. @KalamazooCounty Board of Commission meeting on a Zoom meeting tonight. They will get an update from @KzooCountyHCS Health Officer Jim Rutherford expecting to give an update on COVID-19

First thing happening is discussion on public comment. Some commissioners are concerned about commenters, there are 54 in the queue already. Other commissioners worried about preventing people from being heard. @tracyhall4kzoo withdraws her motion and there will be no change

Public comment has gone alright so far. Most comments about tabling a vote to allow the Drain Commissioner to petition the Circuit Court to set the lake levels for flooded lakes in Texas Township. There’s been one Zoombomb of farting noises.

Somehow this vote about lake levels in Texas Township is a concern to city residents who are worried about flooding in their neighborhood. There’s not enough info in the packet to really figure out what’s going on.

Public comment has ended....they had very few issues.. there were a lot of commenters related to Texas Township lake issues. There were some questions at the end wondering if everyone who wanted to comment got to comment but they’ve moved on for now.

Clerk Tim Snow giving an update on May 5 elections. Galesburg-Augusta pulled their question off the ballot. There will still be 4 questions that will remain.

Snow says they are working on beefing up AB counting boards since this will be mostly a mail in. About 25% of voters will have a question on the ballot due to @KalRESA being unable to pull their question until a later date. 5,580 ballots have been issued already.

. @KzooCountyHCS Health Officer Jim Rutherford addressing the @KalamazooCounty board now about the County’s response to COVID-19

Rutherford says the biggest push has been with community partners to work with vulnerable people. He says one of their biggest fears has been an outbreak at one of the homeless shelters...says that would be devestating. They’re working on an isolation area if needed

. @KzooCountyHCS Medical Director Dr. William Nettleton addressing board now. The only way to get a test is with an order from a physician. There needs to be a test, protective supplies for person running the test, and a lab to run it. County has lagged in all three

Because they’ve lagged, the State has prioritized who gets tested. Typically those who get tests have highest risk of infecting a large number people. State has just prioritized “essential workers.

County announced partnership with @WMUMedicine and Region 5 medical coalition for a collection site for those with dr. Order for a test.

Com. Place asks what happens when someone tests positive. Nettleton says typically provider who ordered test tells the individual. Health Department then starts contact investigation to best learn who may have been exposed. Health Depart May teach employer if more info needed

Place follows up asking if there’s an obligation to to make sure employer knows of positive test. Nettleton says that’s still private health information, but depending on exposure, there may be a need to reach out

Com. @Zac_D_Bauer asks about how tests are being distributed. Asks of County is involved in who gets tested. Rutherford says there’s a lack of supplies and in inavailability of labs. Says neither Bronson or Borgess have set up labs to test so they rely on state and private labs

Rutherford says the number of positive cases we’ve got is a very low representation of what we actually have. There’s just not a capacity for testing. Rutherford says don’t be fooled by the numbers that are being represented

Vice Chair @tracyhall4kzoo asks why our hospitals don’t have diagnostic testing and what do we need to do to get them able to test? Also asks about @WesternMichU as an isolation site for vulnerable population

Dr. Nettleton says the biggest reason the hospitals don’t have testing is the supplies themselves. They just don’t have the supplies to do it. Rutherford says conversation about homeless population did start with WMU but they still had a lot of students living there at the time

Rutherford says they then started working with hotels and they’re very close to signing a contract with a couple. He says shelters are overburdened right now and they’re working on alternative spaces.

Com. Seals asks about having talks with National Guard about using Fort Custer. Rutherford says he can’t say for sure what kind of conversations have been had. Seals says he’s been told “they” have been looking at VA for hospital overflow.