakage out here on the outside edges of the mask. <...>So it's not necessarily “one mask or two masks”, it's “Do you have a properly made mask that doesn't have gaps around the sides and across the top and the bottom?”, you can do that by having two masks to close those gaps and make it tighter or having one mask.
Starting February 15th, tenants can apply for assistance with rent or utility bills stating all the way back to April 2020, and that can also apply for three months of future payments. Payments will be made directly to landlords, or to utility providers. Kentucky received $297M in Federal Coronavirus Relief Funds to help make this fund possible, to prevent evictions, and to make sure people don’t have their utilities cut off. <...>
So to apply in those 118 counties, everywhere but Fayette and Jefferson, they’re running their own program, go to https://teamkyhherf.ky.gov/. That is the website where you can see everything that will be required. <..>
With these weather updates, are vaccine sites still set to open tomorrow? And are there any plans in place for the site's next week considering the weather we're expecting then? [...]
My understanding is that the regional sites will be operational tomorrow. Barring a new influx of weather, which I don't believe Director Dossett predicted was going to happen, they should be operational tomorrow.
When do we anticipate we will be able to fully move into phase 1C and how are these new sites going to help facilitate that process? [..]
So, we are, because the state population is not evenly distributed, and because the vaccine is not evenly distributed, different parts of the state are moving at different rates. And so I think probably next week, some locations will begin dipping into 1C, while others are solidly in 1B, still working on reaching folks who are 70 and over. [...] And so we have encouraged people, as they transition to 1C, to work first on 60 and over, and then the entire 1C will be open, and I would imagine by the time we reach March 1st, we will solidly be in phase 1C, that would be my estimation at this point.
So as the long term care federal vaccine program wraps up, and no first vaccines are to be given during their third clinics, what is Kentucky's plan to get the approximately 50% of staff that opted out of the vaccine vaccinated? [...] --
[...] For those persons who are eligible, as healthcare personnel, which would capture the staff in the nursing home settings, they are always eligible as a phase 1A person to schedule at any other location.
Good evening, Team Kentucky. This is lieutenant governor Jacqueline Coleman, we have lots of updates and information to provide with you that are related to both COVID and the inclement weather, so I'm going to get right to it. We have some exciting announcements today regarding accessibility to COVID-19 vaccine sites. Our administration is committed to providing equitable access to vaccine. And we know that there are significant barriers in both rural and urban parts of the state. Some Kentuckians are experiencing issues like traveling for their vaccine or navigating a web website to schedule the vaccine. So the Department of Public Health is supplying vaccinations to local health departments and other community vaccination sites to ensure increased access to the COVID-19 vaccine. We have established a find-a-vaccine hotline with live operators who can talk to callers through the vaccine eligibility survey, help them identify nearby vaccine sites, and even stay on the line while contacting a site to try to schedule an appointment. The hotline number is 855-598-2246. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, please call 855-326-4654.
We also know that because of centuries of health inequity, there are unique concerns in the black community with the vaccine. The Kentucky Department of Health, through the Office of Equity now offers presentations to groups and organizations in our black communities to both understand and address these valid concerns. We are also providing outreach in specific communities by supporting pop-up mobile vaccine clinics, specifically for communities of color, or areas where people lack transportation to drive to a larger site. We are working to remove barriers and I'm excited to announce numerous initiatives across the state where the work to provide equitable access for the vaccine has come to fruition.
First I want to start with the Bluegrass Action community partnership. They announced today, their transit service will immediately begin offering free transportation to two regional COVID-19 vaccination sites. Residents within its 11 County service territory are eligible to receive appointments for round-trip transportation, from their home to either the Kentucky Horse Park Vaccination Site or Ephriham McDowell hospital. These include the following counties: Anderson, Boyle, Casey, Franklin, Garrard, Jessamine, Lincoln, Mercer, Scott, Washington, and Woodford counties. To reserve a ride to either vaccination site residents should call the Bluegrass Community Action Partnership Transit at 800-456-6588. And please call at least 24 hours in advance of your vaccination appointment time. The Bluegrass Community Action transit vehicles are wheelchair accessible and face masks are required at all times.
Next up we have an exciting announcement from Norton Healthcare. Today we are announcing a pop-up, walk in vaccine clinic partnership between our administration and Norton Healthcare. This pop-up clinic is for underserved individuals ages 70 or older, in Louisville at St Stephen's Baptist Church and Bates Memorial Baptist Church. Select outreach for these appointments is being conducted by Norton, and are intended for underserved individuals who are experiencing transportation, and/or technology challenges.
Next we have some news from the University of Kentucky. The University of Kentucky will begin offering four outreach clinics on successive Saturdays targeting areas with underserved populations, due to race, language, economic, or other barriers. Registration coordinator from the Office for Student Success, the UK Healthcare Diversity and Inclusion Council, and the College of Agriculture will provide materials to patients, while they are in post-vaccine observation focused on empowering the patients to promote the importance of getting a COVID-19 vaccine among their own networks. Immunizes and other clinical volunteers are students and faculty in the UK colleges of medicine and pharmacy. UK is consulting with state and city partners to identify four community organizations, one for each outreach clinic beginning this month.
Switching gears, I want to make a quick plug about the Kentucky Speed Test. I know Rocky was on here Tuesday and he provided the latest numbers to you but I want to remind you, our administration is committed to providing broadband internet connectivity to every Kentuckian but we need your help to do this. We need everyone, no matter where you're from, to participate. The speed test is the first step to bringing internet connectivity to every Kentucky home. It takes 30 seconds and is completely anonymous, please visit http://speedtest.ky.gov to take the test.
And finally today February is financial aid month. And I want to provide an update on the latest numbers regarding FAFSA applications in Kentucky. FAFSA is short for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It is required for students to be eligible for Federal Pell Grants and for student loans. Kentucky has consistently been above the national average for FAFSA completion. Last year, Kentucky ranked 13th of all of the states in our completion percentage. However, for the class of 2021, we are down 19% compared to last year. The numbers are even lower for low-income students, schools with high minority populations, and in our most rural communities. As a teacher and school administrator I cannot overstate the importance of completing these financial aid forms. The decrease in the FAFSA applications could lead to a decline in students seeking higher education next fall. Financial Aid is not just for four year colleges, if you are interested in a short term program, or two year degree, there's financial aid available for you too. There is no downside to applying. It's free, it takes 30 minutes or less to complete, and you have an 85% chance to receive some form of financial aid. In order to apply, visit http://FAFSA.ky.gov. If you aren't sure how to get started, contact the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority outreach counselors at http://KHEAA.com. There are millions of dollars available for Kentucky families, and we want to make sure that our students get every dollar possible as they begin their post-secondary education journey.
So those are the good news items and some updates about our vaccination sites. So now I'm going to turn it over to Dr Stack for Department of Public Health updates, Dr Stack.
Hello everyone, I want to expand just a little bit on the information the Lieutenant Governor shared about health equity and vaccination. In addition to the activity she described, we also are partnering with King's Daughters Medical Center in the Ashland region, and they are going to do outreach with a number of African American churches in the community over the next couple of weeks. So we're very grateful to King's daughters Medical Center for their partnership and their additional outreaches in their communities.
On top of that, I just like to remind everybody, or share, that we have within the Kentucky Department for public health and Office of Health Equity. This is an existing office and an ongoing basis that does work to try to help individuals, among racial and ethnic minorities and rural Appalachian populations, and others with health disparities. Vivian Lasley-Bibbs is the director of that office, and does a lot of wonderful work with the team in the department for public health. So thank you to Vivian, and the team who work on these important projects with us, and there will be more to come.
And now turning to my other topics. In the news, as you've seen probably, are the topics of double masking, and the topics of quarantine after being vaccinated, so five quick slides here on double masking. So I've shown you on the left hand side, I believe, of your screen, a document from the CDC on its website that goes in great detail about why masking is important and how you should properly use it. I'd encourage you all to Google that and take a look at this, but I'd like to also emphasize that consistently we have said, a mask is not a substitute for social distancing and that masks should still be worn, in addition to staying at least six feet apart, especially when indoors around people with whom you don't live, on top of that masks should completely cover the nose and mouth and fit snugly against the side of your face without gaps. The emphasis here with the “NOT” and “AND” highlighted is the federal government's emphasis on the CDC website.
This is what has made the news, this is from February 10th, they released a research study where they were showing different combinations of masks, and how they would protect you differently. And in these laboratory experiments, they find that the biggest problem is not the mask itself, it's the gaps around the edges of the mask. So this is straight from the article, if you look on the left hand side of your screen, you'll see a mask with a gap-- there's a circle there. When people wear masks incorrectly, they either don't cover their nose-- that's a big no no; your nose should not be seen. And they also have big gaps at the edges of the sides. So here's what they did with the masks: they have someone wear a double mask, and these are dummies, where they have a gas, you know, come out from the dummy's mouth. They put a double mask and the tightness of the extra mask and a larger mask over a smaller one underneath helped to seal those edges in front of your ears, and probably around other parts under your chin and over your nose. The double mask helped to make a better barrier, so you didn't have leakage out here on the outside edges of the mask. Another way to do this is to take a high quality mask, we even recommend currently that if you use a single mask, use a multi-layer mask, one that has three layers of fabric, and they show you here how you can tie a knot at the edge of the elastic string to essentially have a tighter around your ears to pinch together that gap and close it off. So it's not necessarily “one mask or two masks”, it's “Do you have a properly made mask that doesn't have gaps around the sides and across the top and the bottom?”, you can do that by having two masks to close those gaps and make it tighter or having one mask. Bottom line, though, you need to wear a mask whenever you're anywhere near other people who you don't live with, and you need to stay more than six feet away from each other, whether you have a mask or not.
This is the quarantine topic. So this is in the news, yesterday this was updated. The vaccines are incredibly effective about preventing death and preventing severe disease. So essentially taking a serious illness, like COVID, and making it more like a little less serious illness like influenza, and so the vaccines are incredibly effective for that. But we do not know, for certainty yet, if the vaccines prevent you from getting infected with mild disease, or no symptoms and still potentially spreading the infection.
This is the key point: “At this time vaccinated person should continue to follow current guidance to protect themselves and others, including wearing a mask staying at least six feet away from others, avoiding crowds, avoiding poorly ventilated spaces, covering coughs and sneezes, washing hands often, following CDC travel guidance, and following any applicable workplace or school guidance”. If you'll notice, the CDC, this is a direct quote from this article from their guidance on their website updated yesterday is saying: If you're vaccinated, that is wonderful and thank you for doing that because it keeps you safe, it keeps you from getting harmed, but we still don't have enough people anywhere near enough people protected directly. And so we need to make sure until other people are all protected adequately, we don't take our eye off the ball, and we don't let down our guard. What the news coverage is saying, however, is if you are vaccinated, and this is also in that article but way way way way down near the bottom end of the whole guidance is, once you're vaccinated, after two weeks after your final dose, for the next 11 weeks, up until three months. If you are exposed to someone who has COVID, it might be safe that you don't have to be quarantined. Alright? So for 11 magical weeks, that's all they said, that little gap of time, you wouldn't have to go into quarantine. And my interpretation of this, my recommendation to the people in Kentucky, is that that really is best decided in consultation with your local health department. If you get exposed, and you can consult with them about whether or not you should quarantine, they're in the best position to help you interpret the right way to use that information. So it's not a get out of jail pass-- I think unfortunately that's how this has been portrayed. It's not a get out of jail pass, you still have to do all the public health measures in order to keep everyone else safe until we're through this journey. Thank you very much, and Governor I think it's back to you now.
Alright, thank you to Dr Stack. So, one more piece of good news, and then we'll do the COVID report, and then we'll talk about our new vaccination sites. But this piece of good news is important. And it's gonna help a lot of people who have struggled through this pandemic. Beginning on February 15th, Kentuckians in need of helping make ends meet on rent and utilities can apply for a new very large fund being administered through the Kentucky Housing Corporation. The Healthy at Home Eviction Relief Fund follows earlier similar efforts to help our people stay in their home, while also providing relief to landlords and utilities. It's how we come out of this pandemic without carrying the debt that can hold us back so that we can sprint into our future. This is so important. With more Kentuckians rolling up their sleeves, receiving these safe and effective vaccines, we see a light at the end of the tunnel growing brighter, every day. But it's going to take months until everybody gets through, and gets their shot of hope, though, Dr. Fauci did talk today about thinking there would be a lot more vaccine in March and into April, and I hope he's right, and we're gonna be ready. But until then, we need to be patient and vigilant, we’ve got to keep masking up, maintaining social distance, practicing good hygiene, and avoiding crowds. This fund is going to help make that possible. So last year Team Kentucky helped 4,135 households avoid eviction with about a $15 million fund in assistance. Starting February 15th, tenants can apply for assistance with rent or utility bills stating all the way back to April 2020, and that can also apply for three months of future payments. Payments will be made directly to landlords, or to utility providers. Kentucky received $297M in Federal Coronavirus Relief Funds to help make this fund possible, to prevent evictions, and to make sure people don’t have their utilities cut off. The program is being run in three jurisdictions: Jefferson and Fayette which are running their own programs, and then in all the other counties-- all 118 other counties.
So to apply in those 118 counties, everywhere but Fayette and Jefferson, they’re running their own program, go to https://teamkyhherf.ky.gov/. That is the website where you can see everything that will be required. Again, that's https://teamkyhherf.ky.gov/ to apply.
Tenants must meet certain requirements to get relief. All that is on the website and the applications. This is $297M to help out our Kentucky families, and I, for one, want to use every one of those dollars to help each of you stay in your home, stay safe, stay warm right now, and to not come out of this pandemic with debt that we can pay off through this fund.
Alright, like just about every one of the days that we've had for the last week, we have declining cases, we still have stubbornly high deaths.
Positive cases today: 1,880 - Those are the lowest new cases for at least four weeks. And we are currently running below in numbers of new cases what we had last week, which again was our fourth straight week a record of decreasing cases
Total tests conducted: 4,252,307 (PCR: 3,725,585, Serology: 109,575)
Positivity Rate: 7.08% - That is the lowest since November 6th, that is good news.
Hospitalizations, ICU, ventilators, they're all generally stable, if not down a little bit.
Total hospitalized: 17,824
Currently hospitalized: 1,142
Total in ICU: 3,751
Currently in ICU: 278
On a ventilator: 156
Total recovered: 45,451
New deaths today: 36
Total Deaths: 2205
New deaths by county: 91 M Barren, 53 M Calloway, 63 M Calloway, 77 F Clay, 78 F Crittenden, 89 F Fayette, 91 M Fleming, 38 M Harlan, 59 M Harlan, 73 M Harlan, 66 M Hart, 92 F Jefferson, 66 M Jefferson, 71 M Jefferson, 55 M Laurel, 92 F Lawrence, 94 F Lawrence, 69 F Letcher, 62 F Letcher, 62 F McCracken, 82 F Madison, 86 F Madison, 91 F Madison, 66 M Madison, 75 M Madison, 76 M Madison, 96 M Madison, 89 F Marion, 64 M Marshall, 69 M Marshall, 75 F Meade, 84 F Mercer, 85 F Mercer, 84 M Nelson, 88 M Nelson, 70 F Perry
And this virus is so mean, that I talked to you about Sunny Bass, It was one of the memorials we did. We talked about how long he'd been married and what a great family. Well, it was either yesterday or the day before, his wife passed from COVID as well. So, this is vicious, it takes people that we know and love. Let's make sure we continue to do the right things to protect those around us. I don't want to have 35 deaths again in the course of this pandemic and we can do something about that. And what we do is wear those masks, engage in social distancing, and then prepare to vaccinate people as quickly as possible.
RoyalRoad First Previous Next I ended up splitting off some of 8 into 9 based on feedback. The story I've thought of will end on 10, and then it's back to the drawing board for me. I'm not sure if I would continue with this universe or come back with another idea, let me know if you have an opinion either way. I'll start posting these onto a site I found called RoyalRoad in addition to reddit. I won't take donations, but it does seem like it has nice utilities to manage all the stories even if the audience is smaller. Any advice on this welcome too. And as always, I'm still a new writer trying to improve. Feedback about the story or my writing are all very welcome, and I read every one of them. Galactic Credits weren't technically a currency yet. They had a lot of GCs in the bank, but as the aliens would say, that's just numbers on a screen. You couldn't pay rent and taxes with GCs, not yet. As some human traders switched to exclusively buying goods from the market, they paid hard earned Dollars in exchange for virtual GC, and that became the revenue stream. This revenue balanced out almost perfectly with sellers who were instantly cashing out. For every Dollar that someone paid GC to convert to credits, only about 95 cents would be asked to be paid out by a seller trying to withdraw their GCs for cash. The transaction fees that GC made on every transaction can be visualized as credits disappearing into an untouched locked account. This was effectively a profit for GC, because it meant less credits that had to be exchanged for $. That 5% margin was a steady Dollar revenue stream that they could safely cash out. But because all the humans needed to pay bills and taxes, they would withdraw their money almost immediately, which meant that they would always be stuck around that 5% margin. Unlike a regular bank, they couldn't make a lot of investments. That's when the universe decided to give them a break. Or rather, their interests had aligned with the self interest of some very rich people who had just started paying attention. At first, the financial systems on Earth did not care much about GCs. They were used in spaceports all around Earth, and space was very exciting, but it was inaccessible to most people and the actual trade volume was a small percentage of total businesses done on Earth. The aliens directly made a few people very, very rich, mostly traders and GC. But what were of more interest to financial institutions were the reverse engineered alien technology products that they predicted were coming shortly. At the same time Sarah and her friends were trying to fix a famine, the human economy was booming. Like GC, banks were in the business of selling gold prospecting equipment, not looking for gold themselves. Naturally, banks started allowing deposits and withdrawal of GC. This wasn't unusual. Banks have no issues holding onto cryptocurrency and non-USD currencies for customers' savings accounts. That was their business, after all. There were some costs, but it was generally a good business: fat transaction fees led to fat profit margins. In the case of GC, banks needed to charge their customers a high transaction fee because GC itself charged a high transaction fee. This was bad for business. Not many people kept their credits in other banks because GC itself was a bank and they kept their money in there just fine without having to pay an even higher transaction fee. They were understandably unhappy about several of their wealthier customers keeping a lot of money in another bank, but not enough to want to choke out GC's business. That would be killing their golden goose that is the booming alien knockoff economy. So when GC decided to raise liquidity, as they would need to do to continue to bankroll a multi-planetary relief mission indefinitely, the banks saw an opportunity. Or rather, VISA did. It was an incredibly generous offer: VISA would treat Galactic Credits like Dollars and allow full convertibility on their own network, in exchange for GC waiving their entire transaction fee for bank transfers. Their lawyers didn't want GC to go ahead and print money without limits, so they put a contingency that allowed them to cut off GC whenever they wanted and clauses that allowed for regular auditing. Sarah and her friends thought about it, but not for very long. Galactic Credit became no longer the only bank that could deal in credits. Credits were now freely transferable between banks. Now, you could pay taxes in credits converted to USD. Which meant people stopped withdrawing their Dollars from GC immediately, and GC could "borrow" that money to pay for supplies, equipment, and then use some to invest in companies on Earth. It was like a limited run of fractional reserve banking. The aid operation to Gak continued. "Isn't this technically a blatant violation of minimum wage laws?" Asked Sarah over the FTL video comms, the crisp and quick quality of which was a testament of how much human infrastructure had been shipped into Gakrek orbit, "doing some quick maths with the average fuel and maintenance costs here… it looks like we're basically paying the space traders only about $10 for every hour of shipping they do for us." Kathleen Bryce, GC's head counsel shifted uncomfortably in a conference room chair 50 light years away, though her immediate reply indicated she had indeed thought the problem through, "Not if anyone asks." She continued, "the short story is nobody has tested the courts to see if aliens working for us in space are subject to California employment and labor regulations, or federal minimum wage laws, or perhaps, even no laws." "What's the long story?" Jen asked, slightly interested. "We're pretty sure they're at most contractors, definitely not employees. Cali Prop 22 took care of that. The spaceport is probably considered international territory, or else the traders would be considered 'illegal aliens' every time they landed," Kathleen did a little chuckle at that most unoriginal pun around the GC legal team watercooler, "In which case, the lower federal minimum wage applies. Or maybe it's not even international territory, maybe it's some new thing. Too many edge cases to descri-" "Ok," Sarah said after a moment, "it'll probably look bad though." "What will?" Jen countered, rolling her eyes, "that they're being asked to voluntarily work just above cost to help save a billion hungry aliens, a problem that, let's not forget, most people in the galaxy think they helped create in the first place? Give me a break. There's fifty thousand Red Cross workers working for free on Gakrek and you're telling me we-" "Ok, ok, we'll save this discussion for later, interesting as the implications are," Stearns interrupted, "until the labor board starts sniffing around, we'll let Legal deal with it. The other item I wanted to get to today is what we're going to do for Gak in the medium and long term." "Right, the immediate crisis is over, but the moment we pull our people out and stop sending food constantly, the Gaks are back to square one in two months," Sarah returned to her presentation, "over the past two weeks, our models keep having to be revised down on the future of Gakrek farming. Their climate system has been dramatically spiraling downwards for decades now. With this disaster: the out of control burning and flooding, the trashed ecosystems, and the Gaks literally selling off their farming tools to squeeze out some more fruits from traders, they added up to one conclusion: traditional subsistence agriculture is no longer viable on Gakrek." Here she put up a chart on screen. There were two lines. There's a straight horizontal line, marking the average calories that healthy Gaks needed, and then there's a quickly plummeting line denoting the drastic decrease of Gak agricultural productivity over time. They crossed about ten years ago. The meaning was clear. "It's increasingly obvious that all Gak food will need to be shipped in from offworld sources until we completely overhaul their agricultural economy," Sarah continued. "What kind of overhaul are we even talking about?" Benny chimed in. He owned a good portion of the company, but rarely came to these executive meetings. Today, he was making an exception for his son Benny Jr, who was on the view screen with the rest of the offworld team on Gakrek. Stearns replied, "in a word: industrialization." "The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race," wrote Ted Kaczynski, known more famously as his press nickname, the Unabomber. When this was published in the Washington Post in 1995 in response to a threat, a number of people thought he was making a lot of sense. It made all the headlines, inspired countless hours of political debate, and gave a major boost to anarcho-primitive ideas in the academic sphere. But as many historians knew, his ideas were not wildly original. Industrialization, like every major economic change, created winners and losers. Sometimes there were more of one, and sometimes the other. In human society, previously skilled workers, usually guild craftsmen who made up the upper-middle class of late feudal Europe, became the biggest losers of industrialization as their labor was replaced by machines that could do what they did at hundreds if not thousands of times faster. Without skill, without rest, and without emotion. Some of them were so angry, they even went out and smashed the machines, but mechanization continued anyway. The biggest winners of the Industrial Revolution were the subsistence farmers who made up the vast majority of lower class workers in feudal Europe. They went into cities, to work mind-numbingly boring jobs, doing the same thing day after day, on risky and dangerous assembly lines for excruciatingly long hours. Many got injured. Some died. A few were even children. And yet mostly, they did so willingly. That's not because they were all tricked, under some grand illusion that factory work was comfortable, safe, and enriching. It was because subsistence farming on its worst day was a hecking nightmare. The Gaks were living it. "Why can't we just build a tractor factory there then?" Sarah demanded. In her mind, tractors were synonymous with food. She'd been on a road trip through the American Midwest once, on the way to the Yellowstone. There, she'd seen rows of gigantic tractors plowing fields, endless food from horizon to horizon. To Sarah, the massive scale of the corn fields of America was just how industrialization was done. "Because tractor factories depend on a thousand different parts. Who's gonna make the tires? Who's gonna make the motors? Who's gonna make the onboard computer?" Stearns explained, "and who's gonna bring them gasoline to keep running? And each of those components have a thousand factories to make them, and each have dependencies on thousands of other factories! It would literally be easier to move Los Angeles onto Gak than it would be to help them mass manufacture tractors." Sarah made a facepalming gesture, but Stearns cut her off before she launched into despair, "there actually is a much easier solution to this problem." "On Earth, most economists agree that the most efficient way to send foreign aid to areas that consistently couldn't produce enough food is not to send them food; it's to send them money so they can buy food, or if they have good soil, they can buy some tools to grow their own," said Stearns, leading Sarah to the obvious conclusion. "But they don't use money here, we can't just send them money!" "Exactly. So let's talk about that." Gordorker's family had finally cleaned up his house from the dust storm. The broken roof was re-tiled as best as he could. His children had helped on some of the menial tasks, but that's what children were for. It was nice to have purpose again. The humans had said that their mission would be here for months, maybe years, but Gordorker was not so naive to believe that he wouldn't have to work for food again. He was certainly not so stupid to take this to mean he should be lounging around all day. Winters on Gakrek were not bad in terms of freezing people to death, but the dry winds would not allow crop planting until spring again. Next time, he would have 21 mouths to feed, not including his, and he'd have to get the fields plowed without poor Grunger. He was lucky he had so many children. Traders Only New Thread: Bohor spaceports have just banned bartering! Body: If your friends want to do any business at Bohor, they better get themselves a GC Terminal fast! The Bohor are banning barter at their main port. You will only be able to conduct trades by credits starting in a few days! Comment: Whaaaaat? Are you crazy??? Only two of my friends have Terminals. How is everyone else supposed to make a living?! Comment: Get a Terminal lol Comment: We told you guys last week this was gonna happen if you assholes keep holding up the line with your obnoxious rare fruit peddling. Newsflash, we don't care about how exotic your stuff is on Bohor. Just unload it. We weigh it, read the price list for food items, do the math, you get your credits, and you're out of there in minutes. You want air filters? We've got air filters for 2,800 GCs, no haggling, no bartering. If you don't like it, someone else will take it. Don't waste our time! -- Bohor Spaceport Management Team Comment: Hey Bohor, have you considered maybe getting a Terminal yourself so that everyone else don't all need to get one just to get some fuel? Comment: I'm selling air filters for 3,000 GCs in orbit above Bohor for traders who don't have Terminals. "Our plan for the leasing model for the Terminals is not going to work," Sarah observed. "Yup, the famine crisis on Gakrek is forcing our hand," admitted Stearns, "and we'd expected a much slower rollout to bring the aliens on board over the course of years, not weeks. In hindsight, it was obvious how this was different to how humans popularized credit and debit cards in the 1970s. We were replacing cash, which was just slightly inferior to a card, but with the aliens, we're replacing their entire dumpster fire of an economy. We earned a lot of goodwill with our relief effort and the galaxy is buying in." "So what, we just abandon the original timeline and move to phase two immediately?" Asked Sarah. "Exactly right. When the iron is hot, you gotta strike it," replied Stearns, "we'll give the merchants already with Terminals an option to opt out of their lease and switch to the new devices, but I doubt most will. Our internal data shows that they've universally been getting their money's worth out of those." "Are our manufacturers even ready to handle the inevitable barrage of orders?" Asked Jen, eager to move onto the logistics and technology discussion. They were not. Version two of the offworld trading terminals were actually a downgrade to the original Terminals. The originals were prototypes, modified out of consumer tablets that cost hundreds of dollars to produce. The new ones, branded Mini Terminals, were basic card readers with pin pads and a tiny OLED display, attached to a now mass produced FTL antenna you could get at RadioShack for $3.99. There wasn't even a thermal printer for receipts. The whole device costs no more than $20 to make on a mass production line in Vietnam. GC was going to sell it at cost in credits. Galactic Credit had prepared supply lines to ramp up production, ready to start rolling them out in a couple years. They've made a test batch of tens of thousands of units sitting in storage, but did not expect to need to start actually selling them for a while. Carefully made plans were abandoned, schedules were expedited, employees in SE Asia worked overtime, and the company took on extra cost to push the schedule up. It still wasn't enough. On day one, all reserve units sold out. Some of the well connected human traders, unburdened with a strong conscience or ethics, bought them by the truckload as they were leaving their warehouses. They sold them at a large markup at the spaceport. That was not very cash money of them. GC sent a representative to the spaceport to let traders know that they were out of stock, but more would be made available shortly. Customers should just wait a week for the prices to come down. The scalpers instantly sold out anyway. The alien traders lucky enough to be on the non-relief landing pads filled their cargo with the Mini Terminals. Then, those traders sold them at a markup at other ports. And so on. By the time the Mini Terminals reached average spaceport merchants on the other side of the galaxy, they were being sold for almost half the price of the original tablet Terminals. By the end of the week, the craze died down. These electronics really were cheap and easy for human factories to make, and many of the production lines just needed time to start the machines. Prices returned to normal, and the average merchant could afford them with a bit of honest work and savings. The Gakrek Spacelift was slowing down. The turnaround time had been increased to a leisurely 10 minutes, and the Livermore space traffic controller was occasionally allowing non-relief traders to land at open pads, which Zikzik was doing now. Zikzik needed to refuel, but apparently that was still only allowed for the landing pads that had been designated for relief. He called up the Livermore port manager, pointed to his number one position on the relief pilot leaderboard, but she just shrugged her shoulders and said apologetically, "rules are rules". Oh well, he could always refuel at Olgix on the way. As he landed in Olgix, he realized this was the first time he landed at a non human or Gak port for at least a week. He greeted the Olg who was running a reactor fuel line to his ship with a nod, and asked, "how much fruit to full?" The Olg took one look at the sign on his booth, and said, "you know we also take credits on Olgix now, right?" A little surprised, Zikzik took out his card and terminal and allowed the Olg to swipe his. He'd used his Terminal when doing exchanges with other traders, but this was the first time he'd been to a non-Earth port where goods and services could be paid for using his credits. "That's 295.50 GCs, pleasure doing business with you." Grob was one of the wealthier Gaks in the world. The famine had affected everyone, but he and his wife did not have to go hungry because the spaceport management made sure to keep feeding the people that kept the mobs at bay. Everything else stopped working though. He used to pad his income by making sure that the vendors at the spaceport knew exactly who was protecting their livelihoods. Only very rarely did new ones not cooperate. Grob really wasn't a bad Gak, but he did what everyone else in his position also did. This was just how business was done on Gakrek. You didn't get to survive to become a security guard family if you didn't do that. Another Gak would come along, take your place, and do what you didn't want to do anyway. When the humans arrived, things changed. They started peddling these credits business, which he'd seen some of the traders used. Of course, he didn't think much of it. Instead of getting goods, you just get a card, and use the card to trade for food and items? Seems unnecessarily complicated. He'd heard that they charged a cut just for you to use the card, a concept that he was intimately familiar with and in no hurry to be subjected to. The humans had insisted on giving one to him and setting it up. Which he had to do because they were in charge now, but that was fine by him. Just because he had a card didn't mean he had to use it right? A few days later, when he was on a patrol route at the spaceport, checking off the vendor stands, one of the luxury item vendors asked him if she could pay her next cycle's fee with her card because she had traded away all her wares. "You gotta make sure to save wares for me next time," he'd told her, "but I'll take it this time." He ruffled through his backpack to find the card, handed it to her, and she inserted it into her machine, typed in her code, and showed him that it had deposited 18 GC into his account. Hoping that she didn't stiff him, he went on with his route. "Let me say this again," Zarko said at the edge of his patience limit, "you can trade these credits for food on Earth. Lots of food, shiploads of food. So much food, everywhere." "But I don't have a ship," whined the spare parts vendor at the spaceport, "why don't you just bring food with you next time you want my parts?" "You can exchange credits for food from some of the other traders that come down here too! Some of them have the new Terminals now, look, that guy over there, he takes GC," Zarko was almost shouting while pointing at a fellow Zeepil food merchant who had a I ❤️ GC sign on his booth across the spaceport. This was frustrating. Every time he came across one of these less traveled planets he had to explain himself to these yokels all over again. The vendor looked over skeptically and said, "how do I know that you two aren't working some scam together?" That was it for Zarko. It had been a long day, this guy wasn't making it any shorter, and he had just been accused of being a dishonest trader. It was probably because of his species. Just because he was a Zeepil didn't mean he was a scammer! He internally cursed the unjustified stereotype of his people and blew up at the racist: "Listen to me very carefully. You're going to give me the secondary fuel modulator. You're going to walk over to the food merchant over there. Then you're going to swipe this card over here, on his machine. He's going to give you at least a month's worth of food. And if you don't, I'm going to leave a one star review on your spaceport on Traders Only, and nobody is going to come back here to trade anything with you ever again, got it?" The vendor whined some more under his breath, but eventually relented. The threat had sounded real. He got plenty of food. Whatever scam these Zeepils were running, they didn't rip him off this time at least. Whatever. Zarko was fuming as he took off. Didn't these ignorant primitives know that a liquid currency to facilitate free and fair exchange of goods and services was obviously the bedrock upon which a modern economy needed to be built? When Grob got home from work, he handed his wife the credits card saying, "hey darling, one of the luxury traders gave me her protection share using the card. I trusted her because she normally always pays on time. Did I get scammed?" His wife was a teacher at a nearby school. Ever the practical one, she asked, "oh, how much did she put on it?" "It said 18." She did some math in her head and replied, "yeah that sounds about right," and to his surprise, she pulled out a card and said, "I got one from the humans at the school too, and I used it to buy a new pair of shoes for you!" He tried them on. They weren't very fitting shoes, but neither were his previous pair so he couldn't complain. They did seem very well made even though the little holes in them seemed to be a design choice. Pretty soon, he noticed that the other guards at the spaceport started extracting their share of protection fees using cards too. Oh well, if everyone else was taking fees with a card, he supposed it couldn't hurt if he did it too. It somewhat lightened his load on patrols, which he didn't mind at all. Besides, his blue shoes were really pretty. He was not sure why there was a big check mark on its side though. "They're doing what?!" Sarah asked, her temper threatening to go off. "It's a protection racket. A practice as old as time. The security guards have basically been taking a percentage of the vendors' wares, and recently switched onto using cards to take payment. It's been going on forever and it's probably just how they do things there. Using cards is pretty innovative of them, I'll give them that," Jen said, "but it made it pretty easy for us to track down all of them. Should we revert the transactions?" "No, probably not," Sarah said, calming down and seeing a slight head shake from her head counsel Bryce, "but we need to make it clear to them that they can't be allowed to do that anymore." Grob wasn't sure how to feel about the cards anymore. The humans had found the practice of protection fees distasteful, and they'd warned that anyone caught doing it again would face severe consequences. They made their point pretty clear when one of the other guards was made an example of: her card stopped working. She had to get a new one that didn't have any of her credits in it! On the other hand, the humans also made the spaceport authorities start paying them with credits, which was good because now they were being paid on time and Grob knew he didn't have to worry about not being paid as long as the humans were there. His wife had been buying them new clothes with credits she was getting paid as a teacher too. One of his human friends had giggled when she saw his shirt, which apparently said "2016 NBA Champions Golden State Warriors". He wasn't sure what was so funny about that, but it was a very comfortable shirt. Maybe this whole credits thing wasn't as ridiculous as he thought at first. By the universal inheritance path known as "dibs", Gordorker inherited his neighbors Gyuotin and Gyuovin's farmable land and possessions. They didn't have much. Trinkets, gadgets, and a bunch of junk. It was mostly items that couldn't be traded for food during the worst periods of the shortage. With his immediate food needs taken care of by the relative abundance of food items the humans have brought, Gordorker thought perhaps he should go buy a stasis box with the trinkets he got from his deceased neighbors. When he arrived at the offworld market, he saw a high end luxury merchant proudly displaying some fresh new wares from offworld, including a number of stasis boxes. These were apparently new ones made by humans. These were slightly bigger than the ones he'd have before, but he'd brought his neighbors' life possessions, so he thought maybe he'd be able to trade for one of those with some haggling. Gordorker started laying out his items on the table, but the trader cut him off, hastily saying the weirdest thing he'd ever heard from a trader in his life, "no barter, credits only." The merchant then pointed him towards a human tent. A human volunteer, his nametag said Marco, asked his name and gave him a shiny card, then told him to memorize 6 numbers. "As the head of your household, you have also been given a small stimulus by the GC corporation," he said. Then Marco took him to a junk trader stall, where he gave the trader all his items. Marco showed an increasingly confused Gordorker how to insert his card into a small machine slot to "receive payment". Marco guided him back to the merchant selling stasis boxes. Gordorker was instructed on how to insert his card and enter his pin code, which he mastered with no difficulty. Marco then took him to a farm tools stall, where Gordorker repeated the same process with a steel plow, a small box of "semi-dwarf wheat seeds", a long garden hose, and a hand pump, all loaded onto a brand new wooden wheelbarrow. "BAL: 12.50," the small screen had read. Gordorker was not sure what unnatural ritual he had taken part in, but he was in possession of the most farm tools he had ever been in his life and he had the stasis box he was looking for. "Alright, that should be enough. Make sure to keep the card safe and remember your 6 digit code. Ask a volunteer if you need to know what the tools do.." Gordorker put his card in his stasis box. Then, being the prudent Gak he was, he wrote down his pin code and put it in the box as well. Whatever else it did, he was sure one of his descendants could probably find a use for it in an emergency one day. In hindsight, there were obvious economic side effects for Earth becoming a mass producer of everything from food to cheap consumer electronics, the reverse engineering of millions of years of alien tech, and ripping down the barriers that the barter based economies of the galaxy had erected. A young forward thinking economist wrote a whole journal article about it with a typical economic study title: "Development Osmosis: Capital Outflow, Argentina, and Extreme Poverty in Offworld Economies". Three other economists read the pre-print as part of the peer review, who all sent him an email saying something along the lines of "wow, this gave me a lot to think about. Somebody important should read this!" Nobody else did, for a while. It didn't make the news. The reference to high yield semi-dwarf wheat seeds in the story refers to the research of Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Norman Borlaug. Borlaug noticed that stalks of wheat that are too high yield would bend and then break their stalks, so he solved that problem by breeding these plants with dwarfed plants. Shorter stalk, supports more wheat. His work in improving food security in developing nations is credited with saving the lives of over a billion humans. A real life HFY. The next chapter's working title is: Rising Tide RoyalRoad First Previous Next
New deaths by county: 59 F Adair, 63 F Ballard, 85 F Bell, 29 F Boone, 79 M Boone, 82 F Boyle, 93 M Boyle, 93 M Breathitt, 72 M Calloway, 72 M Calloway, 51 M Campbell, 82 M Campbell, 87 F Carter, 60 M Casey, 75 F Fayette, 53 M Fayette, 86 M Fayette, 90 F Fleming, 68 M Franklin, 94 M Franklin, 53 M Gallatin, 62 M Gallatin, 85 F Hardin, 88 F Hardin, 81 M Hardin, 89 M Hart, 69 F Hopkins, 86 F Hopkins, 80 F Jefferson, 81 F Jefferson, 80 M Jefferson, 96 M Jefferson, 100 M Jefferson, 79 F Kenton, 77 F Laurel, 54 F McCracken, 65 M McCracken, 69 M McCracken, 63 F Marshall, 77 F Marshall, 71 M Meade, 80 M Meade, 64 F Mercer, 53 M Montgomery, 75 M Nicholas, 90 F Ohio, 88 M Trigg, 93 M Washington, 88 M Wayne, 87 F Whitley, 89 M Whitley
Good News.
1. The agency just reported today that the state's recordable non-fatal occupational injury and illness rate has fallen to the lowest point on record. The total recordable incident rate for all industries has fallen to the lowest level since the US Bureau of Labor Statistics began recording the data in 1996, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Program Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Report. So for 2020, based on 2019 BLS data, we were at 3.2 cases per 100 full time equivalent workers, for comparison that was 8.4 in 1996. What this means is this was the safest year, even in the midst of a pandemic, to be a worker in Kentucky.
3. Today we've announced the reopening of all Kentucky State Police post locations to the public to assist in the fight against the drug epidemic, through the Angel Initiative. KSP’s Angel Initiative is a proactive program designed to help people battle addiction, and it's available throughout the state. Anyone suffering from substance use disorder can visit a KSP post to be paired with a local officer who will assist them locating an appropriate treatment program. <...> KSP posts are open to the public Monday through Friday, 8am to 4:30pm and COVID-19 guidelines must be followed. In addition to seeking treatment, individuals may go to any KSP post to safely dispose of any drugs or contraband they may have in their possession without threat of arrest.
Vaccines: So what you see here is we will begin reporting, and updating on a daily basis, how many unique people have been vaccinated in Kentucky. That, we will show next to the total number of doses, first doses, of vaccine allocated to the state, and then you'll see a utilization percentage there. So the goal here is to show you for all the vaccine we receive, what percentage has been administered as a first dose to Kentuckians.<...> So, in this top chart you can see we've broken down the state program, those are all the allocations that came to us at the state level, and then we distributed out, or allocated out, to hospitals and local health departments predominantly to administer to Kentuckians. <...> Please remember, even though you hear that the quantities have been increased and the federal government said 16% last week, and an additional 5% this week, those are wonderful developments to have more vaccine. However, the doses we're getting are still 68,000 or so doses a week, it's gonna take a while to reach everyone who wants to be immunized. <...> So please, I know when you go to these sites, you make the phone calls, it feels like you're not able to get through. It's probably accurate for many of you, it's because we're only getting so much vaccine and the demand is so great. So please know they are vaccinating, they're using everything they're getting as quickly as they can. It's a matter of needing more vaccine to fulfill the demand right now, which is very large.
What made the state change the requirements to make sure only Kentucky residents are receiving the vaccine? -- We had people who lived and worked in other states coming over and trying to get in priority groups in our state that they didn't qualify for in their state.
Senator Robbie Mills today spoke to the very frustrations that you have mentioned that his constituents in Hopkins and Daviess county saying there's just no vaccines available, but he also said that they have a perception that Indiana is doing better than Kentucky, and that they're very frustrated by that. He also spoke to the need, what he perceived the need to be, more and better communication about vaccine availability from your administration. So I just would like for you to sort of speak to that perception that other states are doing better than us and also to his call for better communication. -- Well, we're a top 10 state for vaccinations, the last four weeks we vaccinated more people than we've received doses. If you go over 100% I think that's pretty good. I think in most statistics, we're ahead of Indiana, but I want Indiana to do well too. [...] And we've been communicating about supply, supply, and supply every day, you all have seen it. On our website we show exactly how many doses we get in and how many go out. Their providers have their amount, which is a public when they receive it, and they put it out. So we're getting it out as fast as we can. It's gone out, we believe, equitably across the state. In fact, in the beginning, rural Kentucky got more than urban Kentucky as we were directing it out towards healthcare workers. I think that there are multiple providers in the area that would say that they think that they are being treated fairly. But listen unfortunately a speech on the senate or house floor right now is in the silly season. I don't think they're going to get up and say anything positive. It's unfortunate but that's where we are but you know this is also a body that I hope will be more thoughtful, moving forward, on what they pass. You know, we had to go to court today to challenge three bills, one I'll give you an example was House Bill 1. It basically said no more the Governor's executive orders, “CDC guidance” is now the law. They didn't say which guidance, there are 174 CDC guidance documents. <brings up a stack of documents to the podium> Now, I guess every business would have to look through all 174 of these, which multiple ones will apply to them and try to figure out what they do or do not have to do. I mean we can't defeat a vaccine with this . What should you do to keep people safe? This . We’ve got to have clear consistent rules, and that's what the Supreme Court said, you know, just a couple months ago. So, whether or not people want to pull authority for me, let's be smart and how we address the virus and not say to our businesses “It's on you now here's all the paperwork”
Good afternoon everybody, good afternoon Rachel. It's four o'clock, on Wednesday, that time we come together to remember that we're gonna get through this, and we're gonna get through it together. I'll start by thanking everybody for allowing me to move yesterday to today, we all struggle at times through this pandemic, and admittedly I just needed a day. But I am back at it, I’m ready, and we are going to defeat this thing together. We have a light at the end of the tunnel, it's a big, bright light, it's going to take us time to get there so continue to mask up, continue to do all those things that protect people and as you'll see, our numbers continue to look better and better with the exception of those that we are losing, which are result of that dramatic increase we experienced.
Let's start with good news, we need good news in our world and let's remember we can, rightfully so, we get caught up thinking all day long about the pandemic but there's still lots of good things going on.
First is worker safety. So I speak often about the importance of Kentucky's workforce, which is the backbone of the middle class, the glue that binds most of our communities together. It's also so many of you, our families, how you put food on the table. My administration is committed to providing well paying opportunities for growth and retirements marked by dignity and security. Above all, we treat all honest work as worthwhile, and we treat our workers with respect. The hard working folks at the Kentucky Labor Cabinet have played a major role in ensuring we're living these values during the pandemic. Most often, I talk about unemployment insurance or those who play a role in keeping us safe by investigating reports of non-compliance to the Kentucky safer hotline. But the cabinet is also responsible for enforcing Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHA) at workplaces throughout the Commonwealth. Those are the standards that are supposed to keep us safe, that identify unsafe hazardous or unhealthy environments, that stops practices that pose dangers. And when companies don't live up to those standards, cite them, and help them, and provide them the incentive to ultimately get things right, to make sure all of our Kentuckians are safe on the job. So today we’ve got some really good news to share on that front. The agency just reported today that the state's recordable non-fatal occupational injury and illness rate has fallen to the lowest point on record. The total recordable incident rate for all industries has fallen to the lowest level since the US Bureau of Labor Statistics began recording the data in 1996, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Program fiscal year 2020 annual report. So for 2020, based on 2019 BLS data, we were at 3.2 cases per 100 full time equivalent workers, for comparison that was 8.4 in 1996. What this means is this was the safest year, even in the midst of a pandemic, to be a worker in Kentucky. It means that our labor cabinet is doing it right but it means so many of you all are doing it right too. This is what happens when we enforce standards. when we create the right framework to ensure that our folks show up and they're productive, they're enthusiastic, and that they are also safe. So, 2020, having the lowest injury rate since it's been recorded, in 1996, is some pretty good news. It means a lot more people made it home at night to their families, and a lot more people made it home happy and healthy, and that's what we want every day here in the Commonwealth. We have seen a steady decline over time and let's keep it up. Let's get to the point where our workplaces are so safe that no one is ever injured. That sounds like it may be a tough task but I believe both our people and our employers are up for that challenge.
Second piece of good news. The Justice and Public Safety Cabinet today is awarding more than $2M in grant funding from the Federal Violence Against Women Act STOP Formula Grant Program to 28 agencies across our state. This federal funding allows our state to better support the insurmountable work provided by victim advocacy services, law enforcement agencies, and local units of government to victims of violent crime. Funds are received from the Office on Violence Against Women, a component of the United States Department of Justice. The Office on Violence Against Women require state administrative agencies allocate 25% for law enforcement, 25% for prosecutors, 30% for victim services, 5% for state and local courts, and 15% for discretionary distribution. The funding should be used for projects that serve or focus on adults and youth who are victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Some of the programs funded by the grant include, and these are a bunch of great organizations that I had a chance to work with as attorney general, and the work they do is so appreciated and here supported. Chrysalis House has been awarded $51,830 to continue funding a domestic violence therapist to ensure physical and emotional safety is established, prior to treatment for women who have experienced intimate partner violence. Merryman House Domestic Crisis Centers has been awarded $56,264 to increase safety of domestic violence survivors in the Purchase Area Development District by sustaining and improving collaboration efforts with local law enforcement and prosecution. The Nest Center for Women, Children, and Families has been awarded $116,780 which will allow it to continue to hire contract attorneys who will provide legal services at no charge to families, obtaining an order of protection against their perpetrator in 18 different counties. We’ve got to work together to stop the scourge that is domestic violence, to make sure that our people are safe. The long term ramifications go far beyond just the partner, the physical and emotional scars that it leaves on our children is something we all ought to be committed to stopping. I believe in a world without domestic violence, without sexual abuse, without child abuse, and it should be attainable, just takes all of us continuing to work every day. And these $2 million to organizations that earn the money are going to help us to get there.
Alright, one other piece of good news, which is our Kentucky State Police Angel Initiative. Today we've announced the reopening of all Kentucky State Police post locations to the public to assist in the fight against the drug epidemic, through the Angel Initiative. KSP’s Angel Initiative is a proactive program designed to help people battle addiction, and it's available throughout the state. Anyone suffering from substance use disorder can visit a KSP post to be paired with a local officer who will assist them locating an appropriate treatment program. KSP launched the Angel Initiative in 2016, this was done by the previous administration, through funding from the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy. I committed that when I became governor we do the right things, and the right programs we build on. We wouldn't simply eliminate things or take action out of spite and we've lived up to that promise. The Angel Initiative was a good initiative created by our last commissioner of the state police and by our last governor. Reopening it to the public is the right thing to do and it's going to help people. KSP posts are open to the public Monday through Friday, 8am to 4:30pm and COVID-19 guidelines must be followed. In addition to seeking treatment, individuals may go to any KSP post to safely dispose of any drugs or contraband they may have in their possession without threat of arrest. One more program we can use to help those who are suffering.
So that's all good news. Aside from what we deal with every day in the pandemic there are lots of beacons of light out there, lots of people continuing to do good work even in challenging circumstances, and there's lots of people doing good work in working to defeat this virus. Our vaccination efforts right now are exciting to see. You walk into one of our vaccination centers and you see a workforce that is inspired and is moving. You see people clearly walking around with purpose. You see faith in action, and protecting other people. And you see people who've worked long shifts who are still smiling when that next person sits down because they're going to get their vaccine. We’ve got a short video here that recaps yesterday's opening of our first regional vaccination site at the Kentucky horse park, outside of Lexington and Scott County. Take a look, it's pretty special.
<VIDEO> This is an exciting day for Kentucky. Through this new and growing partnership with Kroger health, we will be able to vaccinate more Kentuckians as we received more supply from the federal government. We are here inside the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena in Lexington, where Kroger health is launching the first regional vaccination site in the state. Across the Commonwealth we are seeing efficiency pick up and pick up every single week. We are getting better and better at vaccinating people, which means for every Kentucky in your time is coming sooner rather than later. The last four weeks we've vaccinated more people than we've received doses from the federal government, meaning our only limitation at this point is supply supply and supply. But we can't simply sit back, we have to continue to grow our capacity so when we have those additional vaccines, when the manufacturing picks up, when we have a flood of these life saving shots of hope, that we are ready to get them out there and get them in people's arms as quickly as humanly possible. So let's continue to mask up, let's continue to engage in social distancing, and when it's your turn and your time, let's roll up our sleeves and get this shot of hope.
The individual you saw getting vaccinated there is one of our veterans. He has several health conditions, but wanted to step up and to be an example. We were all excited, we were all moved to see him get that vaccine. On vaccines, today we've got Dr Stack, he's going to talk through how we're gonna change our reporting, what you see online, each and every day to be a better indicator of how quickly we are getting the vaccine to new people, because that's really what we want to focus on. Some look at doses out there but when you get a second dose it's got to go to a specific person. What we are focused on is how quickly we can get people that first part of their vaccination as efficiency. Now, I will remind you that we get these doses primarily on Tuesday-ish, late Monday, early Tuesday. So, Tuesday, Wednesday, there's always going to be the biggest difference between our supply and how many people were vaccinated. But what you'll see from the reporting is by the time we get through that next Monday, seven days after it, we're vaccinating more people every week of the past four weeks, then we get supply. We're not gonna be able to do that much longer, it's from extra from the first couple of weeks as we were ramping up and that is very quickly being used up. Thankfully, we're gonna receive, or we're now receiving, about 21-22% more vaccine. This next week will be the first week we reached that full increase since the new administration took over in Washington. Dr Stack?
You can all relate to this, this is a video conference world-- I had three screens open and I couldn't get to it. So Governor, thank you very much. I have two topics that the governor would like me to speak about tonight. And then I'll walk us through that.
So, on our website we're going to change, and this should be updated tonight, we're going to change how we report the vaccines that are administered. Remember the single most important metric is how many people have been vaccinated, how many unique people have been vaccinated, because those are the persons who are on the road to protection from the vaccine. So what you see here is we will begin reporting, and updating on a daily basis, how many unique people have been vaccinated in Kentucky. That, we will show next to the total number of doses, first doses, of vaccine allocated to the state, and then you'll see a utilization percentage there. So the goal here is to show you for all the vaccine we receive, what percentage has been administered as a first dose to Kentuckians. Now, the other way to do this is to show all the doses, which include first dose and second dose, but we're committed to giving the second dose to everyone who gets the first dose-- that should happen as a matter of routine course. So the most important metric is who has started this journey, and received a first dose, which means they will be part of a two-dose immunization program and when they complete that they'll have the full benefit of the protection from the vaccine. And remember, if the third vaccine gets approved, if the Johnson and Johnson vaccine gets approved, and we're all cautiously hopeful that will happen later this month, that is only a one-dose vaccine. So again, in this paradigm that will be the metric that matters the most, is how many people have received their first dose, and therefore are on the path towards protective immunity from this disease. So, in this top chart you can see we've broken down the state program, those are all the allocations that came to us at the state level, and then we distributed out, or allocated out, to hospitals and local health departments predominantly to administer to Kentuckians. There's also the federal Long Term Care program, and so that's listed here is the LTCF Program, that was the partnership between the federal government and CVS and Walgreens to vaccinate licensed long term care facilities and assisted living facilities. Now, in this, you'll see 80,925 first doses, we had recaptured 13 trays of Pfizer, about 12,675 doses, back to the state program and reallocated it. And you’ll see the remaining doses in that program, they are working to do their second doses, and we'll go back for a third visit to finish up all of those nursing homes, and then they will use the remaining inventory to reach other populations and use up all of that. So, eventually, that will reach 100%, and then it will all be the state program going forward. You can also see in the lower table there that we will report to you on a week by week basis how many new vaccines we were allocated and how many unique persons were immunized that week. And the governor has already drawn attention to this, if you look down there at the week of January 12th, you can see we immunized 143% relative to the first doses. What that means is that backlog, that inventory that we did not use the first few weeks of the program in December, we used up very quickly once we swung into increased productivity in the month of January. Remember, I've said for a while, December was always going to be a challenge for a number of reasons. January was about bringing order to disorder. And now February is moving solidly into consistent, effective production and administration of vaccine and building a system that gives you confidence that you can sign up and get some clarity about when you may be able to be vaccinated, and then have certainty you will be vaccinated in a phased manner, which is what is necessary because of the quantities of vaccines we receive.
Please remember, even though you hear that the quantities have been increased and the federal government said 16% last week, and an additional 5% this week, those are wonderful developments to have more vaccine. However, the doses we're getting are still 68,000 or so doses a week, it's gonna take a while to reach everyone who wants to be immunized. And we have plenty of stories now, when health departments or vaccine sites turn on their scheduling, we find that, for example in one of the regions in the first hour that their phone lines were open they had 51,000 phone calls trying to schedule for the 700 doses they were given. In the first two and a half hours their phone lines were open 110,000 phone calls came in to try to access that 700 vaccines. So please, I know when you go to these sites, you make the phone calls, it feels like you're not able to get through. It's probably accurate for many of you, it's because we're only getting so much vaccine and the demand is so great. So please know they are vaccinating, they're using everything they're getting as quickly as they can. It's a matter of needing more vaccine to fulfill the demand right now, which is very large. And then I hope those who are maybe hesitant to receive the vaccine see how effective it is and how the others tolerate the vaccine so well, that other people will also want to follow along in the months ahead.
Last topic I want to talk about, . There's a small sporting event happening this weekend, the Chiefs and the Bucks should be playing with each other on the football field. Well you enjoy that game, for those of you who will enjoy, I need to ask you, please, please, please this is just like any other holiday or social event. You have to practice social distancing, you have to wear your masks, please. When people get together in private residences, in close proximity, that is one of the single most effective ways to spread this disease. We can't afford to have the disease spread now. With these mutations and these variants, every time we allow it to infect more people, it gives the virus the opportunity to mutate. It gives the virus the opportunity to learn how to defeat the antibodies that our bodies are forming based on the vaccines, or the natural infection. We just can't afford to have that. It dangers us all and could undermine the success we're also optimistic we're going to see in the months ahead as more people get vaccinated. So please don't hold any large gatherings.
Remember the current guideline was two households max and eight people or less. That was the current recommendation for the recent holidays and that still holds true now. It's good advice and I'd ask you to please follow it.
Six feet of distance or more between people.
Wear your masks at all times. It's difficult when you have parties because people eat and drink and you take your mask off and that's exactly what makes the infection easily spread. Please don't do that.
Have virtual Super Bowl parties. Enjoy the Super Bowl in the privacy of your own home. We're hopefully getting to the light at the end of the tunnel for this pandemic but if we take our eye off the ball, we can have more super spreader events and have more problems with more of these mutations and more spread of the disease.
So enjoy the Super Bowl this weekend. I'm not going to tell you who I would prefer to win, you can have your own favorites in that, but enjoy the game and do it safely. And please, there's a lot of wonderful stories out there. What I hear from folks go into these vaccine sites, there are smiles, there is clear, just unbridled happiness, in a way, perhaps, people haven't seen in a while because I think people feel empowered. They feel like they're able to take action, rather than feel like they're a passive victim of this disease, and that they're taking a positive step to bring it to an end. That's what we want to celebrate on and focus on-- is the optimism, the hope, the caring, and the kindness to all the good things about humanity. We could focus on all the negative sides too but ultimately, it doesn't help advance our cause and it doesn't help us rally together as a state, and as a community. So please, be good to each other, be kind, and we're working as hard as we can to get you vaccinated, and we'll do so as quickly as the vaccine qualities allow us. Governor, back to you. Thank you.
Thanks to Dr Stack, and everybody tune in tomorrow where we'll be announcing additional regional centers across Kentucky, building out our map as we go. We'll also be talking about local health departments, all of which are going to be getting a consistent supply for at least the next three weeks. Though that supply, remember, is limited and it's going to be dwarfed by the amount of calls, and interest. Again, that is a good thing. It means that we don't have the level of vaccine hesitancy we were worried about. We do have it in certain populations and we're going to work on that as we go in real time.
Positive cases today: 2,592 - That was about 100 cases more than this time last week, but significantly less than the two weeks before. Again, that is positive, in that we have significantly less virus than three weeks ago and we hope that this will be the first time by the end of this week that we have had four straight weeks, one month, of declining cases. Right now it looks possible at the very worst we think it will be close to what we had last week.
Probable cases: 861
Total confirmed cases: 369,519
Children Under 18: 416
We only have 106 red counties. Right now that's the fewest we've had in a while. We obviously need to decrease that.
Total tests conducted: 4,111,126 (PCR: 3,635,689, Serology: 108,611)
Positivity Rate: 8.53% - Shows you that this is real, it's not just a result of how many tests there are, we're seeing a decrease in the virus
Our hospitalization, ICU, and ventilator numbers are all really stable too. One’s up five, one’s down five, but again, we were able to take the steps we needed to, at a time when our healthcare capacity could have been overrun, like happened in so many other states-- we avoided that and now we've seen decrease.
Total hospitalized: 17,010
Currently hospitalized: 1,340
Total in ICU: 3,618
Currently in ICU: 368
On a ventilator: 171
Total recovered: 44,073
New deaths today: 51 - But the tough part about our days right now is the number of deaths. January was rough, it was our worst month, and February is going to be tough too. Today we're announcing 51 new deaths related to COVID-19, seven, or individuals 60 years or younger.
Total Deaths: 3,863
New deaths by county: 59 F Adair, 63 F Ballard, 85 F Bell, 29 F Boone, 79 M Boone, 82 F Boyle, 93 M Boyle, 93 M Breathitt, 72 M Calloway, 72 M Calloway, 51 M Campbell, 82 M Campbell, 87 F Carter, 60 M Casey, 75 F Fayette, 53 M Fayette, 86 M Fayette, 90 F Fleming, 68 M Franklin, 94 M Franklin, 53 M Gallatin, 62 M Gallatin, 85 F Hardin, 88 F Hardin, 81 M Hardin, 89 M Hart, 69 F Hopkins, 86 F Hopkins, 80 F Jefferson, 81 F Jefferson, 80 M Jefferson, 96 M Jefferson, 100 M Jefferson, 79 F Kenton, 77 F Laurel, 54 F McCracken, 65 M McCracken, 69 M McCracken, 63 F Marshall, 77 F Marshall, 71 M Meade, 80 M Meade, 64 F Mercer, 53 M Montgomery, 75 M Nicholas, 90 F Ohio, 88 M Trigg, 93 M Washington, 88 M Wayne, 87 F Whitley, 89 M Whitley
All losses are a loss for Kentucky. Let’s light those houses up green and let’s ring those bells at 10am. This is a reminder that we are thinking of the Kentuckians we’ve lost, their families, and their communities. It’s the color of compassion and renewal as their souls move from their bodies to a better place.
Racial breakdown of all cases: 85% White, 8.5% Black, 5% Multiracial, 1.2% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific Islander
Ethnicity breakdown of all cases: 94.3% Non-Hispanic, 5.7% Hispanic
Racial breakdown of all deaths: 87.9% White, 8.7% Black, 2.7% Multiracial, 0.6% Asian, 0.1% American Indian
Ethnicity breakdown of all deaths: 98.1% Non-Hispanic, 1.9% Hispanic
Phase 2: Indoor entertainment establishments can open at 25% capacity; must follow eating and drinking requirements if food is served. Miller Outdoor Theatre in Houston Miller Outdoor Theatre Outdoor entertainment establishments such as zoos, gardens, aquariums, theaters, stadiums, event spaces, arenas, concert venues and rodeos can be open for ticketed events with groups of up to ten (10) people from two (2) households. Timed ticketing is required. PHASE 2 GUIDELINES State parks and campgrounds in 22 counties across Washington will start to re-open on Monday, June 1, according to several Washington agencies. Joint statements issued Friday, May 29, by the Restaurants in Phase 2 can open for indoor dining at 25% capacity. Indoor fitness centers can open at 25% capacity. Outdoor sports can go from practice and training to competitions, but still no Phase 2 of reopening means: Small social gatherings - inside or outside - are allowed as long as you don’t see more than 5 people in a week, who you don’t live with. Outdoor recreation like camping is allowed as long as it involves 5 or fewer people from outside your household. What's open in each phase? This is a general summary of what's open in each phase of Safe Start. Visit the county status page to see which phase your county is in or information about modified phases. Report a Safe Start violation here. No matter which phase your county is in, staying home is still safest. If you do go out, remember: stay six feet apart, wear a face covering, wash your hands Phase 2 increases outdoor recreational activities, such as camping, allows small group gatherings of five people or less, opens barbershops and salons, opens restaurants at 50% capacity and tables... On January 5, Governor Inslee announced the Healthy Washington - Roadmap to Recovery plan, which lays out the process to safely reopen Washington state. The plan includes guidance for certain businesses and industries to help protect Washingtonians and minimize the spread of COVID-19. The full Healthy Washington phased chart is available here. This is a general summary of what's open in each phase of Safe Start. This is not an exhaustive list of allowed activities. Visit the county status page to see which phase your county is in and, where applicable, information about modified phases.Detailed guidance and information is available on the governor's website.. If you think a business isn't operating in compliance with the Safe Start These are the major changes to what's allowed in Phase 2: A maximum of five people from outside of a person’s household can gathering indoors. A maximum of 15 people from outside of a person’s
The Official MCU Phase Four Timeline Explained - YouTube
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