May 5, 2020 Update

Greetings from the 3rd Floor of the City Center on a Tuesday afternoon.  It is a City Council day, and I am "multi-tasking" as I listen to Council meeting and still try to get the daily update post up.  It has been a busy day for sure, but I really enjoy working to keep you up to date on what all is happening.

Tonight, the Administration is presenting to the Municipal Council the proposed FY 2021 budget.  In keeping with our sense of respect for the Council's responsibility to adopt a budget, we always try to give them the first look at the Mayor's recommendations.  So, tomorrow I will include a summary of the proposed budget in the daily update, along with a link to a Budget Highlights document.

So - on with the show.

Coronavirus Statistics

U.S. – 1,171,510 cases with 68,279 fatalities
Utah – 5,449 cases; 456 hospitalizations; 56 fatalities
Utah County – 1,171 cases; 63 hospitalizations, 10 fatalities

Provo News You Can Use

• Splash Summit Waterpark (what used to be Seven Peaks) will be opening on May 29.  Their social distancing strategies are outlined in a story in the Daily Herald. 
• Intermountain HealthCare will be opening a testing site in Provo on Thursday and Friday this week.  Residents can pre-register through the IHC Covid-19 hotline at (844) 442-5224.  Residents who live in the 84606 zip code can be tested with or without symptoms due to a hot spot in that zip code area in West Provo.  Read more about this at the IHC Website. 
• KSL had a story today about how to best disinfect your car in light of the coronavirus.  Check out the guidelines here. 
• Mayor Kaufusi shared with employees yesterday the City’s new policy for wearing of masks by city employees.  Departments may choose to be more restrictive if they choose.  The policy reads:

Employees serving at a reception desk or customer-service counter are required to wear a face covering when interacting with citizens/non-employees.  Any Provo City employee is allowed to wear a face covering.  Decisions beyond that are left to our department directors or those they empower to make decisions for sub-units of their departments. It's therefore possible that leadership within your department may require you to wear a face covering, even if you do not work at a customer-service counter or reception desk.    Thanks for your cooperation and assistance as we all keep making our way through these unprecedented times. I encourage all of us to proceed with caution as we enter the orange (moderate risk) phase designated by the state. It's vital that we here at Provo City stay healthy and well, so that we can continue to serve our citizens. I'm proud of you for the social-distancing measures and other precautions you are taking to help ensure your safety and that of others.

Provo Social Media

• The East Bay Golf Course posted a photo of the progress on the golf course upgrades.
• We posted more and updated information about the City’s reopening plan.  You can see the updates and changes at covid19.provo.org.
• It is Teacher Appreciation Week in Provo, and while we don’t have teachers interacting with children in person right now, Mayor Kaufusi still wanted to let them know that the Provo Community appreciates them.  https://twitter.com/M_Kaufusi/status/1257750080649490432
  

The Mayor's Day

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Met with City directors for the regular monthly meeting
• Visited the Recreation Center on its first day of the "soft re-opening" to see how things were progressing
• Met with Public Information Officer Nicole Martin
• Attended Council meeting
• Talked with various residents and others in between meetings

Fun Stuff

A little Chicago for your listening enjoyment.  "Does anybody really know what time it is" seems  kind of appropriate for our working-from-home world!

Have a great day.  Looking forward to tomorrow when we can talk more about the new budget and our next steps in recovering from the tough economics of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Wayne