Gov. Carney talks about COVID-19 at Univ. Webex

This week’s University Forum Webex featured a Q&A video dialogue between Dr. Tony Allen and First State Gov. John Carney to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic as it relates to the State of Delaware.

Gov. Carney video-conferenced in to shared information about the restrictions and precautions that are in place and his perspective on the current and future state of affairs for Delaware amid the Coronavirus pandemic.

 

Dr. Tony Allen

Could you give our University community a sense of where we are at the moment, your thoughts on how long you think this is going to last, and what the provisions are that we should be really taking to heart?

 

Gov. John Carney

I think the best way to frame that, Tony, is from the perspective that I take in the decisions that we make on a day-to-day basis – with the objective of protecting the health and safety of every Delawarean. When you think about this virus, the population that is most at-risk are our senior citizens. Those are the ones who are most likely to be hospitalized, and ultimately most seriously affected by the virus. All of the 15 deaths that we have had in the state are from that population.

The population that has the fewest affected are the infants and children up to age five, and we have had only three of those cases in the statewide.

Now we are closing in one 1,000 positive cases. This morning (April 7) it was over 800, with more than 100 to be determined through our testing mechanism. So, the people we need to think about the most in terms of saving lives are our senior citizens.

What I think about is the graph, the predictive model of the CDC and from epidemiologists about when this thing is going to surge and accelerate the number of positive cases. We are just seeing that now because just over the past couple of weeks we have had the opportunity to do the kind of testing to determine how extensive the spread is in the State of Delaware, so we have better numbers.

The very hard number we get each day is the number of hospitalizations with COVID-19 positive cases. Working back, we calculate the number of available hospital beds, ICU beds, and ventilators, which is that equipment that keeps our senior citizens alive when they need critical care. We calculate the number of availability in hospitals and in our stockpile – the Division of Public Health’s resources – to help the hospitals.

We expect that based on the model for that acceleration that is happening now as we speak, we will trend if not today, certainly tomorrow, over 1,000 positive cases, and certainly over 150 hospitalizations. So, we will see over the next weeks a real surge in that.

Our objective has been to look at all the limiting factors in that – the ventilators, hospital beds, ICU beds, the workforce that we have available to monitor those ventilators, as well as the doctors and the nurses to assist at the bedside. 

There is a big equation with all of those pieces. And we look each day at how we are doing on each of those numbers, and how much protective equipment do we have for those front line hospital workers.

 

Dr. Allen

Do you feel good about where we are right now?

 

Gov. Carney

It really depends on your assumptions in how big the surge is going to be.

By the way, everybody has a role in that, in flatting the curve, in reducing the spread on a day-to-day basis. Our success will depend, in large part, on how successful we have been over the last month in convincing Delawareans, your students and faculty, the people who live in and around the University there in Dover and across the state, to observe proper hygiene and social distancing, which is so important.

All of my decisions to amend the Emergency Declaration has been based on that objective – to flatten that curve and reduce the spread, and protect our senior citizens.

 

Dr. Allen

How do you feel about Delawareans complying with social distancing guidelines?

 

Gov. Carney

Initially, not so well. That’s why we had to shut down restaurants, bars and beaches, in part responsive to the fact that Delawareans and visitors to the state were not following the guidance. So, we had to impose mandatory restriction.

Since then, as the number have trend up, I see many more people following the rules. I don’t see as many gatherings of more than a handful of people. And when you see people line up to go into permitted businesses or grocery stores or convenience stores, they are keeping a six-foot distance among themselves and others. We’ve had to provide guidance, and we’ve had to ramp up our enforcement a little bit, in a respectful way, but in a way that communicates the seriousness about situation.

We understand that people who live in Pennsylvania (are used to) coming to liquor stores in Northtowne Plaza (Claymont, Del.). (They) shouldn’t be doing that. We have a Stay-At-Home Order here for Delawareans and quarantines, and I think that approach – which was guided by the (state) Department of Justice and Attorney General (Kathy) Jennings – has been effective in sending the right message. And the message is a public health message, not a law enforcement message. It is to protect yourselves and protect your neighbors.

I think we are doing better. The question is how well did we do a week ago, two weeks ago, three weeks ago? That’s the period when the agent of virus set in.

 

Dr. Allen

Could you talk a little more about the travel restrictions?

 

Gov. Carney

(The travel restrictions) was mostly geared toward people coming into the state, to go to the beach, for other than essential activities. In the northern part of the state, along the Pennsylvania border, we had significant problems with liquor stores and retail establishments. We were having too many of those social gatherings, people were not observing the requirement to keep appropriate social distancing. In the case of Southeastern Pennsylvania, they were coming from an area of significant spread of the virus there. And we had Delawareans who were following the guidance and the rules, but being compromise by that.  

So basically, if people are traveling through our state, that’s fine. We don’t have any enforcement (with respect to the travel restrictions) on I-95 or I-495. It is when people come to Delaware to do things that are not essential business. If you are coming to Delaware, and you work here, you are permitted to come to work and then return home. The enforcement is one of education first, and giving people an opportunity to respond in a respectful way, because this is a public health emergency. It is protecting the travelers and protecting Delaware citizens.

 

Dr. Allen

The Stay-At-Home Order was extended to May 15. I am sure everybody is wondering what your perspective on extending that Stay-At-Home Order (beyond May 15) given what we know today.

 

Gov. Carney

It’s really hard to say, May 15 was selected mostly because people wanted a date that they could to plan around. We just took an extended time where we thought the peak was going to occur, like mid to late-April, and then extended into May with the expectation that it’s likely that we would have extend it beyond May 15. I think its optimistic to think that we will peak before then, and have enough data to loosen some the restriction by that period of time.

 

Dr. Allen

What about the use of the mask? What would your guidance be for Delawareans?

 

Gov. Carney

A lot of questions have come to us, particularly since the CDC amended its advice over the last week or so, recommending that masks be worn in certain situations. That is where the message needs to be more than little nuanced. Most people think the CDC is recommending masks to protect the mask wearer. Actually, they are recommending that people wear masks only when they are in public places that make it difficult to observe social distancing, like the grocery store, convenience or the hardware store. The idea of the CDC was to recommend that people wear a cloth mask in those circumstances to protect others from respiratory droplets that become airborne

There are concerns about that. One is, there are people who have essential jobs, who really don’t need to wear a mask, but now think they have to wear a mask. That is not what the advice is. Or that people now have to get a sophisticated mask, and masks of that nature are in short supply for first responders and healthcare workers. We don’t want competition for those masks.  So, we are trying to nuance that guidance, to make it a recommendation for people in public where you cannot observe appropriate social distancing.   

We also don’t want folks to think that “Well I have got a mask on, so I’m okay. I don’t have to worry about six feet (of social distancing) or about washing and sanitizing my hands.” No, no, no, no. (The face mask) is an extra precaution to protect others from those respiratory droplets spewing out.

The appropriate coughing hygiene is to cough or sneeze into your arm, so those droplet don’t spread. People have to keep mindful that you need to keep the (mask cloth) clean, when you go home, you have to make sure wash it with soap before reusing it the next day.

 

Dr. Allen

What is your perspective and any advice that you have for teachers, parents and students who are now virtually online at home?

 

Gov. Carney

It is a very big and serious concern of mine. First of all, kudos to higher ed for what you are doing. You really are leaning into it with your distance learning. And you’re right, you do have the technology to do that, and most of your students have that connectivity.

On the K-12 education side, we close the schools initially so they had time to plan for being away for an extended period of time, both to provide some instruction to their student and importantly to transition to feed the thousands of the students they feed every day. Many of our children get their nutrition at school at breakfast and lunch every day. And they’ve done a tremendous job standing up their summer feeding to service those children.

They also have been also been incredibly creative, and their plans were due I think this week or the beginning of last week, to the Secretary of Education demonstrating how they are going provide instruction.

Look, our kids are not going to get these months back. We’ve got to utilize them as best as we can, whether it is with the little ones in getting them reading material or material that helps them with their reading foundation. One of the concerns is reaching the students who don’t have the resources, that don’t have connectivity.

What I would tell all the teachers and educators is, is try to lean into this, and be creative about finding way to get reading materials in the hands of little ones and whatever they need to move their learning along, as well as the rest of elementary and secondary students.

 

An audience member’s question read to the Governor.

What are the experts predicting about the fall semester education season and the second wave of the virus? And how are we preparing in case there is another outbreak?

 

Gov. Carney

First of all, I think there is a general hope that by then, we’ll be moving along again publicly, and having more public interaction, and will have the opportunity to reduce some of the restrictions on public gatherings. I can’t guarantee that. As we have been throughout this pandemic, we will base our decisions on science and on the experts.

It has been a big question of mine, and we talked about it with our public health official this morning: when will we know when the peak is here, and what do we do on the other side of the peak? We don’t want to have another peak, a resurgence of virus. There are still a lot of unknowns there in the science community about that. There is big concern about the virus returning in the fall. We will have learned a lot on the state and federal levels about what is necessary on the front in. We did not do nearly enough testing nor did we have the capacity to do that testing on the front end this time. And there are lots of other things we will do differently in the future.

So, this current outbreak that we are experiencing now will inform decision-making for the fall. I think we need to get better guidance from the science, medical and public health communities as to what the other side of this peak looks like, and how it will affect our state of emergency and those restrictions of movement.

The last thing we want to do is get on the other side of the peak, do something too soon in terms to reducing the restrictions, and then have another outbreak in the late summer or fall.

 

Dr. Allen

Can you gives us your perspective on your interacting with the neighboring governors in Pennsylvania, New York„ New Jersey and Maryland?

 

Gov. Carney

It has been very good. The bad part about it, in each of those areas, they are really under the gun right now. New York is in the thick of it; they don’t have the surge capacity in their hospitals, the ventilators or the staff, and it is a dire situation for Gov. Cuomo. For (New Jersey)

Gov. Murphy, it’s the same. He needs ventilators to save people’s lives. (In Delaware) we’ve had the good advantage of having 200 ventilators in our warehouse that were not useable, because there were from the SARS outbreak in 2003. They had to be refurbished, and Bloom Energy developed a way to refurbishing them for the state of California. We are able to get about 100 ventilators of the 200 refurbished. I mentioned it to Gov. Murphy, and he’s got his people working on it. Our backup supply combined with our hospital supply makes me somewhat comfortable that we have the necessary ventilators. The question for us is do we have the staff, the respiratory therapists necessary to run and monitor them.

I talk to Gov. Wolf frequently and Gov. Hogan as well, and we are trying to coordinate our emergency work.  

 

A statement from an audience member to the Governor

I am an out-of-state parent whose child is still on campus. Kudos to Gov. Carney for being proactive and being one of the earlier issuers of Stay-At-Home Orders for your state.

 

Gov. Carney

Well, thank you for that. I must tell you, it was a very difficult decision to make initially the Stay-At-Home Order and the travel restrictions. At the outset, it was really simply based on the objective of protecting the most vulnerable. You’ve got to think about how do you do that.

And we each have a role in doing that, and that is the practice of these appropriate behaviors, to reduce the spread of the virus. It is very hard to get people out of their normal way of doing business. But we all need to do it. Everything we do affects our neighbors and everything our neighbors does affects us.

 

Dr. Allen

I sent you a letter last Friday just making sure you were aware of all the resources and facilities we have here at Delaware State University. I have talked with Bayhealth about extending our services, whether that would be making sure we lodge healthcare professionals who might need a place to stay if they don’t want to go home, provide storage and other provisions. Is there anything else that you think that Delaware State could be doing?

 

Gov. Carney

Well first of all, thank you very much for your offer to help. It really is important. It is kind of indicative of the way everyone in Delaware has pulled together to try to help in whatever way they can.

Right now they have space currently in their Beebe and Bayhealth (medical centers) that can be used a surge space. The thinking is to stand up this surge capacity, even if it is tent out on a lawn near the facility, so they can have staffing, pharmacy and other resources close by instead of having to truck them over to your dormitories or facilities.

I believe Delaware State’s resources are best used for the first-responders who do not want to go home. That other thing is continuing with the messaging that you are doing. I think LaKresha (Moultrie) did an unbelievable job at the outset (of the WebEx), talking about appropriate hygiene and wiping down surfaces, and sanitizing, and all the things you are encouraging the Delaware State family to do where they live. Those who are residents of those metro areas – Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, North New Jersey, New York City – just be mindful of the fact that we all can help out wherever we are. Our ability to help reduce that spread depends on all of us.

I lastly thank everybody in our state. Gov. (Jack) Markell used to refer to Delaware as a “state of neighbors,” and it is such a great description of our state. And we are just that. Neighbors take care of each other. And that is what this is really all about.