Covid-19 Brief

On this morning's COVID-19 Brief, panelists:
Pegge Erkenef, Spokesperson for Kenai Peninsula Borough School District,
Jenny Carroll from the City of Homer,
Nurse Lorne Carroll from the Homer Public Health Center and AK State DHSS, and Derotha Ferraro from South Peninsula Hospital, answer questions from the listeners and talk about COVID immunity, CARES Act funding and safety protocols in the school system.
NOTE:

Students in schools all across the borough will be attending classes in person starting Tuesday, except maybe in Nanwalek, where issues other than Covid-19 have kept students at home.
    During Thursday morning’s Covid Brief with Kathleen Gustafson, school district spokesperson Pegge Erkeneff said cases in the Central Peninsula had gotten low enough that students could start attending classes in person, but added that water issues may still affect students in the South Kachemak Bay community.

On this week's edition of the Covid Brief, fill-in host Josh Krohn welcomes Kenai Peninsula Borough School District spokesperson Pegge Erkeneff and Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District Executive Director Tim Dillon to discuss back-to-school issues and the emergency financial aid process.

Jenny Carroll, from the City of Homer and Derotha Ferraro, spokesperson for South Peninsula Hospital answer questions from the listeners and talk about City CARES Act funding, update the local data on COVID-19 and navigate the Kenai Peninsula School District's webpage.
You can access the school district's data set for determining whether classes will meet, day to day, at 
kpbsd.k12.ak.us/communications.
 

Teachers and administrators are already back to work. They're preparing for students to return to classrooms on August 24. How will schools be able to keep students and workers safe?On this weeks COVID-19 Brief,  Principal Kari Dendurent from Homer Middle School, Pegge Erkeneff, spokesperson for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, and Doug Waclawski, principal at Homer High School take questions from the listeners.

The incidence of Coronavirus infection around Homer has been lower so far in July than in June, when the Lower Kenai Peninsula was regularly leading the state -- outside of Anchorage -- in positive tests.
    On Thursday's Covid Brief, South Peninsula Hospital’s Derotha Ferraro spoke to the decline in positive test results.
    “It is true that we've slowed down a bit with our positive cases in the month of July, as compared to June,” Ferraro said. “June, we were really doing a lot of testing and seeing a higher positivity rate.”

Jenny Carroll, Information Officer for the City of Homer, Nurse Lorne Carroll from the Homer Public Health Clinic, Derotha Ferraro of South Peninsula Hospital, and Jody Mastey, administrator for the SBERG loan program are the guests this week. Every Thursday morning at 9:00 a.m. KBBI's Kathleen Gustafson and representatives from the Homer Unified Command answer listener questions live on the air. If you have questions for the panel, email them to kathleen@kbbi.org.

Jenny Carroll, Information Officer for the City of Homer, Nurse Lorne Carroll from the Homer Public Health Clinic, Pegge Erkeneff from Kenai Peninsula Borough School District and Derotha Ferraro of South Peninsula Hospital discuss the latest from the Homer Unified Command and answer listener questions about COVID relief funds, the fall semester and who qualifies for a COVID test.
Go to the City of Homer's COVID-19 page for links and information.

Homer's COVID-19  Incident Command Team takes listener questions.  Jenny Carroll from the City of Homer and  DHSS Nurse Lorne Carroll talk about what causes a  false positive and if differences in level of  exposure to  COVID-19  affect the severity of patients' response to the virus.

South Peninsula Hospital Spokesperson Derotha Ferraro talks about the six cases of COVID-19 among workers at SPH that were confirmed by The Homer News this week.
 

The Homer COVID-19 Incident Command Team welcomes epidemiologist, Dr. Michelle Rothoff and Chief Medical Officer for the State of Alaska, Dr. Anne Zink to the panel to take questions from the listeners.

Also, Jenny Carroll, Comminucations Officer for the City of Homer goes over the updated State quarantine and testing mandates for travelers.

And, DHSS Public Health Nurse Lorne Carroll and Derotha Ferraro from South Peninsula Hospital respond to the listeners and provide local updates and perspectives.

Transcription

Jenny Carroll, Information Officer for the City of Homer, Nurse Lorne Carroll from the Homer Public Health Clinic, and Derotha Ferraro of South Peninsula Hospital discuss the latest from the Homer Unified Command and answer listener questions about the 5 new cases of COVID-19  detected through tests conducted at SPH.

For updated, local, state and national information about COVID-19, go to:cityofhomer-ak.gov/covid19

Transcript:

Thursday CBrief 200528

Part I:
Jenny Carroll, Information Officer for the City of Homer, Nurse Lorne Carroll from the Homer Public Health Clinic, and Derotha Ferraro of South Peninsula Hospital discuss the latest from the Homer Unified Command and answer listener questions.

Part II:
Rachel Tussey from the City of Homer and Harbormaster Bryan Hawkins address issues, policies and practices specific to the Homer Harbor.

The live, on-air panel for the COVID Brief convenes every Thursday at 9 a.m. If you have questions for the panel, email them to kathleen@kbbi.org.
 

The KBBI COVID Brief with Kathleen Gustafson and guests Derotha Ferraro of South Peninsula Hospital, Jenny Carroll of the City of Homer, and Nurse Lorne Carroll of the Homer Public Health Clinic discuss the latest from the Homer Unified Command and answer listener questions.