COVID-19 Joint Task Force Meeting Notes

TUESDAY, MARCH 16

The  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting kicked off with Rae Young Bond welcoming members. Mayor Coppinger began his remarks reminding the Task Force that Saturday marked the one year anniversary of the first confirmed COVID-19 positive case in Hamilton County. Hamilton County has seen more than 41,000 cases over the last year and 464 deaths as a result of Covid-19. 

Mayor Coppinger notes the progress made with downward trending of case numbers and increasing numbers of vaccinations and thanks various community partners that have stepped in to provide both community testing support and now vaccinations. He concluded his remarks by reporting on the transition of the Alstom Site from a testing location to a vaccine distribution site, noting that this will be extremely helpful when the Hamilton County Health Department begins receiving enough vaccine supply to run all four vaccine sites with increased capacity. Mayor Berke provided an update on City of Chattanooga operations and remarked on national vaccine distribution efforts and highlights that records are being broken every day as more and more people all over the country are getting vaccinated. 

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on the HCHD’s vaccination and testing efforts. Administrator Barnes reports that cases have been trending down, but they have leveled off rather than continuing to trend downward. Additionally, in an effort to prepare for an additional vaccination distribution site, Barnes reminded members that the Alstom Site will no longer be focused on testing but will soon be HCHD’s fourth vaccination site. HCHD continues to seek medically trained volunteer support to build capacity at each site in anticipation of increased supply. 

The Health Department is working with various community partners to welcome any nurses, physicians, or other health care professionals that may be interested in volunteering for or working with the department on the distribution process. Interested individuals should call the Health Department’s hotline (423-209-8383).

The HCHD encourages individuals who are symptomatic or may have been exposed to someone with Covid-19 to get tested. A schedule of free testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting. HCHD vaccination information and updates can be found here.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report another week of low numbers of their Covid-19 patient census. Representatives otherwise report stable levels of PPE, testing supplies and staffing. 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. HCS representative Jennifer Bronson reports that cases among staff and students remain relatively low and noted that HCS is currently projected to have lower case numbers than last month. Bronson provided an overview of where the cases are appearing among students and an estimation of where the school system is on staff and faculty vaccinations. Bronson announced HCS will host a second dose vaccination event for faculty and staff this weekend.

UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported on UTC’s continued routine testing on campus and notes the positivity rate from that endeavor remains well below 1%. Dr. Smith remarked that UTC is preparing their clinic to receive a vaccine shipment as soon as this week. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reports no new cases at this time. 

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

The Community Mobilization Committee provided an update on their work in partnership with the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga and other stakeholders on communication and education efforts related to the vaccine. The Data & Analytics Committee gave a brief update on the latest vaccination data and provided an overview of Covid-19 variant research and mitigation efforts. 

The Mayors’ Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, March 23.

TUESDAY, MARCH 9

The  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Rae Young Bond welcoming members.  Mayor Coppinger thanks everyone for their continued service to the task force. Mayor Coppinger shared that he visited the Enterprise South Nature Park, one of three vaccination sites the Hamilton County Health Department is running.  He reported the site was running extremely well with the staff, many of whom were volunteers. He again thanked all those organizations working to support the vaccination effort and shared his thanks to the Health Department and Administrator Becky Barnes for their year of sacrifice and service.  Mayor Berke provided an update on the federal American Rescue Plan and its anticipated impact on local governments.  

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on the HCHD’s vaccination and testing efforts. Administrator Barnes noted that demand in testing had fallen in recent days, after several weeks of steadily declining. Barnes anticipated more vaccine will become available from the state in the coming days and asked that providers get all their paperwork into the state to be able to assist in the effort to get vaccine into our community. 

The Health Department is working with various community partners to welcome any nurses, physicians, or other health care professionals that may be interested in volunteering for or working with the department on the distribution process. Interested individuals should call the Health Department’s hotline (423-209-8383).

The HCHD encourages individuals who are symptomatic or may have been exposed to someone with Covid-19 to get tested. A schedule of free testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting. HCHD vaccination information and updates can be found here.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report another week of low numbers of their Covid-19 patient census. Representatives otherwise report stable levels of PPE, testing supplies and staffing. 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. HCS representative Ryan Ledford reports that cases among staff and students remain relatively low and noted that HCS will discontinue their phase tracker beginning the week of March 15.  UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported on UTC’s continued routine testing on campus and notes the positivity rate from that endeavor remains well below 1% and has fallen even lower in the past two weeks. Dr. Smith remarked that UTC leadership continues to make plans regarding summer camps and will keep the group updated as details are finalized.  Dr. Smith also updated the task force that UTC was in the planning stages of their vaccination program with UTC students. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reports three new cases and continued operation within their Phase 3 at this time.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

The Community Mobilization Committee provided an update on their work in partnership with the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga and other stakeholders on communication and education efforts related to the vaccine. The  Data & Analytics Committee gave a brief update on the latest vaccination data and provided an overview of Covid-19 variant research and mitigation efforts. 

The Mayors’ Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, March 16.

TUESDAY, MARCH 2

The  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Rae Young Bond welcoming members.  Mayor Coppinger provided a brief overview of the Hamilton County Covid-19 case count and positivity rate, noting that numbers continue to decline. While providing an update on Hamilton County’s vaccination process, Mayor Coppinger reports that the Health Department is  operating three vaccination sites and hopes to move towards operating all three sites full time as vaccine supply allows. As vaccination efforts continue to scale up, testing demand has significantly decreased in the county. 

Mayor Coppinger concluded his remarks by reminding everyone that Hamilton County’s mask mandate expires at the end of March and asked the task force members for feedback regarding next steps. The members of the Joint Task Force are in support of an extension of the mask mandate. 

Mayor Berke shared that Governor Lee has signed additional emergency Executive Orders, lifting state restrictions on nursing home visitation and extending the option for remote government meetings until April 28th. As a follow up from last week, Mayor Berke reports City facilities and services have reopened and the reopening process is going well. 

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on the HCHD’s testing schedule, noting that due to the decrease in testing demand, they have decreased testing to five days a week and will repurpose staff towards the vaccination process. Administrator Barnes expects to receive additional doses of vaccine in their regular shipment next week and anticipates additional vaccine supply continuing to make its way into our community over the coming weeks. Overall, HCHD officials are working with partners to build capacity to be able to vaccinate as many people per day as the supply of vaccine continues to increase. 

The Health Department is working with various community partners to welcome any nurses, physicians, or other health care professionals that may be interested in volunteering for or working with the department on the distribution process. Interested individuals should call the Health Department’s hotline (423-209-8383).

Administrator Barnes confirmed that many metrics are moving in the right direction. She notes that, despite the encouraging trends, the community should continue to wear masks and socially distance from others. Due to known variants circulating across the nation, there is still a chance for Hamilton County to see case spikes again. Administrator Barnes suggests residents continue using the mitigation measures to avoid spreading the virus to allow the HCHD to focus resources on vaccinations without having to worry about an increase in cases. 

The Hamilton County Health Department offers free testing five days a week at the Alstom site and community partners offer additional opportunities for free testing. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383).  HCHD vaccination information and updates can be found here.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report low numbers of their Covid-19 patient census. Representatives otherwise report strong levels of PPE, testing supplies and staffing. Representatives shared their appreciation for this group’s collaboration and willingness to work together, and recommended continued messaging to the community related to mitigation strategies and vaccinations. 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. HCS representative Jennifer Bronson reports a small uptick in case counts across the system since HCS has been back in buildings, however cases still remain relatively low. Additionally, Bronson reported the first school-sponsored vaccination effort over the weekend was successful. HCS plans, in partnership with other institutions, to do another smaller event this weekend and will do targeted follow ups to ensure that every HCS staff member that wants to be vaccinated has adequate opportunity. 

UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported on UTC’s continued routine testing on campus and notes the positivity rate from that endeavor remains well below 1%. Dr. Smith reports that UTC leadership continues to make plans regarding summer camps and will keep the group updated as details are finalized. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reports one new case and continued operation within their Phase 3 at this time.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

The Community Testing Committee, now named the Community Mobilization Committee announced they, in partnership with the Community Foundation and other stakeholders applied and were awarded over $400,000 from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee Foundation to implement a Covid-19 vaccine education and messaging campaign. Members of the committee continue to work on messaging efforts, host testing and vaccination events, and additionally support the vaccination distribution process. 

The  Data & Analytics Committee gave a brief update on their work. The group is working with the Baylor School Lab to learn more about COVID-19 variants and stand ready to provide additional research and data. 

The Mayors’ Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, March 9. 

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23

The  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Katie Wells welcoming the group in place of Rae Young Bond.  Mayor Coppinger provided a brief overview of where the Hamilton County case count is currently, noting that yesterday there were only 20 Hamilton County residents hospitalized and that officials are pleased with the significant improvements. Hamilton County has now given over 60,000 first doses of the vaccine and they continue to operate out of their three distribution sites- the Riverpark, CARTA bus barn, and Enterprise South Nature Park. Mayor Coppinger also reported that the County plans to continue their weekly Youtube Live sessions on Thursdays at 3:00pm in efforts to keep the public informed on vaccination updates.

Mayor Berke reported that the first floor of City Hall is open to allow residents to pay property taxes and more City facilities will open on Monday March 1. Mayor Berke updated attendees that Governor Lee is extending the option for conducting online meetings through the end of March. Mayor Berke reminded the group that early voting for Chattanooga’s upcoming Mayoral and City Council races is Thursday, February 25th and election day is on Tuesday, March 2. 

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on vaccination efforts, reporting that despite the disruption of vaccine shipments due to last week’s inclement weather, they expect to be caught up by the end of this week. Administrator Barnes suggested that members encourage additional healthcare providers to apply to become a vaccine distributor through the state, as approval for these applications typically take time to be processed. Lastly, the HCHD still has a call out for medical staff interested in assisting with testing and vaccine distribution. There are both volunteer and paid positions available at this time. Interested staff can contact the Health Department to learn more information. 

The Hamilton County Health Department continues to offer free testing six days a week at the Alstom site and community partners offer additional opportunities for free testing seven days a week. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383).  HCHD vaccination information and updates can be found here.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report low numbers for their Covid-19 patient census. Representatives otherwise report strong PPE and testing supplies and recommend continued messaging to the community related to mitigation strategies and vaccinations. All three health systems also note that they stand ready to support the HCHD and vaccinate community members whenever they have access to additional vaccine supply. 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Ryan Ledford reports low case numbers among staff and students. They continue to offer rapid testing onsite for symptomatic staff. It was also announced that Clinica Medicos is using their vaccine to assist in getting local educators vaccinated as the state announced last week that teachers were able to start getting the vaccine on February 22nd. The Hamilton County School Board has partnered with One to One health, per Dr. Keith Helton, and they will work to vaccinate some HCS staff members in the days to come.  

UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported on UTC’s continued routine testing on campus and notes the positivity rate has remained at less than half a percent (.4%). Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reports no new cases at this time.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

The Community Testing Committee, now named the Community Mobilization Committee announced they, in partnership with the Community Foundation and other stakeholders applied and were awarded over $400,000 from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee Foundation to implement a Covid-19 vaccine education and messaging campaign. 

The  Data & Analytics Committee gave a brief update on their work and stand ready to do additional research and work as the task force should need it. 

The Mayors’ Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, March 2.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16

The  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Rae Young Bond  welcoming guest Dr. Elizabeth Forrester from the Baylor School.  Mayor Coppinger reported another week of active cases and other important metrics trending downward. Mayor Coppinger again reemphasized that this is not the time to let our guard down and that as a community we need to continue to social distance, wear a mask and practice good hygiene.  Mayor Coppinger and Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes continue to host briefings on Youtube on Thursdays at 3:00pm to update residents about vaccination distribution and Covid-19 testing. 

Mayor Berke announced that starting Wednesday February 17, City Hall would open the first floor to those wanting to pay property taxes in person. Mayor Berke also noted that Davidson and Shelby Counties experienced changes to their testing and vaccination protocols as a result of extreme cold and weather and shared his thanks that the Hamilton County Health Department was able to reform services to continue to provide services.

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on vaccination efforts, reporting that due to today’s inclement weather, vaccine appointments originally scheduled for today will be rescheduled to February 25. Overall, vaccination efforts are going well. The biggest challenge the HCHD is facing continues to be a limited supply of vaccine. 

The Hamilton County Health Department continues to offer free testing six days a week at the Alstom site and community partners offer additional opportunities for free testing seven days a week. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383).  HCHD vaccination information and updates can be found here.

Dr. Elizabeth Forrester from the Baylor School Lab provided an update on the lab’s experience with Covid-19 variants. In coordination with the CDC, Dr. Forrester and the Baylor Lab are determining the appropriate next steps when they do have results indicating a variant may be present. After the purchase of a new piece of equipment that helps identify and determine variants within a sample, Dr. Forrester proposed local collaboration efforts to decide the best way to utilize the technology within the community.  At a local level, this technology is important because it can inform public health officials about the severity of an outbreak, allow clusters to be better identified, and better understand the rate of transmission among the variants. 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report a continued decline in Covid-19 patient census. All hospital systems have generally finished first and second dose vaccinations for staff. Representatives otherwise report strong PPE and testing supplies and recommend continued messaging to the community related to mitigation strategies and vaccinations. 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson reports low case numbers among staff and students. HCS anticipates opening K-12 schools 5 days a week next week. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported on UTC’s first week of routine testing on campus. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reports low case numbers among staff and students and plans to potentially shift phases in the coming days.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Both the Community Testing and Data & Analytics subgroups gave brief updates on their work and stand ready to do additional work as the task force should need it. 

The Mayors’ Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, February 23rd.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9

The  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Rae Young Bond  welcoming Task Force members and thanking them for their service to the community. Mayor Coppinger provided an update on Hamilton County’s COVID-19 case count, stating that case counts are trending in the right direction along with positivity rates, hospitalizations, and ICU numbers. Mayor Coppinger and Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes continue to host briefings on Youtube on Thursdays at 3:00pm to inform residents about vaccination distribution and Covid-19 testing. Hamilton County is now vaccinating individuals within the 1a1 and 1a2 phases in addition to individuals 70 years of age and older.

Mayor Berke provided an update from his call with mayors from Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis. Mayor Berke also provided an update on key proposals currently in consideration at the Tennessee General Assembly that could limit the power of local governments during emergency declarations.

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on vaccination efforts, reporting that demand for vaccine remains high, and they are experiencing success in encouraging individuals to return for their second dose. Barnes concluded her remarks by noting that their current implementation is going well. The biggest challenge the HCHD is facing continues to be a limited supply of vaccine. 

The Hamilton County Health Department continues to offer free testing six days a week at the Alstom site and community partners offer additional opportunities for free testing seven days a week. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383).  HCHD vaccination information and updates can be found here.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report a continued decline in Covid-19 patient census. All hospital systems have been working to finalize second doses of the vaccination to their workforce and report that the process is nearing completion. Representatives otherwise report strong PPE and testing supplies and recommend continued messaging to the community related to mitigation strategies and vaccinations. 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson reports low case numbers among staff and students. HCS plans to announce next week’s phase this evening. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported on UTC’s first week of routine testing on campus. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reports low case numbers among staff and students and plans to potentially shift phases in the coming days.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Both the Community Testing and Data & Analytics subgroups gave brief updates on their work and stand ready to do additional work as the task force should need it. 

The Mayors’ Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, February 16th. 

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2

The  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Rae Young Bond  welcoming Task Force members and thanking them for their continued service. Mayor Coppinger began his remarks by providing an update on the County’s weekly YouTube livestream, which gives Mayor Coppinger and the Hamilton County Health Department an opportunity to inform the community about relevant updates on vaccination distribution and Covid-19 testing. Mayor Coppinger notes that Hamilton County case counts are trending downwards, though the positivity rate still remains relatively stable above 10%. Finally, Mayor Coppinger noted that the state dropped the vaccine eligibility age to 70 years old. While Mayor Coppinger also noted that appointment slots are still quickly filling up for the 75 and older age band, the County anticipates being able to align their age range eligibility to the state’s in the days to come. 

Mayor Berke began his remarks by noting that elected officials in Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis report seeing case numbers trending down, again, and that many counties were working to make decisions about school openings. Additionally, Mayor Berke says that he continues to monitor negotiations around the Covid-19 federal relief package and its effect on localities. 

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on vaccination efforts, reporting that demand for vaccine remains high, and folks are returning for their second dose.  Despite a few logistic challenges such as a few individuals signing up for too many appointment slots or signing up despite being ineligible, Barnes concludes that their current implementation is going well. The biggest challenge the HCHD is facing continues to be a limited supply of vaccine. 

The Hamilton County Health Department continues to offer free testing six days a week at the Alstom site and community partners offer additional opportunities for free testing. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383).  HCHD vaccination information and updates can be found here.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report a continued decline in Covid-19 patient census. All hospital systems have been working to provide second doses of the vaccination to their workforce and report that the process is nearing completion. Representatives otherwise report strong PPE and testing supplies and recommend continued messaging to the community related to mitigation strategies and vaccinations. 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson reports low case numbers among staff and students. HCS welcomed kids back into buildings this week with in-person classes four days a week among K-5 students. HCS plans to announce next week’s phase this evening. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported results from their move-in testing efforts, noting that 97% of students were compliant with an overall positivity rate of about .47%.. UTC will roll out a plan for routine testing that includes on campus students, employees, and a small percentage of students living off campus. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reports four new employee cases and two new student caes since last week.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Both the Community Testing and Data & Analytics subgroups gave brief updates on their work and stand ready to do additional work as the task force should need it. 

The Mayors’ Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, February 9th.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 26

The  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Rae Young Bond  welcoming Task Force members and thanking them for their continued service. Mayor Coppinger began his remarks by reminding task force members that deaths reported on a single day does not actually mean that that number of people died on that specific day, and that reporting deaths as a result of Covid-19  is a multi-day process. Additionally,  Mayor Coppinger reports continued decreases in case numbers, hospitalizations and the County positivity rate, which is welcome news. Mayor Coppinger notes that a majority of the long term healthcare facilities in Hamilton County are vaccinated. Mayor Coppinger expressed his support for continued messaging about individuals taking steps to protect themselves against the virus which goes beyond simply getting the vaccine. Mayor Coppinger finally expressed hope that the supply of vaccine will increase in the near future.

Mayor Berke began his remarks by noting that elected officials in Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis  also report experiencing decreases in case numbers and hospitalizations. Similarly, these municipalities are seeing an escalation in gun violence which is representative of the entire country since the pandemic began. Mayor Berke reminded task force members of the COVID-19 Memorial Project website as well as his final State of the City Address taking place on Thursday, January 28th. 

The Hamilton County Health Department continues to offer free testing 6 days a week at the Alstom site. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing sites and events, including HCHD and their partners, can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383).  HCHD vaccination information and updates can be found here.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report a continued decline in Covid-19 patient census. All hospital systems have been working to provide second doses of the vaccination to their workforce and report that the process has been going extremely well. Representatives otherwise report strong PPE and testing supplies and recommend continued messaging to the community related to mitigation strategies and vaccinations. 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Ryan Ledford reported that they are seeing case numbers among staff and students decline as well. They planned on announcing the learning configuration for next week Tuesday evening in addition to announcing updated criteria and phases and what it means for in person days across each grade band. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported that UTC has conducted tests on students moving back on campus, with only a very small amount of tests being positive. UTC plans to also roll out a plan for routine testing that includes on campus students, employees, and a small percentage of students living off campus. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reports three new employee cases and seven new student caes since last week.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Both the Community Testing and Data & Analytics subgroups gave brief updates on their work and stand ready to do additional work as the task force should need it. 

The Mayors’ Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, February 2nd.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 19

The  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Rae Young Bond  welcoming Task Force members and thanking them for their continued service to our community. Mayor Coppinger began his remarks by providing an update on the vaccination process. The Health Department is continuing with vaccinations, while also focusing on getting second doses to people who have received the first dose already. The Health Department is now conducting vaccinations by appointment only and eligible individuals can sign up for an appointment online. Additionally, the Health Department is now staffing a call center for individuals who prefer to make an appointment by phone. On behalf of the Hamilton County Health Department,, Mayor Coppinger provided an update on Covid-19  cases in Hamilton County. He reports that trends are going in favorable directions, indicating that daily new case averages have dropped for several days and area hospitalizations are also trending downward. 

Mayor Berke began his remarks by remembering well-known community advocate, Chris Ramsey who recently passed away due to Covid-19. Ramsey was most recently involved with the Community Testing Committee and Health Department’s work in expanding Covid-19 testing efforts to communities of color in Chattanooga. Chris Ramsey was highly regarded throughout our community and the group expressed the desire to commemorate Mr. Ramsey in some way soon. 

Additionally, Mayor Berke noted that President-elect Biden is hosting a memorial event today to honor Americans we have lost from Covid-19. In honor of this, the City of Chattanooga created a virtual memorial that consists of an interfaith prayer from local faith leaders, a poem by local artist Erika Roberts, and a video tribute that goes along with the prayer and poem. The City has also initiated the Hamilton County Covid-19 Memorial Project where loved ones can submit information about individuals who passed away due to Covid-19. Profiles will be created for these individuals to help residents grieve and remember loved ones together, as a community. 

The Hamilton County Health Department continues to offer free testing 7 days a week at the Alstom site. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing and flu vaccine sites and events, including HCHD and their partners, can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383).  HCHD vaccination information and updates can be found here.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report a decline in Covid-19 patient census. All hospital systems have been working to provide second doses of the vaccination to their workforce and report that the process has been going extremely well. Representatives otherwise report strong PPE and testing supplies and recommend continued messaging to the community related to mitigation strategies and vaccination importance. 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Ryan Ledford, reported that schools are closed this week and they plan to announce next week’s learning configuration tomorrow (Wednesday). Overall, HCS reports seeing a decline in cases for students and staff. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported that UTC conducted a successful testing event over the last several days as they test students before they move onto campus housing. While UTC students have their first day of classes today, there are only “face to face essential” students on campus at this time through the end of the month. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reports two new employee cases and six new student cases since last week.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Both the Community Testing and Data & Analytics subgroups gave brief updates on their work and stand ready to do additional work as the task force should need it. 

The Mayors’ Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, January 26th.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12

The  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with a welcome to Task Force members. Mayor Coppinger began his remarks by announcing a press conference that will take place tomorrow January 13 at 11:30am to provide updates on the mask mandate and vaccination distribution. Similar to last week’s discussion, demand for vaccine is high right now but Hamilton County still has a very limited supply. Mayor Coppinger notes several challenges associated with vaccine distribution, but he’s confident that they will be able to tweak the process continually and eventually vaccinate everyone that wants to be vaccinated. Additional information regarding the Health Department’s next steps in the vaccination rollout will be addressed at the press conference tomorrow. 

Mayor Berke began his remarks by addressing the difficulty of vaccine distribution, particularly how tough it is for Hamilton County and the State Health Department to overcome challenges without a coordinated national plan. Mayor Berke, noting that equity has previously been expressed as a shared value by members, proposed that the Community Testing Committee work to address some equity issues around vaccine distribution as the network of vaccine providers expands, similar to the work the group accomplished last year regarding testing vulnerable populations. 

Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes provided a COVID-19 update to the task force as well as an update on vaccine distribution. Administrator Barnes said it has been 8 days since the department received a shipment of vaccine. The current priority of the Health Department is to continue doing testing 7 days a week and distributing vaccine, in alignment with the State’s plan, as they receive supply. The Health Department is also working with various long term care facilities and nursing homes to vaccinate workers and residents.

The Hamilton County Health Department continues to offer free testing 7 days a week at the Alstom site. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing and flu vaccine sites and events, including HCHD and their partners, can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383).  HCHD vaccination information and updates can be found here.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report sustained inpatient COVID-19 numbers. All hospital systems are working to give second doses of the vaccination to their workforce and report that the process has been going extremely well. Representatives are watching case numbers in the regional area, preparing for another potential surge in hospitalizations resulting from people choosing to gather during the holidays. System representatives note they are awaiting additional doses of vaccine and look forward to collaborating with the Health Department in efforts to assist with community distribution.

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Ryan Ledford, reported a disproportionate rise in new employee cases versus student cases. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported that they will be launching on campus testing for campus residents this week. While UTC students will be moving back on campus at the end of the week, only in person essential courses will be meeting on campus until February 1st. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reports 3 new employee cases and 1 new student case and indicates that Chattanooga State will stay in their current phase until  and unless trends change.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Both the Community Testing and Data & Analytics subgroups gave brief updates on their work and stand ready to do additional work as the task force should need it. 

The Mayors’ Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, January 19th.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 5

The  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with a welcome to Task Force members. Mayor Coppinger began his remarks by providing a brief update on testing, reporting that demand remains high and the process is going well overall. Mayor Coppinger also addressed the first week of vaccine distribution in Hamilton County. He noted several logistical challenges the Health Department has been experiencing, but notes their biggest challenge presently is the limited supply of vaccines. Mayor Coppinger expressed that Hamilton County Health Department is committed to an equitable vaccine distribution process and they are confident that they will become more efficient as they work through challenges and receive additional shipments of the vaccine from the state. 

Mayor Berke began by noting the logistical challenges associated with a vaccine distribution and agreeing with Mayor Coppinger’s statements regarding the importance of an equitable distribution plan. After speaking with mayors from Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis, Mayor Berke noted that these municipalities continue to work on implementation of their distribution plans. Mayor Berke also reported many of the City of Chattanooga’s first responders have gotten the vaccine at this point and as more staff are receiving the vaccine, interest within the Fire and Police Department grows. Similarly, Mayor Berke notes that while it is unfortunate our community, like so many others, aren’t in receipt of enough vaccine to fulfill demand,  it is encouraging to witness many people eager to get their vaccination. 

The Hamilton County Health Department continues to offer free testing 7 days a week at the Alstom site. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing and flu vaccine sites and events, including HCHD and their partners, can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383).  HCHD vaccination information and updates can be found here.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report inpatient COVID-19 numbers leveling off at this time. All hospital systems received and administered vaccines to their employees and report that the process has been going well. Representatives are watching case numbers in the regional area and are preparing for another surge in hospitalizations resulting from people choosing to gather during the holidays. Experts are also closely monitoring the new COVID-19 variant and implications for our community if the new strain arrives in our region.  Finally, system representatives agree that it is important to promote mitigation strategies now more than ever as we are facing potential for a new year surge. 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson reported that the pilot program testing symptomatic teachers is working well and they will expand the program to students when they arrive back in schools. Additionally, HCS is moving forward with a weekly announcement on Tuesdays regarding the following week’s school plan. This will allow for decisions to be made based on the quickly changing local case data. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported that leadership will make a decision on a date for students to return to campus this week. Dr. Smith also noted that UTC’s health services employees have been vaccinated in addition to many of the nursing students working in a clinical setting. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reports no new case data and says their leadership is also hoping to make a decision this week about what phase to pivot to next.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Both the Community Testing and Data & Analytics subgroups gave brief updates on their work and stand ready to do additional work as the task force should need it. 

The Mayors’ Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, January 12th.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15

Rae Young Bond began the COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by welcoming Task Force members and introducing Allen Corey, Founder and President of SquareOne Holding Company and Owner of local restaurants STIR and State of Confusion. 

Mayor Coppinger began his remarks by reporting widespread compliance of the mask mandate and that any businesses out of compliance should be reported to the Hamilton County Health Department hotline. Mayor Coppinger also noted that the daily data released around COVID-19 deaths isn’t necessarily reflective of what happened that day specifically. Depending on the way death certificates are processed and reported, it can be several days before that death is included in the health department’s daily release. The Emergency Operations Center continues to receive calls from retired health care professionals interested in volunteering. At the time of the meetings, more than 90 people have called and Emergency Operations staff are working with the Hamilton County Health Department and hospitals systems to coordinate their offers of assistance. 

Mayor Berke began by noting that the City of Chattanooga is making some progress with COVID relief funds that will appear on the City Council agenda this evening. Additionally, Mayor Berke provided an update from his weekly calls with mayors and representatives from Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis, reporting that Tennessee is now number one in the world for new COVID-19 cases. He also discussed New York Times reporting that states 9 out of the top 20 metros in the country for accelerating and growing cases are in Tennessee. Lastly, the Mayor’s Youth Council is hosting a PSA contest with videos produced by the members reminding people to stay home and stay safe. Mayor Berke encouraged members to check out their work and vote on their favorite PSA. 

Allen Corey, Founder and President of SquareOne Holding Company and Owner of local restaurants STIR and State of Confusion, was invited to the Task Force meeting to discuss some of the mitigation efforts and strategies local restaurants have in place to ensure the highest level of safety possible. Mr. Corey reviewed several strategies currently implemented at his restaurants and noted that they are doing everything they can to follow Governor Lee’s Tennessee Pledge. Overall, Corey says that his restaurants have decreased capacity to adhere to the 6 foot social distancing guidelines in the Tennessee Pledge, invested a lot of money in creating a comfortable outdoor dining experience and other facilities, and are monitoring employees regularly to maintain a full employment roster.

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes reported that Hamilton County continues to report high numbers of new cases. Testing turnaround at the Alstom site is between 24-48 hours and the testing volume is presently increasingly. Administrator Barnes mentioned that rapid tests are being administered on the homeless population entering cold weather shelters, where they have been able to pick up on some positive cases before those individuals enter the shelter and find alternative housing and care for those that have tested positive.  Lastly, the HCHD continues to work through details of the vaccine distribution and remain flexible as information is provided to them.

The HCHD continues to offer free testing 7 days a week at the Alstom site. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing and flu vaccine sites and events, including HCHD and their partners, can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from the health systems reported high inpatient COVID-19 numbers. Testing and PPE remain strong, but systems report struggling with keeping beds open and maintaining the emotional and physical health of staff. Representatives report they are looking forward to getting the first doses of the vaccine later this week.

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson reported that the pilot program testing symptomatic teachers is working well and they look forward to expanding that program to symptomatic students in the spring. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported that they still have a few positive cases between students, faculty/staff, and contractors but they have very few people still on campus. UTC leadership is talking through the decision of when to return to campus in the spring. Chattanooga State representative Martina Harris reports no new cases.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Both the Community Testing and Data & Analytics subgroups gave brief updates on their work and stand ready to do additional work as the task force should need it.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8

Rae Young Bond began the COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by welcoming Task Force members and thanking them for their continued commitment to the health and safety of the community. Mayor Coppinger began his remarks with a reminder that the mask mandate is still in effect, expiring on January 15th, and announced that the County’s call for health care volunteers has yielded approximately 75 contacts at this point. Mayor Coppinger also noted the upcoming traffic pattern changes at the Alstom testing site in efforts to mitigate some of the traffic congestion at the site. 

Mayor Berke began by notifying the Task Force members of the budget amendment on the City Council agenda that proposes allocating  COVID funds for City employees as a small stipend and to several agencies in the City of Chattanooga that are in critical need for additional funding at this time. 

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes reported that Hamilton County continues to see increased case counts, increased deaths, and hospitalization numbers remain high. The CDC now allows for a shorter quarantine and isolation period and the HCHD has adopted this process, shortening the isolation period to 10 days in certain instances. For testing at the Alstom site, the turnaround time has returned back to approximately 24-48 hours.

Administrator Barnes noted another change related to the HCHD’s contact tracing protocols. Staff continue making calls to the individuals who test positive, however the health department is asking that positive cases proactively reach out to their close contacts. According to Barnes, they were relying on the positive cases to identify their close contacts already, but now they are asking the positive cases to contact those individuals. There are still targeted populations that the health department is assisting with regarding contact tracing, but overall, monitoring contacts across the state has become too overwhelming for staff with already limited capacity.

The HCHD continues to offer free testing 7 days a week at the Alstom site. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing and flu vaccine sites and events, including HCHD and their partners, can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report they continue to experience challenges associated with increased community spread. Systems are seeing increased COVID-19 patients in addition to experiencing challenges with staffing. Increased community spread of the virus continues to impact the hospital workforce through provider fatigue and some staff at home in isolation or quarantine. The three health systems remain committed to working with the other systems to reallocate resources as they see fit as they continue to see an increase in patients.

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson reported that student and employee positive cases are still up, and they have announced phase changes for the remainder of the semester. Bronson also updated the Task Force on a pilot program they are participating in that allows them to administer rapid tests on symptomatic staff that become symptomatic at work. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported that they still have a few positive cases between students, faculty/staff, and contractors but they have very few people still on campus. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reported a small number of new cases but they are looking towards plans for the spring semester.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Both the Community Testing and Data & Analytics subgroups gave brief updates on their work and stand ready to do additional work as the task force should need it. 

The Mayor’s Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, December 15th.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1

Rae Young Bond began the COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by welcoming Task Force members and thanking them for their continued commitment to the health and safety of the community. Mayor Coppinger began his remarks by reporting compliance and participation with the mask mandate. The Hamilton County Health Department does get reports of non-compliance and staff are quick to follow up on the business or restaurant being reported. Mayor Coppinger mentioned that the Health Department responds to public complaints regarding lack of mask compliance at restaurants when people are not eating or drinking. Mayor Coppinger closed by providing an update on the call for retired healthcare workers, saying that the County had received a few calls and Emergency Management is connecting those calls to the hospitals. 

Mayor Berke began his remarks  by informing the Task Force that Chattanooga City Council was being notified of another emergency purchase by the administration that will provide funding to Clinica Medicos to help them continue testing efforts for our community. Additionally, Mayor Berke noted that the City has been working with Hamilton County to coordinate vaccine distribution with local first responders. 

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes reported that Hamilton County is seeing increased case counts, totaling in approximately 300 new cases every day. There is still a backlog of cases locally as well as statewide, which is impacting Hamilton County’s ability to report accurate information daily. HCHD testing will be shifting to a new time- from 10:00am-2:30pm, 7 days a week. Turnaround time for the Health Department’s testing site is around 3 days at this time. Lastly, Administrator Barnes says they continue to prepare and remain flexible as the state finalizes plans to distribute vaccines.

The HCHD continues to offer free testing 7 days a week at the Alstom site. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing and flu vaccine sites and events, including HCHD and their partners, can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report they continue to experience challenges associated with increased community spread. Systems are seeing increased COVID-19 patients in addition to experiencing challenges with staffing. Increased community spread of the virus continues to impact the hospital workforce through provider fatigue and some staff at home in isolation or quarantine. The three health systems remain committed to working with the other systems to reallocate resources as they see fit as they continue to see an increase in patients.

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson reported that student and employee positive cases are still up, and they will soon be announcing phase changes. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported that they still have a few positive cases between students, faculty/staff, and contractors but they have very few people still on campus. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reported 6 new cases overall.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Both the Community Testing and Data & Analytics subgroups gave brief updates on their work and stand ready to do additional work as the task force should need it. 

The Mayor’s Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, December 8th.  

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17

Rae Young Bond began the COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by welcoming Task Force members and thanking them for their continued commitment to the health and safety of the community. Mayor Coppinger announced that he and the Hamilton County Health Department would be holding a press conference on Thursday, November 19 at 11:30am regarding the expiring County-wide mask mandate. Mayor Coppinger notes, again, that our current COVID-19 surge is due to both large and small gatherings, where people are unmasked and letting their guards down. 

Mayor Berke began his remarks  by informing the Task Force that Chattanooga City Council was being notified of an emergency purchase by the administration that will fund three additional months of testing for the Cempa Community Care testing sites. He also emphasized the importance of aggressive and consistent messaging right now from everyone, including hospitals, especially as we enter the holiday season. Lastly, Mayor Berke provided an update from his weekly call with Mayors from Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis. Mayor Berke stated that a representative from the Biden Administration focused on municipalities joined the call and he was able to relay information and concerns from the task force to the representative. Mayor Berke shared his hope to see a larger push, and additional support, from the federal government in the coming weeks and months.

Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes reported that cases are obviously up and as a result, demand for testing is rising. The turnaround time for tests administered at the Alstom Site is currently around 4-6 days. Administrator Barnes stated they have been in contact with PathGroup about the turnaround time and reports that PathGroup is currently working to significantly expand their processing capacity, intending to double current capacity in the coming weeks and triple their capacity by the first year. The Health Department, as well as the state, continue to work through technical challenges and backlogs due to the increased volume of tests.

The HCHD continues to offer free testing 7 days a week at the Alstom site. The Chattanooga Area Food Bank is on location Tuesday through Thursday providing food boxes to those in need. The HCHD also offers flu vaccine clinics and events for pediatric and adult patients. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing and flu vaccine sites and events, including HCHD and their partners, can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems reported an increased number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Hospitals remain occupied with COVID-19 patients and non-COVID patients, leaving fewer beds available at this time, but all three systems note that they are working to expand capacity where they can. Increased community spread of the virus continues to impact the hospital workforce through provider fatigue and some staff at home in isolation or quarantine. The three health systems remain concerned about the lack of mask mandates in surrounding counties, but are committed to working with the other systems to reallocate resources as they see fit as they continue to see an increase in patients.

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson reported that student and employee positive cases are still up, and they will be making an announcement on Tuesday afternoon regarding a phase change planned for after Thanksgiving break. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported that as of Tuesday, UTC has approximately three instruction days left on campus and students will be off campus until January 19, 2021. Chattanooga State representative Martina Harris reported that campus was only open to visitors by appointment only. 

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10

Rae Young Bond began the COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by welcoming Task Force members. Mayor Coppinger welcomed the group and said that while most people are generally compliant with the mask mandate, the Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) reports that a large portion of COVID-19 spread can be attributed to social gatherings both large and small. He mentioned that house parties or large gatherings are likely partly to blame because people are around each other and letting their guards down, resulting in new daily cases trending upwards.

Mayor Berke began his remarks by mentioning that numbers are going up around the state at a concerning rate. He announced that City of Chattanooga operations have been scaled back and City facilities are now closed to the public to protect both employees and the community.

Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes referenced a recent HCHD press release noting that the 21-30 year old age band appears to be driving our current outbreak with around 25% of Hamilton County’s new cases. Administrator Barnes also noted that transmission is happening in many different capacities - household, wor place, large gatherings, smaller gatherings, and among young people participating in extracurricular activities. She added that any gatherings where people aren’t wearing masks can be considered high risk behavior that are contributing to the COVID-19 spread .

Administrator Barnes commented on the Health Department’s flu vaccine initiatives, reporting they are going well and they hope to scale up the efforts as soon as they receive more vaccinations from the state.

The HCHD continues to offer free testing 7 days a week at the Alstom site. The Chattanooga Area Food Bank is on location Tuesday through Thursday providing food boxes to those in need. The HCHD also offers flu vaccine clinics and events for pediatric and adult patients. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing and flu vaccine sites and events, including HCHD and their partners, can be found at cha.city/covidtesting, health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383).

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems reported an increased number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Hospitals remain occupied with COVID-19 patients and non-COVID patients, leaving fewer beds available at this time. Additionally, community spread of the virus has also impacted the hospital workforce through provider fatigue and some staff at home in isolation or quarantine. The three health systems remain concerned about the lack of mask mandates in surrounding counties, but are committed to working with the other systems to reallocate resources as they see fit if they should continue to see an increase in patients.

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson reported that student and employee positive cases are currently higher than normal, but student absences have started trending down for the first time in two weeks. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported that as of Tuesday, UTC has approximately eight instruction days left on campus and students will be off campus until January 19, 2021. UTC will be offering to test students for COVID-19 at the end of this week and the beginning of next week if they are interested in knowing their status before returning home. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reported concern for the increase of the virus on campus and throughout the community. He reported that leadership will be in talks this week about decisions related to the campus functions moving forward.

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here.

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, November 17, 2020.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3

Rae Young Bond began the COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by welcoming Task Force members. Lead Rae Young Bond informed members that the medical society partnered with regional hospital CEOs to send a letter to mayors in the extended regional area urging them to initiate mask mandates.

Mayor Coppinger provided an update on behalf of the Hamilton County Health Department, stating that there were 80 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 in Hamilton County and 27 of those were Hamilton County residents. Mayor Coppinger noted, generally speaking, that most people are still being cooperative and complying with the county-wide mask mandate. He noted the effectiveness of masks in the counties that have mandates and communicated the general frustration across the state of rising COVID-19 cases. 

Mayor Berke began by thanking Dr. Sizemore for participating in the call he hosted with regional mayors earlier in the week. Some of these mayors were interested in implementing a mask mandate in their areas, but were concerned about the enforcement of the mandate. Mayor Berke noted that most people want to comply with the mandates put in place and most businesses welcome mask mandates and believe it is beneficial to business.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems reported an increased number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. This increase is concerning because of the volume of patients currently in local hospitals and the increasingly longer duration in which COVID-19 patients are staying in the hospitals. Representatives report strong PPE and testing capacity, but have growing concern over staffing levels and being able to withstand even more COVID-19 patients and the threat of entering the flu season. The three health systems remain concerned about the lack of mask mandates in surrounding counties, but are committed to working with the other systems to reallocate resources as they see fit if they should continue to see an increase in patients.

The Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) continues to offer free testing 7 days a week at the Alstom site. The Chattanooga Area Food Bank is on location Tuesday through Thursday providing food boxes to those in need. The HCHD also offers flu vaccine clinics and events for pediatric and adult patients. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing and flu vaccine sites and events, including HCHD and their partners, can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson reported an increase in positive COVID-19 cases, which was expected as a result of Fall Break. They continue to watch close contacts and anticipate positive cases for students and staff to slow down in the coming weeks. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported that they have approximately 13 instruction days left on campus and students will be off campus until January 19, 2021, meaning they will have around 2 months of downtime to assess policies from this fall and gear up for a return to campus. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reported only one additional staff positive and that leadership continues to monitor campus and off campus activity and encourage adherence to the mask mandate. 

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Due to the increase in positive cases in Hamilton County and the state, the group will continue with a weekly cadence of meetings. The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, November 10, 2020.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27

Rae Young Bond began the COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by welcoming Task Force members and introducing Dr. Morgan F. McDonald, Deputy Commissioner for Population Health, from the Tennessee Department of Health. 

Dr. McDonald provided an update from the state, noting first that COVID-19 positive cases and hospitalizations across the state have increased significantly. She shared that various officials at the state level are having conversations with rural mayors about additional safety measures to further protect their populations. Dr. McDonald ended her update by reminding the hospital systems that staffing assistance and other funding from the State of Tennessee continue to be available to them. 

Mayor Coppinger provided an update on the mask mandate, stating that surrounding counties without mandates, in addition Georgia counties, are negatively impacting Hamilton County’s COVID-19 positive case numbers and hospitalizations. The Alstom Site has been hosting flu shot clinics in addition to continuing daily COVID-19 testing. Mayor Coppinger stated the Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) is still testing around 1,000 people per day and suggested that small gatherings continue to be a problem with the spread of the virus. Mayor Coppinger also reported the Hamilton County School System continues to respond well to the challenges associated with minimizing the spread of the virus.

Mayor Berke noted that when the mask mandate was extended in Hamilton County on October 6, there were around 16 new cases per day per 100,000 people (7 day average) and at the time of this Task Force meeting, Hamilton County has doubled new cases to 32 new cases per day per 100,000 people (7 day average). Mayor Berke followed up with additional data, highlighting several counties that are seeing major spikes in their daily new cases. This included neighboring Bledsoe County, which is currently experiencing around 94 new cases per day per 100,000 residents (7 day average). Mayor Berke continued by adding Tennessee set two new records this past weekend. On Friday 579 school aged children tested positive for the virus, followed by 490 new cases on Sunday, the most and second most daily reports respectively since the pandemic began. 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives from all three health systems report an increased number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. This increase is concerning because of the volume of patients currently in local hospitals. Representatives report strong PPE and testing capacity, but have growing concern over staffing levels and being able to withstand even more patients. Another concern shared by the three hospital systems is the lack of a mask mandate in more rural areas that tend to feed a growing volume of patients into Chattanooga’s hospitals. 

The Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) continues to offer free testing 7 days a week at the Alstom site. The Chattanooga Area Food Bank is on location Tuesday through Thursday providing food boxes to those in need. The HCHD also offers flu vaccine clinics and events for pediatric and adult patients. A schedule of all COVID-19 testing and flu vaccine sites and events, including HCHD and their partners, can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Due to the increase in positive cases in Hamilton County and the state, the group has decided to move forward with a weekly cadence of meetings. The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2020

Rae Young Bond began the COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by welcoming members, Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke who provided updates on the most recent local, regional and national COVID-19 news. 

The previous week, Mayor Coppinger announced the extension of the Countywide mask mandate through November 22, 2020. Mayor Coppinger noted his pleasure at receiving support for the extension through a broad coalition of stakeholders including medical and business professionals. He also noted that the Health Department was experiencing a lag in cooperation related to contact tracing, especially among young people. Mayor Coppinger reinforced the critical importance of Hamilton County residents answering the call from the Health Department and providing accurate information so that contact tracers could effectively advise individuals to isolate and quarantine as appropriate. 

Mayor Berke began his remarks by thanking Mayor Coppinger and Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes for extending the mask mandate another 45 days. Mayor Berke also provided an update on the latest news related to a federal aid package relief bill and gave an overview of topics that are likely to be the subject of state legislation when the legislature reconvenes in January.  

Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on coronavirus case numbers and testing. Administrator Barnes noted that new cases were beginning to trend upward locally and statewide and emphasized now is not the time for community members to relax their safe practices and health standards. Administrator Barnes reported on the latest testing numbers at the Alstom site and the first day of the flu shot clinic hosted by the Health Department. She thanked nursing students from Chattanooga State, UTC, and Southern Adventist University for their tireless work volunteering at the Alstom site. 

The HCHD continues to offer free testing 7 days a week at the Alstom site from 8:30am-1:00pm. The Chattanooga Area Food Bank is on location Tuesday through Thursday providing food boxes to those in need. A schedule of all testing sites and events, including HCHD and their partners can be found at cha.city/covidtesting, health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. HCS representative Jennifer Bronson reported that the school system remains in Phase III of their reopening plan and provided an overview of the latest case counts, noting they were a bit higher than a typical week. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported on two new updates to the UTC COVID-19 dashboard as well as graduation ceremony planning efforts, and flu vaccine plans for students. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reported stable conditions on campus. All institutions continue to monitor the situation closely. 

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives reported an upward trend in the number of COVID-19 related hospitalizations, strong PPE levels, and adequate levels of testing resources and staffing. All hospital systems are working to plan and prepare for the upcoming respiratory season. 

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee, which continues their efforts through bi-weekly meetings. Shannon Stephenson provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing Committee. Stephenson reported lower participation at the permanent COVID-19 testing sites run by members of the Committee. The Committee and working groups are working to fulfill newly established short and long-term goals related to COVID-19 testing, and the flu and coronavirus vaccine distribution.

Note: Due to Mayor Coppinger’s press conference on October 6, the Task Force moved their next meeting to October 13. The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, October 26, 2020.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2020

Rae Young Bond began the COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by thanking attendees for their commitment and attendance to the weekly task force meetings since March 2020. All members agreed to shift the meetings to a bi-weekly schedule moving forward. Rae Young Bond noted that should the coronavirus situation in the Hamilton County area worsen, the group can reassemble more frequently. 

Mayor Coppinger reported his satisfaction at witnessing downward trends in new cases and hospitalizations related to COVID-19 and thanked the Health Department for their continued work. Mayor Berke provided an update on the City’s plans to reopen to the public, and noted that Congress is unlikely to pass a federal relief package anytime soon.

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on coronavirus case numbers and testing. Administrator Barnes noted that new cases and hospitalizations continue a downward trajectory. Contact tracers at the HCHD are still seeing increases in epi-linked cases, making contact tracing easier. The Health Department also continues preparations for flu vaccine clinics in the coming weeks. 

The HCHD continues to offer free testing 7 days a week at the Alstom site. The Chattanooga Area Food Bank is on location Wednesday through Thursday providing food boxes to those in need.  A schedule of all testing sites and events, including HCHD and their partners can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson reported that the school system remains in Phase III of their reopening plan and noted that HCS children continue to  show their resilience and adaptability to changing conditions. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported on UTC’s on and off campus positive, quarantined, and isolated numbers, noting their numbers are trending down. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reported stable conditions on campus. All institutions continue to monitor the situation closely. 

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives report experiencing a downward trend in the number of COVID-19 related hospitalizations, strong PPE levels, as well as adequate levels of testing supplies and staffing. All hospital systems are working to plan and prepare for the upcoming respiratory season. 

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee. Mr. Moreland reported submitting a request to the Tennessee Immunization Information System to request flu vaccination data when that becomes available for our area. The Data & Analysis Committee will use this information to help guide the Task Force’s work related to vaccinations moving forward. 

Shannon Stephenson provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing Committee. The Committee and working groups are working to fulfill newly established short and long-term goals related to COVID-19 testing, and the flu and coronavirus vaccine distribution.

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, October 6, 2020.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond, Mayor Jim Coppinger, and Mayor Andy Berke welcoming the group. Mayor Coppinger reported COVID-19 numbers remaining stable and moving in the right direction, crediting the mask mandate for the improvements. Mayor Berke extended congratulations to Chairwoman Rae Bond, who recently received the Champions of Health Care Lifetime Achievement Award.

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on coronavirus case numbers and testing. Administrator Barnes noted that daily cases continue to trend downward and hospitalizations remain fairly stable. Contact tracers at the HCHD are continuing to see increases in epi-linked cases, making it easier to trace where cases originated. Administrator Barnes shared that the Health Department has not yet seen an uptick in cases related to the Labor Day weekend.  

The HCHD continues to offer free testing 7 days a week, as well as other partners. A schedule of all testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson reported that the school system remains in Phase III of their reopening plan and shared the latest case information from their dashboard. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported on UTC’s on and off campus positive, quarantined, and isolated numbers, noting their numbers are relatively stable. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reported a few additional cases on campus and also described recent challenges to compliance of the mask mandate on campus. All institutions continue to monitor the situation closely. 

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives report experiencing a stable number of COVID-19 related hospitalizations, strong PPE levels, as well as adequate levels of testing supplies and staffing. All hospital systems are working to plan and prepare for the upcoming respiratory season. 

Dr. Gregory Heath  provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee. Dr. Heath noted the working group is working on a series of webinars that are intended to help people understand what COVID-19 data means and how the data can be translated into mitigation. The committee continues to monitor and track trends in COVID-19 data. 

Shannon Stephenson provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee, highlighting the work the group is doing in partnership with the Health Department related to permanent testing sites. The Community Testing committee and working groups continue to meet regularly and work collaboratively with partners for short-term and long-term testing needs.  

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, September 22, 2020.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond, Mayor Jim Coppinger, and Mayor Andy Berke welcoming the group. Mayor Coppinger discussed his decision to extend the mask mandate for 30 more days, indicating that in recent weeks Hamilton County’s COVID-19 related cases and hospitalizations have been trending in the right direction. 

Mayor Berke announced that the City of Chattanooga’s Department of Youth and Family Development (YFD) is partnering with Hamilton County Schools to provide additional remote learning support for families and kids during this time. The YFD Centers will serve as virtual learning centers and students will be proctored by YFD staff to help troubleshoot tech issues, ensure students get into their virtual class meetings, while maintaining safe practices and protocols. 

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on coronavirus case numbers and testing. Administrator Barnes noted that the Health Department is pleased to see new COVID-19 positive cases and hospitalizations continue to trend downward. Epi-linked cases are increasing, which makes it easier for contact tracers to see the connections between cases more clearly.

The HCHD continues to offer free testing 7 days a week, as well as other partners. A schedule of all testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson reported that 3 schools are currently closed and  the school system continues to monitor the situation closely. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith reported on UTC’s on and off campus positive, quarantined, and isolated numbers. Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis reported no new cases and compliance with safety protocols and recommendations to students and faculty. All representatives reported continuing to monitor their campuses closely following the Labor Day holiday. 

All educational systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. All systems continue to monitor the situation closely.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives report experiencing a stable number of COVID-19 related hospitalizations, strong PPE levels, as well as adequate levels of testing supplies and staffing. All hospital systems are working to prepare for the upcoming respiratory season. 

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee.  Mr. Moreland reported on the latest Biobot Analytics Prevalence Study that indicated COVID-19 numbers have decreased for Hamilton County and the surrounding areas. Additionally, the subcommittee continues to work on a series of videos to educate the public on data literacy.

Shannon Stephenson provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee, highlighting the addition of new permanent testing sites by Cempa Community Care at Alleo Health and La Paz. Shannon also provided an update on behalf of the Homeless Health Care organization, noting that they have provided testing and are currently reporting  no new positive cases. The Community Testing committee and working groups continue to meet regularly and work collaboratively with partners for short-term and long-term testing needs.  

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, September 15, 2020.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond  introducing Blood Assurance CEO JB Gaskins and Medical Director Dr. Liz Culler, to provide a presentation to the group regarding their convalescent plasma program. 

Mayor Coppinger reported that the mask mandate has been successful and commended the businesses and all individuals who have been in compliance with the mandate. Mayor Coppinger reiterated that it takes the whole community’s help to achieve the types of trends the Hamilton County Health Department is reporting related to decreased hospitalizations and ICU patients. Mayor Berke provided an update on Governor Lee’s most recent executive orders that extends the State of Emergency in Tennessee, and among other things, allows municipalities to continue enforcing mask mandates, extends the ability of government agencies to continue host public meetings virtually, preserves existing limitations on nursing home visitations, and allows restaurants to continue selling to-go alcohol with food orders. 

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on coronavirus case numbers and testing. Administrator Barnes noted that with approximately 1,502 active cases, the Health Department is seeing numbers of hospitalized patients including those in the ICU trend downward. In Hamilton County, Administrator Barnes says that the Health Department is still seeing that the largest increase of positive COVID-19 cases are occuring between individuals between ages 11 and 20. 

The HCHD continues to offer free testing, as well as other partners. A schedule of all testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

JB Gaskins and Dr. Liz Culler from Blood Assurance provided an update to the Task Force on their convalescent plasma program. Mr. Gaskins reported that Blood Assurance is working closely with the federal government and was one of the first blood centers in the country to start a blood plasma program. Additionally, they are one of only five blood centers in the nation chosen to stockpile for a potential surge. 

Dr. Culler noted that although Blood Assurance is collecting plasma locally, they still need more to meet the need. Blood Assurance has collected and distributed about 2,200 units of plasma to our service area, distributing about 160 doses per week, however it is only collecting about 100 doses per week. Dr. Culler stated that there is still an unmet need for this life saving treatment for local patients. Dr. Culler reported that convalescent plasma donations are indeed saving the lives of COVID-19 patients. Blood Assurance is working to meet local needs in addition to stockpile for the future, so they are asking members of the Task Force to reach out to the community and encourage them to donate plasma if they are eligible. For more information on the program and how to become a donor, individuals are encouraged to visit the Blood Assurance website. 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools (HCS), UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. Hamilton County Schools representative Jennifer Bronson announced that this week HCS entered into Phase 3 of their reopening plans which introduced students enrolled in on campus learning back to schools for in-person classes five days a week. Bronson reported widespread adoption of social distancing rules, mask wearing, and other safety protocols on campus. UTC representative Dr. Chris Smith provided an update on student and faculty cases and outlined isolation and quarantine protocols for those living on campus. Dr. Smith emphasized that the safest place for students is inside the classroom.  Chattanooga State representative Guy Davis provided a report on the small number of campus active cases, and commented that overall students are successfully complying with all precautions. 

All three systems maintain a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, and other safety and health protocols. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. All systems continue to monitor the situation closely.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives report experiencing downward trends in ICU census as well as overall COVID-related hospitalizations, but are remaining vigilant and continue to monitor active cases for potential upticks moving into the fall. Hospital systems report strong PPE levels, as well as adequate levels of testing supplies and staffing. 

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee.  Mr. Moreland reported on the latest Biobot Analytics Prevalence Study that indicated COVID-19 numbers have decreased for Hamilton County and the surrounding metropolitan area. Additionally, the subcommittee continues to work on creating data literacy opportunities to help communicate data to the public. 

Shannon Stephenson provided a brief update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee, highlighting that they have included a representative from Hamilton County Schools into the committee. The Community Testing committee and working groups continue to meet regularly and work collaboratively with partners for short-term and long-term testing needs.  

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, September 8, 2020.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2020

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond by welcoming three new members joining the task force- Jennifer Bronson (COVID Response Lead and Integrated Student Support Program Manager, Hamilton County Schools), Terry Denniston (Chief of Staff to Chancellor Steve Angle, UTC), and Guy Davis (Executive Director of Plant Operations and Maintenance at Chattanooga State). Mayors Berke and Coppinger welcomed the new members and thanked them for their continued service to the safety of our community. 

Mayor Coppinger reported continued compliance with the mask mandate and thanked the task force for their feedback and support of the directive. Mayor Coppinger and other task force members noted that the mandate appears to have an impact in positive downward trends including decreased hospitalizations. Members also cited studies and reports from other jurisdictions and countries that demonstrate a relationship between mask mandates and decreased hospitalizations and decreased cases. 

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on coronavirus case numbers and testing. Administrator Barnes noted that with approximately 1,367 active cases, the Health Department is seeing numbers of hospitalized patients including those in the ICU trend downward. The Health Department also noted that their recent report of 5 new COVID-19 fatalities should be understood as a cluster and not necessarily a spike in fatalities. The cluster is the result of some delays in reporting deaths. Administrator Barnes also reported that turnaround times for testing continue to be 24-48 hours, the Health Department has experienced a slight decrease in demand for testing. 

The HCHD continues to offer free testing, as well as other partners. A schedule of all testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Hamilton County Schools, UTC, and Chattanooga State provided updates for their respective institutions. All three systems are maintaining a dashboard for reporting students and faculty/staff COVID-19 positive cases, exposures, etc. Additionally, each system has their reopening plan and/or COVID related policies and procedures posted on their respective websites. Hamilton County Schools’ dashboard can be found here. UTC’s dashboard can be found here. Chattanooga State’s dashboard can be found here. All systems attested to the resilience of students, faculty and staff and described widespread adoption of mask wearing, social distancing and complying with new safety protocols meant to keep people safe.  

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives report that they are experiencing an overall decrease in COVID related hospitalizations, but are remaining vigilant and continue to monitor active cases. Hospital systems report strong PPE levels, as well as adequate levels of testing supplies and staffing.

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee.  Mr. Moreland reported on the committee’s progress in creatively sharing data related to COVID-19 and creating data literacy opportunities to help communicate data to the public. Shannon Stephenson provided a brief update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee, highlighting an update on long term testing sites in our community and a mobile testing unit working to test the homeless population. Both groups continue to meet regularly and work collaboratively with partners. 

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, September 1, 2020.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2020

Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond began this week’s COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by welcoming attendees and announcing that representatives from Chattanooga State, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Hamilton County Schools will be joining the Joint Task Force meeting beginning next week. Mayor Berke provided a report on bills passed at the State’s Special Legislative Session last week related to coronavirus business liability protection. This bill aims to provide COVID-19 protection to health care providers, businesses, schools, and nonprofits regarding transmission of the virus. Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond also reported on tele-health legislation that was passed requiring insurers to reimburse providers at the same rates as those paid to hospitals and other facilities for similar procedures.

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on coronavirus case numbers and testing. Administrator Barnes noted that with approximately 1,510 active cases, the Health Department is seeing more epi-linked cases that are attributable to what seems to be driving a recent increase in cases - gatherings, parties, and events. The cumulative percentage of positive cases in individuals aged 11-20 years old is continuing to increase.

The HCHD continues to offer free testing, as well as other partners. A schedule of all testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives report that they are experiencing an overall decrease in COVID related hospitalizations especially from areas outside of Hamilton County,but they are remaining vigilant and continue to monitor trends in our region. Hospital systems report strong PPE levels, as well as adequate levels of testing supplies and staffing. Systems are working collaboratively by planning for additional capacity in anticipation of increases. 

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee.  Mr. Moreland reported on the committee’s progress in creatively sharing data related to COVID-19 and creating data literacy opportunities to help communicate data to the public. Shannon Stephenson provided a brief update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee. 

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, August 25, 2020.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 2020

Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond began this week’s COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by welcoming attendees and allowing Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke to provide updates. Both Mayors are, again, cautiously optimistic regarding the effectiveness of the mask mandate. Mayor Coppinger stated that over 70,000 people have been tested for COVID-19 in Hamilton County and the Health Department is working hard to provide testing at the new Alstom site seven days a week. Mayor Berke noted a recent study by Vanderbilt University that underlined the effectiveness of mask mandates. The study found Tennessee counties that have implemented a mask mandate are more likely to see lower COVID-19 hospitalizations. 

Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on coronavirus case numbers and testing. Administrator Barnes noted that individuals between the ages of 11-20 years old appear to be a growing segment of the positive cases. Although the 

Health Department reported success in businesses complying with the mask mandate, which they feel may have helped drive down cases, they are seeing a growing number of cases from group gatherings. Administrator Barnes emphasized the importance of discouraging community members from planning back to school events, Labor Day parties or any activities where groups could gather and potentially spread the virus. 

Administrator. Barnes anticipates that the younger population will continue to experience increased positive cases as school starts, especially with activities such as camps, sports, and band practices. She noted that while the younger population may be seeing increased levels of positive cases, it’s important to note that the older population continues to experience the most severe negative health outcomes such as hospitalizations and deaths. That is why families need to be extra cautious in keeping all members safe and home as much as possible. 

Jennifer Bronson (Integrated Student Support Program Manager), Dr. Nakia Towns (Deputy Superintendent), and Keith Fogleman (Chief Talent Officer and Co-Chair of the School Reopening Task Force) from Hamilton County Schools joined the Joint Task Force meeting to provide a presentation about schools reopening. Hamilton County Schools launched the School Reopening Task Force to plan for the safe reopening for schools and this plan in addition to other resources are available on their website. 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals briefly updated the group, noting that they are all comfortable with their current levels of PPE, staffing, and testing capabilities. Representatives also commended the school system on their plan for reopening safely and offered support.

Due to the length of the meeting, Joint Task Force Committee updates were shared after the meeting. The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, August 18, 2020.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020

Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond began this week’s COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by welcoming attendees and thanking them for their continued service as our community enters into the fifth month of the virus. Mayor Berke and Mayor Coppinger reported that they continue to observe compliance with the mask mandate and they are happy to see that reports of positive cases in Hamilton County have trended downward over the last several days, a possible sign that the mask mandate is having a positive effect on case numbers. 

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on coronavirus case numbers and testing. Administrator Barnes noted that daily positive cases are trending downward, but also that contact tracers are finding that epi-linked cases, largely from large gatherings, are increasing. Barnes also agreed with Mayor Berke and Mayor Coppinger that the mask directive continues to have a positive impact in keeping people safe. Barnes reported that turnaround time for receiving test results has returned to around 24-48 hours. As of Monday of this week, the Health Department’s testing site has moved from Brainerd High School to the Alstom Plant and will function there through at least September. A schedule of all testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. Representatives report that they are still seeing high numbers for COVID-19 related hospitalizations, but they continue to work collaboratively to ensure safe and effective healthcare delivery. All hospital systems report stable levels of PPE and staffing, but they continue to monitor covid hospitalizations across the region in preparation of any surges related to COVID-19. The hospital systems continue to work with state partners on strategies and planning efforts to ensure adequate staffing, and bed and equipment capacity. 

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee.  Mr. Moreland shared that the City created a data website (cha.city/coviddata)  that shares local and regional COVID-19 data as well as narratives to help community members interpret visualizations. The working group still has a live symptom survey online, as well. Members of the public experiencing COVID-19 like symptoms, or who are taking care of someone experiencing COVID-19 like symptoms, can visit cha.city/covidsurvey or cha.city/encuestadecovid to learn more and take the survey.  The committee continues to work closely with all partners  to receive and analyze data appropriately.

Shannon Stephenson provided a brief update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee. Ms. Stephenson announced that the group is exploring how established partners from the committee can work together to form strategies around vaccine education and distribution when one is ready for the market. The Community Testing committee was encouraged to explore ways to secure resources to expand rapid testing to help schools and workplaces to remain open.  The committee is also exploring formation of a pediatric working group.  The Community Testing committee continues to collaborate  with members on the  workplace testing working group to make sure large and small employers have the most up to date information on the virus. 

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, August 11, 2020.

TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2020

Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond kicked off this week’s COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by welcoming attendees and asking Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke to provide an update on mask compliance in Hamilton County. Mayor Coppinger reported that the County, City and Health Department are pleased to see another week of mass compliance and participation from businesses to the mask mandate. Mayor Berke also reported that City Hall and other city buildings with public facing operations continue to be closed to the public as case numbers rise across the county.  Mayor Berke also provided an update on the latest proposed package from the Senate called the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act.  As negotiations continue with the House, Mayor Berke and his office will monitor progress of the legislation and inclusion of any funds for municipalities and counties.

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided a case number and testing update. Administrator Barnes noted that the Health Department is seeing the turnaround time for test results improve after a few weeks of lag.  Administrator Barnes noted that as labs catch up on their backlog of processing, the Health Department predicts testing turnaround will improve. A schedule of all testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided updates for their respective systems. All hospitals report experiencing  an increase in transfers and requests for transfers from hospitals within the region. Representatives say that they are seeing new highs for COVID-19 related hospitalizations, but they continue to work collaboratively to ensure safe and effective healthcare delivery. All hospital systems report stable levels of PPE and staffing, but they continue to monitor covid hospitalizations across the region in preparation of any surges in required care. 

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee.  Mr. Moreland provided another update on the first couple of weeks that the symptom tracker has been active. Members of the public experiencing COVID-19 like symptoms, or who are taking care of someone experiencing COVID-19 like symptoms, can visit cha.city/covidsurvey or cha.city/encuestadecovid to learn more and take the survey.  The subcommittee continues to work closely with all partners  to receive and analyze data appropriately.

Shannon Stephenson provided a brief update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee. Stephenson announced that the group is looking at how best to  re-strategize community testing based on long term goals. She notes that they are internally discussing a pediatric working group as we begin to see children returning to school in addition to beginning to plan for deploying a vaccine within the community when that time comes. The committee’s working groups continue to work to collaborate, operationalize, and support various education, outreach, and testing events in the community.

Dr. Morgan F. McDonald, Deputy Commissioner for Population Health at the Tennessee Department of Health, joined this week’s meeting to provide an overview of state strategies for surge capacity. Dr. McDonald monitors clinical surge capacity across the state and is Unified Command’s point person in that effort. Dr. McDonald reported that while the state does have a lease with the Alstom site should the need for that alternative care site arise, the state’s priority is to help hospitals expand their capacity to best fit the specific needs of their community. Dr. McDonald also noted that state-wide efforts to support localities in building and sustaining capacity will be rolling out in the next several weeks and she looks forward to continuing collaboration with stakeholders in Hamilton County.  

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, August 4, 2020.

TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020

This week’s  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond welcoming attendees and asking Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke to provide an update on mask compliance in Hamilton County. Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke reported their excitement at widespread participation in the first full week of the mandate. Administrator Becky Barnes noted that the Health Department only received a few calls to the COVID-19 hotline with complaints regarding businesses that are out of compliance and Mayor Coppinger mentioned that typically a simple phone call is enough to encourage businesses to participate. Mayor Berke and Mayor Berke both emphasized that the goal of the mask mandate is not to issue citations, but to encourage compliance. Mayor Coppinger also noted that the decision to encourage mask wearing is a necessary step to keep residents safe and to slow the spread of the virus. Both Mayors are hopeful to see decreases in the number of cases due to the mandate within the next several weeks. 

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided a case number and testing update. Administrator Barnes noted that the demand for testing continues to be robust and they are continuing to hire staff at the Health Department for a variety of COVID-19 related responsibilities. Additionally, she notes that positive cases are coming from all over the county, and from a variety of venues and large events.

To keep pace with the testing demand  in our area, HCHD in partnership with the Tennessee National Guard expanded hours at school testing events, this week at Brainerd High School.  A full schedule of all testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org, and via the COVID-19 hotline (423-209-8383). 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided an update on PPE, and emergency department volumes. All three hospital systems reported adequate PPE and supplies. Additionally, all three systems maintain an extremely close eye on the uptick in COVID-19 related hospitalizations from their service area to ensure adequate staffing, bed availability, and supply levels in anticipation of an increase in cases. All hospital system representatives communicated their continued commitment to forecast and work collectively and collaboratively to provide coverage to our community. Hamilton County Emergency Management stands ready to assist the hospital systems in whatever they may need in the coming weeks.

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee.  Mr. Moreland provided an early update on the first several days that the symptom tracker has been active. Members of the public experiencing COVID-19 like symptoms, or who are taking care of someone experiencing COVID-19 like symptoms, can visit cha.city/covidsurvey to learn more and take the survey. Mr. Moreland also reported on early analysis of the COVID-19 prevalence study through the city’s partnership with Biobot Analytics. Additional details will be provided to the task force in the days to come following a meeting with Data & Analysis members and Biobot Analytics. 

Shannon Stephenson provided a brief update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee. She noted that the community testing group is seeing an increase in the need for medical professionals to volunteer at COVID-19 testing sites. To learn more and to sign up, medical professionals can go to cha.city/covidvolunteer. The group also discussed recent changes in CDC guidelines related to return to work policies for employees who are tested. Task Force members will continue to review these guidelines and consider recommendations to local employers. The committee’s working groups continue to work to collaborate, operationalize, and support various education, outreach, and testing events in the community.

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, July 28, 2020.

TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2020

This week’s  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond welcoming attendees and asking Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke to provide an update on the first several days of the Hamilton County mask mandate. Both Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke were pleased to report widespread adoption of the mask mandate and felt confident that the Health Department’s directive was successful in demonstrating the need for the public to take action to protect themselves and others by wearing masks, noting they observed almost universal mask compliance since Friday when the mandate went into effect. 

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes followed up on the mask mandate stating that their hotline had received a handful of complaints since the mandate went into effect and staff members were in the process of connecting to individuals and businesses to follow up on reports. Barnes also noted that Hamilton County’s average daily cases continue to tick upwards with epilinked cases decreasing, indicating community spread. Administrator Barnes also reported that contact tracers continue to contact individuals who have a high number of contacts and people who attend large gatherings. 

As a result of the demand for testing in our area continuing to rise, HCHD in partnership with the Tennessee National Guard have expanded hours at school testing events.  A full schedule of all testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting,  health.hamiltontn.org and via the COVID-19 hotline 423-209-8383. Administrator Barnes reported that because demand for COVID-19 testing has increased in our community and across the state, lab processing turnaround time has lengthened, but they were hopeful increased lab capacity over the next several days would solve this issue. 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided an update on PPE, and emergency department and surgical volumes. All three hospital systems reported adequate PPE and supplies. Additionally, all three systems are keeping an extremely close eye on the uptick in COVID-19 related hospitalizations to ensure they remain prepared for a surge. All hospital system representatives communicated their continued commitment to forecast and work collectively and collaboratively to provide coverage to our community.  

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee.  Mr. Moreland provided an overview of a symptom survey created by the committee to help inform the public about COVID-19 symptoms and provide an additional level of data to the task force in an effort to further understand the spread of COVID-19 locally. Members of the public experiencing COVID-19 like symptoms, or who are taking care of someone experiencing COVID-19 like symptoms, can visit cha.city/covidsurvey to learn more and take the survey.  Mr. Moreland also presented task force members with a framework for understanding key metrics for COVID-19 suppression from the Harvard Global Health Initiative (HGHI). The HGHI framework is a tool that can provide guidance for policy makers and the public. The committee is reviewing various frameworks and data analysis tools. 

Shannon Stephenson provided a brief update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee. Ms. Stephenson expressed gratitude to the HCHD on behalf of the Community Testing committee for expanding hours of operation at the school testing sites. Ms. Stephenson also presented a statement of testing priority for the task force’s review. The committee’s working groups continue to work to collaborate, operationalize, and support various education, outreach, and testing events in the community.

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, July 21, 2020.

TUESDAY, JULY 7, 2020

This week’s  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond welcoming attendees and asking Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke to provide updates. Mayor Coppinger thanked task force members for their feedback and guidance regarding a mask mandate and reiterated that the decision was the right one to help combat the serious public health crisis facing our community. He also reported that many businesses and other stakeholders were also in support of the mandate. Mayor Coppinger stated that we continue to see community spread of the virus across all neighborhoods and zip codes and that the County government is working with the state to release PSAs and other messaging to encourage residents to stay safe and healthy. 

Mayor Berke thanked Mayor Coppinger and Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes for their leadership in implementing a county-wide mask mandate and thanked the task force members for their guidance at last week’s meeting. Mayor Berke reported that his office was watching federal and state decisions regarding funding for local communities to help battle the virus and its effects. Mayor Berke reported that he is working to encourage state officials to release funds to localities so they can make the best decisions possible for their communities. 

Jermaine Freeman, Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Berke, provided an update on the latest actions and efforts of the Latinx COVID-19 working group organized by the city and county. The HCHD, in concert with the working group, created an informational guide for community members related to COVID-19. The guide will be translated into spanish and include the latest information related to the mask mandate. Working group members will work on a distribution plan to ensure the guide is shared with Latinx businesses, organizations and churches. 

Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on COVID-19 cases and testing efforts throughout the county. Administrator Barnes reported that testing demand has increased and it remains a priority for the department and its partners to provide the community with robust testing resources. Administrator Barnes reported that the Health Department has recently sent multiple press releases regarding potential exposures at large community events including graduations and a wedding. Attendees of these events are encouraged to get tested as soon as possible. Administrator Barnes also underscored the critical importance for anyone to self-isolate immediately if they begin to develop with symptoms of coronavirus.  

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided an update on PPE, and emergency department and surgical volumes. All three hospital systems reported adequate PPE and supplies. Systems are watching supply chains closely as demand for equipment and PPE increases in hot spot areas in Florida and Texas. A representative from Parkridge Hospital reported that Blood Assurance reached out and will be reaching out to other hospitals to request assistance in collecting convalescent plasma from those patients who have recovered from COVID-19. Those recovered patients are encouraged to visit https://www.bloodassurance.org/covidplasma to learn more and sign up to donate their plasma which will be used to help treat patients at local hospitals. 

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee.  Mr. Moreland presented the task force members with information related to the City’s participation in a sewage study in partnership with BioBot Analytics to analyze the spread of COVID-19 in our area. 

Shannon Stephenson provided a brief update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee. The committee’s working groups continue to work to organize, operationalize, and support various outreach, social support, and testing events in the community.

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, July 14, 2020.

TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2020

This week’s  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond welcoming the group and asking Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke to provide updates. Mayor Coppinger provided an overview of Governor Lee’s latest Executive Orders extending Tennessee’s State of Emergency through August 29th. The new Executive Orders also allow legislative bodies to continue utilizing virtual meeting methods. 

Mayor Berke followed by stating his office is monitoring what’s happening in Washington, D.C. in terms of COVID-19 legislation and relief funding, stating that both the City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County could definitely benefit from additional funding. Mayor Berke also updated the task force that the city hasn’t yet granted any permits to parks for any kind of events with large crowds. 

Jermaine Freeman, Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Berke, provided an update on the latest actions and efforts of the Latinx COVID-19 working group organized by the city and county. The working group in coordination with the Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) created social media content to be shared throughout the Latinx community in addition to launching an ad contest for a PSA.  Additionally, Mr. Freeman reported that La Paz coordinated volunteers to distribute about 1,500 masks in several locations throughout Hamilton County last weekend. Mr. Freeman also relayed that the Latinx working group continues to seek PPE for Latinx businesses and churches, and reported that many Latinx businesses the working group communicated with supported a mask mandate for businesses. 

Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on COVID-19 cases and testing efforts throughout the county. She mentioned the state system that is used by labs to report positive cases was down this weekend, so they are still a little delayed in updating some testing data. While there will be no weekend testing conducted due to the holiday, the Health Department will return to a regular schedule of school and church testing beginning the week of July 6. Administrator Barnes stressed, once again, the importance of wearing a mask in public to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.  

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided an update on PPE, and emergency department and surgical volumes. All three hospital systems reported adequate PPE and a return to around pre-COVID levels. The systems also reported they are monitoring positive COVID cases closely to ensure adequate bed and equipment availability if and when it is needed. The hospital systems also reported closely monitoring sister systems in hotspot states like Texas and Florida for upticks in PPE and testing supplies. 

Dr. Gregory Heath provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee. The committee reports that the symptom checker they are working on is nearing completion after receiving additional feedback from the other workgroups last week. Dr. Heath also reported on a National Institute of Health award that a UTC computational scientist was recently granted. Funding for that 12-month study will focus on understanding the spread of COVID-19. 

Shannon Stephenson provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee. The committee’s working groups continue to work to organize, operationalize, and support various outreach, social support, and testing events in the community.  Ms. Stephenson also updated the task force that working group members were discussing how best to move forward and potentially realign their efforts to ensure this subcommittee’s ability to address the testing needs of this community. The meeting ended with a discussion of a potential local mask mandate with members sharing their expert opinions on the validity and effectiveness of requiring the general public to wear masks. 

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, July 7, 2020.

TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 2020

This week’s  COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond welcoming the group and asking Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke to provide updates. Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke recapped their participation in the Latinx town hall on Saturday, June 20 presented by the COVID-19  Latinx Outreach Working Group. Mayor Coppinger again expressed concerns that the general public is not wearing masks as the Hamilton County Health Department and local officials have expressly encouraged and recommended. 

Mayor Berke reported that the organization Accelerator for America has awarded a grant of $50,000 to La Paz to provide direct financial assistance for Latinx community members especially hard hit by COVID-19. Mayor Berke also reminded members to share information about the city’s COVID-19 ad campaign contest that seeks to raise awareness and share information about preventing the spread of COVID-19. The winning video will be used as a Public Service Announcement shared across Chattanooga and Hamilton County. More information about the contest can be found at cha.city/covidadcontest.

Administrator Becky Barnes provided an update on COVID-19 cases on behalf of the Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD). As of Monday, Administrator Barnes reported 2,174 total positive cases, 1,207 active cases and 28 deaths. Administrator Barnes also reported that the Health Department has plenty of capacity for testing if residents are willing to take advantage of it. The HCHD has reported seeing a decrease in people participating in free and widely available testing. Mayor Coppinger outlined efforts to continue to spread awareness of testing availability and asked for support from members and their networks to ensure the community is aware of testing opportunities. 

Joint Task Force members also discussed their alarm that members of the public continue to not wear masks in public. Dr. Gregory Heath, a public health professor at UTC mentioned recent research by Washington University that further underlined the effectiveness of masks and that wearing masks can reduce the risk of respiratory illnesses like COVID-19 by 1/3 or more. 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided an update on PPE, and emergency department and surgical volumes. All three hospital systems reported adequate PPE, and volumes slowly returning to around pre-covid levels. The systems also reported they are monitoring positive covid cases closely to ensure adequate bed and equipment availability if and when it is needed. 

Dr. Gregory Heath provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee. The committee reports that the symptom checker they are working on is nearing completion and they are working through final bugs and updates. Dr. Heath reported that the Data & Analysis team is in talks with a couple of institutions to partner with this fall to utilize the tracker. 

Shannon Stephenson provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee. The committee’s working groups continue to work to organize, operationalize and  support various outreach, social support, and testing events in the community.  Ms. Stephenson provided an update on the community testing guide which is almost ready to roll out. She also reported that Dr. Tiffany Meador from Clinica Medicos presented Proposed Guidance for Hamilton County to nearly 100 employers and participants on the city’s reopening webinar. That can be viewed at cha.city/covidreopen.

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, June 30, 2020.

TUESDAY, JUNE 16

The June 16 COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke welcoming the group and providing updates. Mayor Berke first discussed the steady rise of positive COVID-19 cases across the state, particularly in both Memphis and Nashville. Mayor Berke also mentioned that both the city and the county, along with multiple community partners, are continuing to engage our Latinx community to fight coronavirus in our community. Mayor Berke also announced a COVID-19 ad campaign contest that seeks to raise awareness and share information about preventing the spread of COVID-19. Videos must be in Spanish and the winning video will be used as a Public Service Announcement shared across Chattanooga and Hamilton County. More information about the contest can be found at cha.city/covidadcontest.

Mayor Coppinger provided an update on behalf of the Hamilton County Health Department, stating that they would now be required to report on “probable” cases of COVID-19. Probable cases include individuals who have most likely been infected with COVID-19, based on clinical criteria and contact with a positive case, but has not been confirmed by a lab test performed for COVID-19. Mayor Coppinger said that as of Tuesday, Hamilton County was up to 1,889 positive cases with 912 recoveries, meaning there are 955 reported active cases. Additionally, the Health Department reported two additional COVID-19 related deaths, one of which falls under the “probable” category.

Mayor Coppinger also revisited the plans for an alternative care site in Chattanooga. He said that as hospitals are reopening, it is important to have reassurance from the state that if our community were in need of an alternative care site that they would be able to step in and assist. He said this site as well as additional contingency plans are being discussed with the state simply to make sure Hamilton County is prepared for the worst case scenario.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided an update on elective procedures and other hospital assets. All three systems continue to operate on adequate levels of PPE, staff, and bed availability. Representatives agree that they are seeing more COVID-19 related patients being admitted and in the ICU, with some of these patients being residents of Hamilton County and some being residents from surrounding counties. Overall, they are watching the numbers and they feel as though they can adequately handle the current levels of COVID-19 patients.

Again, all of the hospital system representatives have reiterated that hospitals are completely safe and sanitary and underlined the importance of seeking medical care as needed. They report seeing an increasing number of patients who put off seeking care and experience negative health outcomes. 

Several organizations will host testing events and opportunities throughout the week.  A full schedule of all testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting and at the Hamilton County Health Department website and via the COVID-19 hotline 423-209-8383. 

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee. The group has been working to facilitate a new standard of reporting COVID-19 cases based on the new CDC reporting requirements recently released. They are also working to reach out to state labs in hopes that they will be able to obtain additional data that was not able to be reported back to the Health Department. The work group continues to work with partners to address additional data analysis needs. 

Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee. The working groups continue to work on targeting each of the specific populations with the appropriate messaging and testing information. Additionally, Dr. Tiffany Meador of Clinica Medicos announced that she would be presenting her white paper in partnership with the City of Chattanooga on Wednesday’s Workplace Safety Webinar. The information from the white paper is intended to help employers navigate the proper policies to keep their employees safe. 

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, June 23, 2020.

TUESDAY, JUNE 9

The June 9 COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke providing COVID-19 related updates. Mayor Coppinger stated there have been over 23,000 people tested in Hamilton County and there are around 300-400 COVID-19 tests conducted per day on average. Mayor Berke provided an update on the City-County efforts on educational and information outreach and coordinating support to the Latinx population. . 

Hamilton County Health Department (HCHD) Administrator Becky Barnes provided updates on community testing efforts and COVID-19 cases. Administrator Barnes said that HCHD and their partners are still working to test at-risk populations in the community. To date, 22 long term care facilities had been tested in our area and the remaining facilities should complete testing the week of June 23. Additionally, the Health Department is looking into retesting the Hamilton County Jail again and plans on conducting testing Silverdale. 

This week, the Hamilton County Health Department is operating two testing sites during the week (Hardy Elementary and East Lake Academy) and one on the weekend (Hardy Elementary). Additionally, several organizations host testing events and opportunities throughout the week.  A full schedule of all testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting and at the Hamilton County Health Department website and via the COVID-19 hotline 423-209-8383. 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals provided an update on elective procedures and other hospital assets. All three systems continue to operate on adequate levels of PPE, staff, and bed availability. Representatives said that they do continue to see a steady increase in elective surgery volumes and emergency department volumes. In addition, representatives said they have seen slight increases in COVID-19 related hospitalizations in the past week.

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee. The CDC recently released guidance related to data collection during COVID-19 patient testing. The CDC suggests that these guidelines be implemented by August 1st, but the request is that this information be captured and transmitted as soon as possible. The task force discussed strategies related to how to best compile this data and how to move forward with gathering this specific data in a more centralized location, allowing all testing facilities to contribute easily. 

Shannon Stephenson provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee. She provided updates on each working group and noted that the patient information and community testing guide would be complete within the next couple of weeks. These documents will be in both English and Spanish. Dr. Tiffany Meador provided an overview of the white paper for employers based on research conducted during COVID-19 testing events at Clinica Medicos. The white paper discusses the major concerns expressed by patients after they have tested positive for COVID-19. 

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, June 16, 2020.

TUESDAY, JUNE 2

The June 2 COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with a few opening comments from Lead Rae Young Bond welcoming Shannon Stephenson, CEO of Cempa Community Care, to the COVID-19 Joint Task Force. Ms. Stephenson replaces Dr. Colleen Schmidt as chair of the Community Testing committee. Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke also welcomed the group and provided an update on the rising number of positive cases in the Latinx population. Mayor Coppinger emphasized the need to continue messaging to the entire community the importance of getting tested, wearing masks, social distancing, and practicing general personal hygiene. Mayor Berke agreed and encouraged continued work on supporting people who need to isolate or quarantine and talking to employers about supporting workers by providing a safe and healthy workplace. 

Kerry Hayes, Chief of Staff to Mayor Berke, reported that both offices have been working to partner with other agencies to generate housing solutions and support for Latinx household members that might need to isolate and quarantine. A group of partners consisting of both mayors, faith leaders, businesses, grassroots organizations, and other community partners that have been working together to create outreach solutions for the Latinx community in addition to addressing the social service needs and housing solutions. 

Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes provided updates on community testing efforts and COVID-19 cases. The Hamilton County Health Department is currently operating two testing sites during the week and one on the weekend. Additionally, several organizations host testing events and opportunities throughout the week.  A full schedule of all testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting and at the Hamilton County Health Department website. 

Administrator Barnes also noted that the majority of the tests from congregate living sites and retirement communities have come back negative. However, the Latinx community does make up 80-90% of the new positive cases most days. It does appear that members of this community are coming for testing, but that messaging to staying home and social distancing remains paramount. It was noted by a few task force members that although the increase of positive cases is of concern and we should take steps to curb the rise, it also speaks to the great efforts by the Health Department and other testing partners in our community working together to strategize and target vulnerable populations with testing and support. 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge Hospitals provided an update on elective procedures and other hospital assets. All three systems commented that elective surgeries are increasing and they continue to operate on adequate levels of PPE, staff, and bed availability. Representatives agree that the hospital systems did experience an increase in volume at their Emergency Departments, but that volume is still below what is considered normal. Additionally, all three hospital systems reported a slight increase in COVID-19 related admissions which they were prepared for and all hospital operations continued as normal. 

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee. This working group continues to provide analytic assistance to various health partners and gather data from community testing events to analyze and provide a more holistic picture of the spread of the virus in our community. Tim also expressed the importance of receiving regular, updated data related to negative cases to properly understand and calculate the positivity rate in the community. The Task Force discussed the importance of analyzing data related to COVID-19 patients who have been hospitalized and their ZIP codes. 

Shannon Stephenson provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee. Community testing efforts, as mentioned above, have significantly increased within Hamilton County, particularly within vulnerable populations. As the task force subgroup has continued to identify testing gaps within the community, additional working groups have been formed and new collaborations are happening regularly to address gaps. Lastly, the group is finalizing a community testing guide that will provide general guidelines for community partners that want to provide testing. The guide will go into detail about program goals and structure and will be able to be shared among the community.

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, June 9, 2020.

TUESDAY, MAY 26

The May 19 COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with a few opening comments from Lead Rae Young Bond, Mayor Coppinger, and Mayor Berke. Mayor Berke opened the meeting by discussing the recent elevated positive tests, particularly in the Latinx community.  Mayor Berke also reported on the first steps of the joint effort by the City and County to work with Latinx community leaders and organizations to help support and assist outreach related to COVID-19 in that community. Mayor Berke and Mayor Coppinger agreed that various partnerships and collaborations have facilitated a significant increase of community testing in Hamilton County and expressed the need to continue to push for these efforts.

Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes provided updates on community testing efforts and COVID-19 cases. She confirmed that much of the increase in positive cases came from testing events targeted to zip codes with Latinx populations.  Administrator Barnes reported that contact tracers are still seeing clusters at work places and that multi-generational and/or multi family housing is contributing to the spread. The Health Department staffs over four dozen bilingual staff and have recently hired additional staff to assist with the efforts to reach positive cases that speak Spanish. Administrator Barnes also commented on the need for social services support to this community as positive cases isolate or quarantine at home. 

COVID-19 testing is no longer happening at the Bonnyshire site, as the Hamilton County Health Department has expanded testing in the community to new drive-thru locations at Hamilton County schools starting this week and continuing for the next several weeks. At least one school location will be activated each weekend for drive-thru testing.  A full schedule of all testing sites and events can be found at cha.city/covidtesting and at the Hamilton County Health Department website. 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge Hospitals provided an update on elective procedures and other hospital assets. All three systems commented that elective surgeries are increasing and they continue to operate on adequate levels of PPE, staff, and bed availability. Representatives agree that Emergency Department volumes at all area hospitals are still considerably down. All Task Force members consistently underline the importance of patients continuing to seek healthcare and maintain regular appointments, especially for those with chronic conditions. 

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee. The committee is working on a communication plan to begin distributing a symptom tracker to the general public. The group continues to provide analytic assistance to various health partners and gather data from community testing events to analyze and provide a more holistic picture of the spread of the virus in our community. Tim also expressed the importance of receiving regular, updated data related to negative cases to properly understand and calculate the positivity rate in the community. 

Task Force Lead Rae Young Bond provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee. Community testing efforts, as mentioned above, have significantly increased within Hamilton County, particularly within vulnerable populations. As the task force subgroup has continued to identify testing gaps within the community, additional working groups have been formed and new collaborations are happening regularly to address gaps.

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, June 2, 2020.

TUESDAY, MAY 19

The May 19 COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with a few opening comments from Lead Rae Young Bond, Mayor Coppinger, and Mayor Berke. Mayor Coppinger reiterated that the community needs to continue taking the virus seriously as businesses open back up. He notes that his office and the Hamilton County Health Department still strongly recommend wearing masks in public, social distancing, and conducting regular temperature checks. The County government and Health Department further stated they encourage residents to be overly cautious and discourage large gatherings. 

Mayor Berke updated the Joint Task Force on the webinars that the City of Chattanooga is facilitating for businesses as they are making decisions to reopen. He also reiterated the importance of staying at home as much as possible and mentioned Governor Lee’s plans to loosen restrictions to allow restaurants and other businesses to operate at full capacity. Traffic counts from the City’s traffic cameras indicate that traffic at major intersections is inching closer to 100%, meaning people are not staying at home. Although the downtown area traffic circulation is still down about 40%, traffic patterns at other major intersections are back to essentially 100%.

In addition to facilitating industry-specific reopening webinars, the City of Chattanooga has been working with The Enterprise Center, the Chamber, and other local partners to secure locally sourced PPE. Mayor Berke’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Jermaine Freeman, discussed plans to send a survey to local businesses to get a better understanding of what types of PPE businesses need. This will help create a quick reference guide for small businesses to better understand types and quantities of PPE to order based on their specific type of business. 

Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes provided updates on community testing efforts. Mayor Coppinger and Administrator Barnes agree that Hamilton County is no longer considered “behind” on community testing and testing efforts continue to increase. Administrator Barnes reports that additional testing sites closer to the city center will begin operating after Memorial Day. 

The recent increase in positive cases was addressed by Administrator Barnes who stated that the majority of the most recent cases have been in clusters. The Health Department continues to do extensive contact tracing and it is through this process that they are able to conclude that many of the most recent positive cases can be directly linked to others who have tested positive for the virus. Additionally, clusters can be linked to essential employees who have been working throughout the last several weeks and the virus has spread within the workplace. 

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge Hospitals provided an update on elective procedures and other hospital assets. All three systems report that the reopening of elective surgeries continues to be successful and that they are operating on adequate levels of PPE, staff, and bed availability. Working together, the three health systems are taking careful and safe steps to slightly loosen hospital visitor restrictions.  All three systems are working on a unified approach for pre-operative COVID-19 testing, and Erlanger reported that they are already pre-operatively testing 100% of their elective surgery patients. Representatives from the hospitals, clinics, and private practices again reiterated the need to continually communicate to the public that these spaces are sanitary and safe for patients to visit.  Members agreed it is incredibly important that parents continue to stay on schedule regarding their children’s vaccinations.  All members consistently underline the importance of patients continuing to seek healthcare and maintain regular appointments for chronic conditions. 

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis committee. The committee is working on a communication plan to begin distributing a symptom tracker to the general public. The group continues to provide analytic assistance to various health partners and gather data from community testing events to analyze and provide a more holistic picture of the spread of the virus in our community. 

Dr. Colleen Schmitt provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing committee. The committee has continually worked to address populations in the community that are at a higher risk of becoming infected, which has resulted in additional community testing in these areas of the community. Community testing opportunities can be found at cha.city/covidtesting.

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. 

TUESDAY, MAY 12

The May 12 COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with an update from Mayor Berke on ways that the City of Chattanooga has been working to educate and support businesses as they reopen. He also shared information regarding Governor Lee’s request that the Tennessee Department of Health provides the names and addresses of residents who test positive for COVID-19 to law enforcement agencies across the state. The sharing of this information is being facilitated across the state by an agency choosing to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Tennessee Department of Health.  Mayor Berke reported that the Chattanooga Police Department has not signed the MOU and they are not receiving this information from the state. Mayor Berke added the Chattanooga Housing Authority informed him that they originally entered into the MOU, but has since revoked their agreement and is not receiving this information.

Representatives from Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge Hospitals provided an update on elective procedures and other hospital assets. All three systems report that the reopening of elective surgeries continues to be successful and that they are operating on adequate levels of PPE, staff, and bed availability. They are also continuing to maintain strict visitation policies, monitor all individuals that come inside the hospital, and increase their in-house testing capacity. Representatives from the hospitals, clinics, and private practices again reiterated the need to continually communicate to the public that these spaces are sanitary and safe for patients to visit. These groups also continue to communicate with all individuals the need to wear masks when out in public. 

Tim Moreland provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Data and Analysis subgroup. The subgroup has finalized a prototype of a symptom tracker, guided by the CDC symptom tracker, that they are ready to distribute to the community. The distribution plan includes relying on assistance from health partners, social media, and press to get the word out. The subgroup is still working to try and obtain more testing data.  CHI Memorial, Erlanger, and Parkridge hospitals, as well as Galen Medical Group and Clinica Medicos, are providing de-identified testing data for the project. Requests are still pending from the Health Department. 

Dr. Colleen Schmitt provided an update on behalf of the task force’s Community Testing subgroup. The subgroup has several working groups that are working to fill testing gaps among specific populations such as incarcerated individuals, homeless individuals, elderly individuals in congregate housing, and other populations facing health disparities. Dr. Schmitt reported that there are plans to test elderly individuals living in congregate housing later this week and early next week. Cempa Community Care is hosting a testing event on Wednesday, May 13 at The Bethlehem Center and plans to host two more testing events within the next couple of weeks. Lastly, the Chattanooga Housing Authority was planning to offer voluntary testing on Monday, May 11th facilitated by the National Guard. This testing event was postponed pending community conversations between the Governor’s office, the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators, and community leaders. More information on this rescheduled event will be shared with the Task Force as it becomes available. 

The Community Testing subgroup is also hosting conversations with local employers to learn more about questions, concerns, and feedback these entities have regarding COVID-19 testing.  Mayor Berke discussed his ongoing conversations with Chattanooga’s two poultry plants regarding COVID-19 and their plans to keep employees safe during this crisis. Both plants are regulated by the federal government and are required to follow USDA regulations.

A member of the task force requested a briefing from the County Health Department representative on contact tracing efforts at the Health Department during next week’s meeting. The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, May 19, 2020.

TUESDAY, MAY 5

The May 5 COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting began with an update from the hospital systems on the restarting of elective surgeries and other hospital assets. Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge hospitals reported that they have all started elective surgeries and plan to gradually increase these efforts as they continue to reevaluate their staffing and PPE levels. Additionally, all three systems reported they now have the equipment necessary to test internal staff and patients for pre-admission testing in-house. All three hospitals are working with adequate staffing and PPE at this time.

Erlanger, CHI Memorial, and Parkridge are seeing some transfer patients from hospital systems in surrounding counties, but nothing out of the ordinary. Recent outbreaks such as the Bledsoe County Correctional Facility or the Athens Life Care Center have not created disproportionate increases in patient numbers in these facilities. 

Rae Young Bond and Mayor Coppinger provided an update on positive cases, negative cases, and deaths related to COVID-19 in Hamilton County as well as community testing efforts at the Bonnyshire drive-thru testing site and testing related to incarcerated individuals. Mayor Coppinger reported that all inmates and staff in the Hamilton County jail were tested for COVID-19 on April 30 and all tests returned negative. 

Tim Moreland, Director of Performance Management and Open Data for the City of Chattanooga, provided an update on the Joint Task Force’s data and analysis subgroup. The purpose of the subgroup is to provide the task force with decision support tools and advanced analytics. Tim demonstrated a dashboard prototype that could help task force members and others visualize and better understand the data surrounding COVID-19 in Hamilton County. Tim also noted that COVID-19 testing data that the hospitals, clinics, and private practices. are willing to provide would be extremely helpful for the subcommittee moving forward. The hospital systems agreed to share COVID-19 data for analysis from the subgroup to better understand how the virus is spreading in the community. 

Dr. Colleen Schmitt provided an update on the community testing subgroup. This group has worked in partnership with other organizations to create a targeted approach for specific populations experiencing health disparities to make sure various communities are informed and educated on COVID-19. This includes populations such as the African-American community, older adults, pediatrics, the Latinx community, and individuals in congregate housing. Dr. Schmitt also provided an update on community testing efforts in targeted locations in Chattanooga and briefed the group on partnerships the subgroup formed to help facilitate and provide support for this testing effort. Dr. Schmitt also reported that the group is also working to develop tools for community providers. 

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. 

TUESDAY, APRIL 28

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke and Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger began the COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by updating task force members on plans for economic reopening and recovery. Mayor Coppinger announced that Hamilton County will move forward staying consistent with Governor Lee’s plans and guidelines for reopening. Mayor Coppinger stated that the best plan is to take incremental steps reopening businesses, while the personal safety of our community members remains a top priority. Mayor Coppinger reiterated that individuals who are 65 years of age or older and anyone with a pre-existing condition should continue to remain at home as the reopening of Hamilton County begins. 

Mayor Berke shared with members that the current goal with reopening is ensuring that restaurants and retail have whatever they need to reopen safely including equipment and PPE. Mayor Berke also noted that the City will be working with organizations such as the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, Urban League, and others to assist in sharing best practices for reopening businesses in our area. 

Becky Barnes, Administrator of the Hamilton County Health Department, provided an update on positive cases, negative cases, and deaths related to COVID-19 in Hamilton County. Barnes also provided an update on the surge testing completed at the Riverside Parkway location last weekend. She noted that through their partnership with the National Guard, the Health Department tested almost twice the amount of people than they planned and that the partnership will continue this weekend at the same site to offer free testing to whoever wants to be tested. This weekend surge site also allows walk up patients to be tested, allowing for people in the nearby neighborhoods. The Bonnyshire testing site is also continuing to provide community testing Monday-Friday. Barnes also reported that starting Monday, May 4, the Bonnyshire testing location will allow anyone who wants to be tested with no appointment necessary. 

Representatives from Parkridge, CHI Memorial, and Erlanger provided updates on their plans to begin elective surgeries. All three hospital systems noted that they felt comfortable restarting elective patient care services within the next week, but they would continue to keep lines of communication open and monitor this decision closely. Collectively, the hospitals have seen a decline in COVID-19 related hospitalizations within their service area since the beginning of April. All three healthcare systems are also working to impress upon the community that hospitals are completely safe, clean and prepared to take well and sick patients. The hospitals continue to urge people to visit hospitals to receive services essential to healthcare. 

The task force members discussed again the importance of creating a community surveillance strategy to gain more knowledge about the virus. As retail, restaurants, and other businesses begin to reopen, several task force members reiterated the need to obtain data on COVID-19 cases Hamilton County has seen thus far in addition to continuing efforts to obtain additional information from patients who will be tested in the future. 

The Data & Analysis subgroup reported some of the potential strategies that could be used to obtain additional data from patients who are being tested for COVID-19. The Community Testing subgroup began drafting a community testing guide and other patient literature as the community looks to expand community testing even more. This subgroup also noted that it is their goal to specifically consider the community’s at-risk and under-represented populations throughout this process. The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, May 5, 2020.

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2020

City Mayor Andy Berke and Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger began the COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting by updating task force members on the latest information on Governor Lee’s plan to lift the statewide “Shelter in Place” order on May 1. Mayor Berke shared that his goal with lifting the City’s local order and reopening businesses was focused on data rather than a specific date. Mayor Berke updated members on the Tennessee Major Metros Economic Restart Task Force, a collaboration with the Mayors and representatives from Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville to prepare detailed guidance on criteria and phases for reopening. 

Mayor Coppinger announced that he will make an announcement later that day on reopening Hamilton County. [Mayor Coppinger’s announced that Hamilton County will be following guidance from Governor Lee’s Economic Recovery Group to reopen May 1 following guidance which will be issued Friday, April 24].  Mayor Coppinger also provided a brief update on the alternative care site, indicating that the project is on hold but the facility will be prepared if needed.

Becky Barnes, Administrator of the Hamilton County Health Department, provided an update on positive cases, negative cases, and deaths related to COVID-19 in Hamilton County. Barnes also provided an update on community testing.  Anyone, including asymptomatic people and patients without referrals from a physician, are able to be tested at the community testing site located at 7460 Bonnyshire Drive. Additionally, the Health Department will partner with the National Guard to open another drive-through testing location the weekend of April 25-26 and May 2-3, which will be open to anyone who wants a test. That location will be the Emissions Testing Center located at 1620 Riverfront Parkway. Individuals must call the Hamilton County Health Department to schedule appointments for both testing sites. 

Representatives from Parkridge, CHI, and Memorial continue to collaborate regularly in an effort to remain in sync regarding decisions on restarting elective surgeries. Hospitals stand ready to reopen elective surgeries and will monitor transmission rates, PPE levels, COVID-19 hospitalizations, etc. while making adjustments as needed. Currently, hospitals will plan to maintain stringent visitor policies currently in place.

With the increase in testing capacity and community testing, reopening conversations are emerging throughout the community, and the task force members recognize the need to create a detailed surveillance strategy. Because there is little known about this virus, there is a significant need for data to be shared and analyzed. Sophisticated analyses using data obtained from positive cases, negative cases, asymptomatic cases, contact tracing, etc. will provide task force members a more accurate picture of COVID-19 in the community. With this data, local leaders will be enabled to make data-driven decisions throughout reopening phases as well as the continuous monitoring of trends. 

The Task Force subgroups will meet this week to discuss additional strategies related to data and community testing . The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, April 28, 2020.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15

City Mayor Andy Berke and Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger began the COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting with an update on the latest recovery and debris clearing efforts by first responders following Sunday night’s severe weather events. Although the storm has complicated the area’s COVID-19 response, it has not slowed it. First responders and officials are working to assess damage and provide aid and relief safely. This includes engaging in social distancing and wearing and providing proper personal protective equipment (PPE) to the affected neighborhoods. Hospitals were able to accept and treat individuals during and after the storm, while maintaining capacity to handle COVID-19 cases.  

At this time, local medical leadership are refining plans for the alternative site facility in preparation should state and FEMA officials authorize them to proceed with construction and operationalization for COVID-19 patients. Discussions are ongoing with local and state officials and the Army Corps of Engineers to determine if the projected COVID-19 caseload warrants an additional facility outside of the hospital systems. Officials continue to monitor the situation and evaluate hospital capacity and projected modeling of the virus to determine if an alternate site will be necessary for the area. 

Becky Barnes, Administrator of the Hamilton County Health Department, provided an update on positive cases, negative cases, and deaths related to COVID-19 in Hamilton County. Barnes also provided an update on the first full week of community testing, which has been successful.  Work continues to increase access for unattached and uninsured patients. Clinica Medicos has been designated as a community testing site with drive through testing abilities and accept unattached and uninsured patients. Erlanger’s Southside Community Health Center and Dodson Avenue Health Center are also accepting uninsured and unattached patients for screening and possible referral for testing at the county sites. Individuals are required to call centers to get screened by a physician and schedule an appointment to get tested.  [Note: later in the day, Governor Bill Lee announced that additional drive through testing sites are being established throughout the state, with Hamilton County expecting additional sites in the near future. Additionally, the Health Department announced that referrals nor symptoms are no longer needed to go to the existing drive-through testing site.]

Although community testing is increasing, task force members recognize the need for additional testing capacity. The Hamilton County Health Department continues to advocate for and order additional testing kits and prioritize hospitalized patients, first responders, and health care workers for testing. The County is providing additional equipment to the Baylor Laboratory to allow for more community testing and faster results. The Community Testing subgroup  will expand to include representatives from each hospital system and the Health Department.

Mayor Coppinger and Mayor Berke mentioned that while they are very mindful of the economic destruction that the coronavirus is causing, consideration of reopening the economy should be informed by data and meeting proper health standards. Task Force members agreed that a collaborative, medically informed discussion on reopening the local economy is a priority. 

Information was presented on a community effort by the manufacturing sector to identify resources to produce personal protective equipment locally. Medical organizations were encouraged to communicate their needs to the individuals involved. 

Task Force members echoed sentiments from last week’s meeting regarding the need to encourage community members to continue to seek medical care unrelated to COVID-19.  Hospitals and clinics are seeing a decrease in patients seeking necessary treatment and care because of fear of COVID-19. Medical experts want to assure the public that their facilities are properly protected and have capacity to accept patients, especially those with chronic illnesses and those who require acute care.  At the same time, people with serious symptoms unrelated to COVID should still seek emergency room care. Hospitals are equipped and ready to care for the usual cases requiring emergency care. Many physicians and clinics continue to provide telehealth services to monitor and see patients. 

The Task Force also announced the addition of a subgroup focused on data and analytics. This subgroup will meet weekly and be led by Director of Performance Management and Open Data, Tim Moreland Dr. Gregory Heath, Professor of Public Health at UTC . The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, April 21, 2020.

Tuesday, April 7

City Mayor Andy Berke and Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger began the COVID-19 Joint Task Force meeting with an update on the plans for Chattanooga’s alternative care site. The location for the alternative care site, previously announced as the Chattanooga Convention Center, will now be the former Alstom facility. Based on input from the task force, the two mayors made recommendations to Governor Bill Lee regarding the site’s leadership, which the Governor and the state’s Unified Command are now considering. 

Becky Barnes, Administrator of the Hamilton County Health Department, provided an update on positive cases, negative cases, and deaths related to COVID-19 in Hamilton County. Barnes also provided an update on the first two days of community testing. There were approximately 26 tests administered on the first day (Friday, April 3rd) and 51 tests administered on the second (Monday, April 6). Utilizing the lab at the Baylor School, they have been able to receive test results and notify patients quicker, sometimes even within a day of administering the test. 

Representatives from Erlanger, Parkridge, and CHI Memorial provided updates on their current status related to facilities operations, staffing, and PPE supply. Each hospital reports that they are operating with currently sufficient levels of staffing and PPE, but continue to closely monitor and work to source additional PPE. The general consensus for all three hospital systems is that they are sufficient with numbers of testing kits now for inpatient and health care worker testing, but are encouraging stringent testing criteria due to the limited number of kits. Access to testing kits remains a factor in the amount of testing that can be done in a variety of settings. Local hospitals were hoping to have in-house testing capabilities, however due to greater needs in other parts of the country, the vendors have had to redirect these resources.  They are still optimistic these in-house testing resources will be available in May. 

Representatives from Kindred Hospital and Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation noted that they are currently operating with sufficient levels of staffing and PPE, but working to source additional supplies. As the three hospital systems mentioned, Kindred and Siskin are working to plan for a surge and monitoring PPE and other materials closely.

Chris Adams, Director of Hamilton County Emergency Management, provided an update on plans for the alternative care site. He said the situation was very fluid, and noted the recent change of location for the site. Hamilton County Emergency Management is working with The Army Corps of Engineers and Tennessee Emergency Management Agency on details related to equipment, PPE, and staffing. Recruitment for medical professionals and volunteers is being facilitated through the Tennessee Medical Reserve Corps. As details and plans are put into place, this leadership team will report back to the task force on how members can be helpful to this process. 

The Task Force discussed potential barriers to medical care during the current state of the pandemic.  Task Force members expressed the need to encourage community members to continue to seek needed care for medical care unrelated to COVID-19.  Hospitals and physicians are witnessing an increased fear of seeking care for things like pre-existing conditions, medical emergencies, etc. Hospitals report that they have emergency room capacity to deal with medical emergencies and are  accepting patients. The Task Force also urges patients to continue to communicate with their physicians, many who are doing telehealth services to monitor patients. 

The Task Force has continued concerns regarding access to testing for symptomatic unattached patients, patients who do not have a regular primary care physician, or patients who are uninsured. Administrator Barnes stated those patients can contact the County Health Department for a list of medical practices that are accepting unattached, uninsured patients and who can help screen individuals to determine if they need to access the community testing sites.  The Health Department reiterated that community testing is done by appointment based on referrals received from community physicians. 

The meeting concluded with Mayor Berke, Mayor Coppinger, and Task Force lead Rae Young Bond extending their thanks to the Task Force for their hard work and commitment. The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, April 14, 2020.

TUESDAY, MARCH 31

City Mayor Andy Berke and Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger began the first COVID-19 Task Force Meeting by describing the purpose of bringing together subject matter experts, healthcare professionals, and hospital and private practice leadership.  Both Mayors expressed the desire for the task force to serve in an advisory capacity to help inform and guide community response, create a shared information base, and empower and support medical professionals to effectively respond to this public health crisis. Becky Barnes, Administrator of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department, provided an update on positive cases, negative cases, and deaths related to COVID-19 in Hamilton County. Barnes also reported the added testing capacity Hamilton County now has due to the opening of the testing laboratory on the Baylor School’s campus. Hamilton County has a contractual relationship with the Baylor Lab. 

Because of the increased capacity, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department discussed plans to roll out “community testing,” ensuring task force members that priorities related to who gets tested remain the same:

1. Hospitalized patients
2. Healthcare workers and first responders
3. Symptomatic community members. 

Per Barnes, testing for community members at the alternative testing site will be by referral and appointment only. Patients must be symptomatic, screened by a physician, and then referred to the testing site to schedule a time for the test to be administered. The Health Department expressed confidence in opening community testing at this point based on the Baylor School laboratory’s testing capacity and the number of test swabs currently available. Task force members also discussed the importance of creating avenues for uninsured and unattached patients who require testing. 

Representatives from Erlanger, Parkridge, and CHI Memorial provided updates on their current status related to facilities operations, staffing, and PPE supply. Representatives reported that while they are not currently operating with a shortage of supplies, they, like all hospitals and medical facilities across the country, could benefit from additional PPE, masks, and ventilators. Representatives from private practices also noted similar constraints, but are working to create staffing solutions and other support to provide assistance to hospitals if it becomes necessary in the future. 

The meeting concluded with recommendations to create additional subgroups within the task force to further collaborative conversations on topics such as: 

• alternate sites of care
• real-time feedback for community testing,
• nursing home, and skilled nursing facility support. 

The COVID-19 Joint Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, April 7, 2020.