Complete Story
12/08/2020
Today's COVID-19 Report: Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Here are the latest need-to-know updates for Wednesday, December 9 regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Today's Report
- Pharmacy partnership communication: Contact administration ASAP
- Ohio shares pandemic vaccine provider update, encourages facilities to serve as vaccine providers
- Members share vaccine education resources for staff, residents, families
- COVID-19 vaccine education: Addressing health inequities
- Antigen testing update causes spike in daily cases
- Survey: Life Plan Community Senior Living Trend
- Rep. Marcia Fudge tapped to lead housing agency
- LeadingAge Need to Know
Pharmacy partnership communication: Contact administration ASAP
If a LeadingAge Ohio member that registered for the federal Pharmacy Partnership program has not yet received communication from one of the four pharmacies that are part of Ohio’s Pharmacy Partnership (CVS, Walgreens, PharmScript or Absolute), they should email Director of Coalitions at Office of Ohio Governor Mike Dewine, Haylee Dunahay, immediately at Haylee.Dunahay@Governor.ohio.gov.
Ohio shares pandemic vaccine provider update, encourages facilities to serve as vaccine providers
This week, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) shared the Pandemic Vaccine Provider Update with updated information and links to various vaccine resources, including talking points concerning the vaccination initiative. The update summarizes progress to-date on Ohio’s vaccination distribution project.
LeadingAge Ohio also learned that it’s not too late to sign up as a provider of the vaccine. ODH has asked more facilities to step up to become facilities that will assist in giving the vaccines themselves, and will provide training and support for those that do. These facilities will receive the supplies to administer the vaccine, and ultra-cold storage is not a requirement to enroll.
Facilities can enroll as providers of the vaccine at https://ohid.ohio.gov. Any questions concerning this information can be sent to COVIDVACCINE@odh.ohio.gov.
Members share vaccine education resources for staff, residents, families
Because of the speed with which this vaccine was developed, an unusually high portion of Ohioans have expressed skepticism related to the vaccine’s efficacy and safety. While many questions related to Ohio’s long-term care vaccination distribution plan remain unanswered, LeadingAge Ohio members have begun staff, resident and family education efforts in earnest. Jennings has shared a letter they plan to use within their community, which other members may adapt for their own use.
If you have resources you have developed that you would like to share, please send them to the COVID-19 mailbox.
COVID-19 vaccine education: Addressing health inequities
On Monday’s all-member LeadingAge call, Karyne Jones, LeadingAge national board member and Chief Executive Officer of the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging, Inc. (NCBA), discussed the Vaccine Education and Equity Project. Launched last week, the goal of the 75+ organizations that make up the project is to build confidence in vaccines and vaccine technology, including what we know and what we still need to learn. The work will contribute to addressing health inequities, generally and in relation to COVID.
Antigen testing update causes spike in daily cases
On Monday, Governor DeWine discussed the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) aligning with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) current case definition. In August, the CDC changed the case definition to include case counts of positive antigen test results without additional verification. Ohio has continued to manually verify these test results using additional epidemiological data, such as a known positive contact or symptom onset.
On December 8, ODH began including antigen tests without an epidemiological link in the total case count. This resulted in a one-day spike in reported cases from pending positive antigen cases.
“After understanding more about the antigen testing, the CDC changed their definition. Our epidemiologists have alerted us that they are no longer able to keep up with the manual verification process of antigen testing because there is so much COVID-19 spread in Ohio,” said Governor DeWine. “Antigen tests have become a bigger part of our overall picture of understanding COVID-19, and it’s important to capture that information.”
Not all pending cases will be translated into new cases. Cases will be checked and duplicate records will be removed. Cases will also be assigned to their appropriate onset date.
Survey: Life Plan Community Senior Living Trend
In 2018 and 2019 CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) published Senior Living Trends white papers on a variety of topics germane to life plan communities.
In 2021 CLA would like to provide members with information about trends that will facilitate strategic conversations within your organizations. CLA has developed a survey organized around eight key trends. The survey has been designed to allow members to complete questions related to all eight trends, selected trends, or just one trend. CLA is conscious of the demands on providers' time. The survey should not take more than fifteen minutes to complete if you fill all sections, less if you choose to skip sections! Please note: This is NOT a COVID survey.
Members are asked to:
- Fill out the survey by January 15, 2021
- Forward this email to others within your organization and board members if possible.
If you have questions related to the survey, please contact Mario Mckenzie at mario.mckenzie@CLAconnect.com or Seth Wilson at Seth.Wilson@CLAconnect.com.
Rep. Marcia Fudge tapped to lead housing agency
President-elect Joe Biden has selected Representative Marcia Fudge to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), according to two people with knowledge of the decision. If confirmed, Fudge would be the first Black woman to run the $50 billion department.
The offer to lead the housing agency comes after weeks in which Fudge launched a bid to become the first Black female Agriculture secretary. Fudge, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, and her allies in the Congressional Black Caucus had lobbied openly for the USDA job. Biden is now leaning toward choosing former Obama agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), whose endorsement was pivotal in helping Biden secure the nomination, has pushed aggressively for Fudge to be named to the Cabinet and said earlier Tuesday she would land a top job. The Cleveland congresswoman also has the support of Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, which will handle her nomination. (Politico.com)
Fudge currently represents Ohio’s 11th congressional district, located in northeast Ohio.
LeadingAge Need to Know: COVID-19 – December 9, 2020
LeadingAge shares the latest coronavirus news and resources with members twice each weekday. This morning's update featured information on the LeadingAge Action Plan for the Biden-Harris Administration.
Check out the full report here.
Questions
Please send all questions to COVID19@leadingageohio.org. Additionally, members are encouraged to visit the LeadingAge Ohio COVID-19 Working Group facebook group to pose questions to peers and share best practices. LeadingAge is continuing its daily calls for all members. To participate in these daily online updates, members should register here.
LeadingAge Ohio is working to ensure that the information in our daily alerts, on our website, and all coronavirus-related communications is as accurate as possible. However, LeadingAge Ohio makes no guarantees about the accuracy of the information.