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There are a number of community members and groups responding to the many needs the coronavirus pandemic and stay at home orders are creating. Earlier this week we spoke with Emmanuel Lutheran Church in West Asheville, who are providing food for many families now facing food insecurity because of the mass of joblessness. Listen to the interview here:
As of this morning on April 20, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services counts 6,764 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the state. That’s an increase of 271 cases since the April 19 numbers were released. NCDHHS tallies 179 deaths statewide, up 7 deaths since April 19.
Buncombe County reported 47 lab-confirmed positive cases as of April 17. Three people have died in Buncombe County from COVID-19.
Buncombe County food stamp applications are up 1,000%. An unprecedented number of unemployment insurance applications has brought North Carolina’s online application portal down. Many Western North Carolinians are turning to Food and Nutrition Services, formerly known as food stamps, to feed themselves and their families.
Thirteen people have died in Henderson County due to complications surrounding COVID-19. NCDHHS says there are currently four ongoing outbreaks in congregate living facilities in Henderson County as of April 20— three in nursing homes and one in a residential facility. In congregate living settings an outbreak is defined as two or more laboratory-confirmed cases in the same facility.
Ashville citizens flooded the City Council with calls to open hotels to the homeless and others in need during the COVID-19 outbreak. Officials say that could lead to more infections. Instead, the city is housing 50 people in Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville. In extreme cases, people without homes can stay in hotels, officials said, along with medical and public safety workers. Half of the council’s hour-long April 14 meeting consisted of phoned-in public comments and responses by officials. Thirteen of the 14 prerecorded callers spoke on the topic of hotels, saying they should be open to the homeless or other people left vulnerable.
At the request of Mayor Esther Manheimer, Assistant City Manager Cathy Ball said that medical and public safety personnel can stay in hotels at a “significantly reduced rate” that’s paid by the nonprofit Dogwood Health Trust, which uses money from the sale of Mission Hospital. Local officials explored having people without homes stay in hotels, Ball said, but it wasn’t recommended by Interim County Health Director Dr. Jennifer Mullendore.
“It’s purely a voluntary program. So anybody can come in and leave,” the assistant city manager told the Associated Press. “So being able to monitor and check medical stats and temperatures where people were in hotel rooms became very problematic. It was also problematic to be able to monitor to make sure people were not gathering in those rooms in significant numbers.”
Officials have opted for the Harrah’s Cherokee Center, where volunteers are more easily able to monitor the health of occupants. Ball said if someone who is homeless is suspected to have COVID-19, they are quarantined in a hotel while they await test results.
Steady Collective Mobile Outreach:
Firestorm Books & COOP: Tues, 4/20/20, 1:30pm-4:00pm
Haywood St. Congregation: Weds, 4//21/20, 10:30am-12:00pm
AHOPE: Fri, 10:00am-12:00pm, 4/24/20
Pisgah View (across from community center): Fri, 5/1/20, 12:00pm-1:30pm
(Updated 4/20/20)
* Syringes for intravenous & intramuscular (steroids, hormones, insulin) use
Asheville Humane Society’s Community Solutions Program can help with pet care. They already deliver pet food to Haywood Congregation and AHOPE and are looking to most effectively distribute other supplies to those in higher need during Covid-19. Call 828-761-2008 or email [email protected] for more information on the following programs:
Pet food/supply assistance
Temporary re-homing
Low-cost spay/neuter
Low-cost vaccinations
Pet behavior help
Pet-friendly housing guide
Re-homing
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals (ASPCAA)- Call their Hotline @ 1-800-738-9437, between 8am-8pm. Pick-up is drive-thru only; Do not arrive early; Do not bring your pets; call hotline if you are running late. Have someone else pick up your order if you are experiencing symptoms of Coronavirus. (Updated 4/14/20)
Emmanuel Lutheran Church is conducting a “Drive Up/Open Trunk” Food Bank for any community member in need. They will be open from 12pm to 2pm on Sunday. Drive to the back of the church and open your trunk. They have fruits, vegetables, dry goods, meats, eggs, etc. Donations from the Manna Food Bank, ALDI’s and others makes this possible.
One group that you may not think would be suffering right now is Western North Carolina Farmers. While there is still such a high demand from consumers, some farmers are unable to sell the glut of food that they have. To help explain how that could be happening, AFM Newshour spoke to Molly Nicholie, Program Manager of the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project or ASAP.
As today, April 16, North Carolina counts 5,465 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services page. That’s an increase of 342 cases since the April 15 numbers were released.
NCDHHS tallies 131 deaths statewide, up 14 deaths since April 15. Buncombe County now reports 43 lab-confirmed positive cases, though the state count remains at 41. Three people have died in the county from COVID-19.
Much of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Western North Carolina is closed, according to a press release from the National Park Service. While the Asheville commuter zone remains open, the parkway is mostly closed from its southern end near Cherokee at milepost 469 through the Blowing Rock area at milepost 292.
Gov. Roy Cooper said in an April 15 press conference that reopening the economy will be less like flipping a “light switch” and more like using a “dimmer switch” to adjust restrictions incrementally. Cooper identified three areas that will need to see major improvement before he considers easing restrictions which are testing, tracing and trends.
https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2020/04/16/coronavirus-what-know-april-16/5143464002/
Asheville’s own Luke Combs has released a new song titled “Six Feet Apart” on YouTube yesterday. As of today, the song is ranked No. 11 on YouTube’s trending list. If you “ain’t got much else goin’ on,” give it a listen.
He opens with a spring memory that is familiar to Western North Carolinians — “When the dogwoods start to bloom, when the crickets hum their tune, is usually about the time that I feel most alive,” he sings.
“But the news has all been bad and the world just seems so sad,” he continues, “and I ain’t had much else goin’ on, so I sat down to write this song. It’s a mystery, I suppose, just how long this thing goes. There’ll be crowds and there’ll be shows, there will be light after dark someday when we aren’t six feet apart.”
On April 9, more than 300 educators, administrators, parents, and students in North Carolina submitted a letter to State Superintendent Mark Johnson urging him to direct the NC Department of Public Instruction to take action that would protect the privacy and safety of transgender students. As this topic has been advocated for years, the problem has become especially apparent because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The online learning platforms, chat rooms, power points, discussion forums, and virtual testing sites that rely on generated student usernames that are based on their legal name, visible to other students and faculty. If the legal name is different than the name the student uses on a daily basis, which is the case for many transgender students, the system may reveal their transgender identity without their consent. This is a violation of the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as well as state and district privacy policies. That privacy violation also threatens the safety of students, as transgender students are significantly more likely to experience bullying and harassment both online and when they go back to school.
Click here to read more
COVID-19 in prisons:
Emancipate NC, a nonprofit organization that empowers and engages communities to solve North Carolina’s criminal justice problems has been attempting to shed light on the concern about children in detention being cut off from in-person visits with their families which could, in turn, exacerbate their mental health issues. According to a 2016 state report, over 99 percent of kids in the juvenile justice system have at least one mental health diagnosis, and 70 percent have more than one diagnosis. As of last week, no one in the juvenile facilities in NC had tested positive for COVID-19 and juvenile justice officials are monitoring the situation closely. They’ve already implemented several operational changes to help preempt and reduce opportunities for the virus to spread. This includes suspending visitation and volunteer activities at juvenile facilities. But also reducing the influx of new cases into the system. Last week, the National Juvenile Defender Center release a letter reduce the number of kids coming into the system, called on juvenile justice decision-makers to release as many kids as possible, limit in-person contact between youths and probation and parole staff and cancel fines and fees imposed on families during the pandemic.
State prisons begin moving inmates to community supervision
https://mountainx.com/news/state-prisons-begin-moving-inmates-to-community-supervision/
At an April 9 press conference, Governor Roy Cooper r announced a new executive order, that went into effect at 5 p.m. Monday, April 13, and will be in effect until Wednesday, May 13 to “help prevent stores from becoming flashpoints for virus transmission.”
The measure limits shoppers in any retail location to 20% of the store’s permitted fire capacity or five customers per 1,000 square feet. High-volume locations such as checkouts and deli counters must mark six-foot spaces to ensure social distancing in customer lines, and all stores must conduct “frequent and routine environmental cleaning and disinfection of high-touch areas.”
Also included in the order are additional rules for nursing homes: All communal and group activities must be canceled, and all employees must wear face masks while working. In addition, the order eases certain regulations on businesses filing unemployment claims to speed up the distribution of state benefits.
As those of us in Buncombe County and the state of North Carolina are forced to stay at home, the stress and anxiety of the coronavirus pandemic have created a perfect storm for domestic violence victims.
April Burgess-Johnson Executive Director of Helpmate and Geoff Sidoli, Executive Director of Mountain Child Advocacy Center spoke with News Team correspondent KP Whaley about the significant increase in requests for services we are seeing in WNC.
Listen to the full interview below
Masks are now being recommended to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, but finding masks can be a challenge. A local group of activists saw the need and responded immediately by forming the group Masks Of Love, a DIY sewing group creating homemade masks for the community. AFM News correspondent KP Whaley talked to one of their organizers about their efforts.