May 4, 2020 Update

Happy May the 4th, or as my grandson reminds me, each year - Star Wars Day!  Hope you all had a good weekend.  We got lots of yard and garden work done, as well as checking in with family - mostly socially distant check-ins.  We got to talk to our Coast Guard son for the first time in a month as they have been at sea searching for drug runners and traffickers.  Fortunately, he is happy and healthy.

So let's start with the updated numbers.

Coronavirus Statistics

Nationally, the CDC shows 1,152,372 cases with 67,456 fatalities

Utah:  5,317 cases, 441 hospitalizations and 50 fatalities

Utah County:  1,122 cases, 61 hospitalizations and 9 fatalities

News You Can Use

• This morning, Mayor Kaufusi announced the City's "Proceed with Caution" reopening plan for city facilities that have been impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak.  The video above is about 20 minutes long and gives a good summary of what the City is doing and why.  You can also find the city's plan online.
  
• The City's Economic Development team also released a document today with resources for businesses that are planning to reopen this week under the state's moderate-risk guidelines.  This very helpful guide for businesses in Provo represented a lot of hard work by Keith Morey and his team along with Nicole Martin and her team in the Mayor's Office.  If you know a Provo business trying to understand how they can reopen, point them to this resource.
  
•  The Provo Towne Centre Mall is reopening today.  Find out more about the reopening process at the Mall at their website.
  

Provo Social Media

• May is National Bike Month and Provo City is supporting the effort with events and giveaways.  Check out the Facebook post and get more information and participate!
  
• Provo Public Works has been promoting efforts for our residents to better understand what items go into which solid waste cans.  Our world-renowned Garbage Can-Can video has suspiciously resurfaced this week, and still gives some creative and engaging ways to remember what goes into the black can, green can, and blue can.

The Mayor's Day

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Prepared for and conducted a press conference and Facebook Live event about the City's response to the change from Red to Orange status in Utah.
• Met online with Utah County Commissioners, the County Health Department and county mayors for a status update on the pandemic in Utah County
• Conducted the weekly mayor's office staff meeting
• Met with Chief Rich Ferguson

The Work from Home Challenge

One of our city employees has had an extra challenge working from home.  He tells us:

"We started a home renovation at the end of February, tearing out flooring on our main floor and cabinets in two bathrooms and the kitchen. By the time the quarantine started for us, we had one fully functional bathroom and were washing dishes in plastic basins (like the ones used when camping) in the tub. And during this time the water heater blew out and flooded part of the basement. Contractors came and went during this time (we still have one cabinet on back order) but we managed to work through the challenges and disruptions and disorder.

 "One challenge was an every other week caretaker schedule for my special needs daughter who now could not go to her mom's house every other week. We had to find help or make do on the weeks the caretaker could not be here.

 "It's been an interesting challenge, one that I think has brought us closer as a family, but one we don't want to do again any time soon."

The Fun Stuff

This one doesn't need much introduction, but the guy singing is a surgeon from Cincinnati who was in self-quarantine due to being exposed to a Covid-19 patient.  You already know that I love Billy Joel and I laughed all the way through his rendition of "Corona Man."

We'll check back in tomorrow with more news and fun stuff to help us all get through the pandemic together.

Wayne