August 11 2020 Update

Today has been another busy day - lots of meetings and not a lot for time for much else.  

One thing I found over the weekend was a really excellent article from the Salt Lake Tribune that goes into detail about the facts around the Coronavirus and the data that tells us what is really happening with the pandemic.  Maybe I am too wonky, but I really enjoyed diving a little deeper into the issues and looking at other data sources beyond our traditional numbers like the ones below.  If you have an interest in learning more about these data points, I would highly recommend Andy Larsen's article.  

CORONAVIRUS STATS

Nationally, the CDC reports 5,064,171 cases with 162,407 fatalities.

Utah: 44,752 cases (up 362 from yesterday); 2,677 hospitalizations; 349 deaths (up 4 from yesterday)

Utah County:  8,887 cases (up 93 from yesterday); 418 hospitalizations; 37 deaths (no change from yesterday)

NEWS YOU CAN USE

• Just after their over 100-day streak of no new COVID-19 cases, New Zealand has seen 4 new cases, all members of the same family in South Auckland.
• There is a brushing scam going around in Utah, where individuals are receiving random packages in the mail that they didn't order or pay for. This is an attempt to boost ratings by stealing individuals' identities and writing themselves positive reviews. Currently individuals are receiving seeds from China that weren't ordered, and the Utah Department of Agriculture is asking individuals to bring the entire package to them for analysis.
• Eight years ago today, Usain Bolt capped his London Olympics experience by leading Jamaica to victory in a world-record 36.84 seconds in the 4x100 meters.

PROVO SOCIAL MEDIA

THE MAYOR'S DAY

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Met with the President of United Way
• Met with the Assistant CAO
• Met with the Police Chief
• Met with the city PIO
• Met as the Utah County COVID-19 Economic Recovery Committee
• Met to discuss apartments in Provo
• Met with a representative of the UV Chamber
• Met with the Redevelopment Agency Executive Committee
• Met about cultural issues in Provo

FUN STUFF

This might not be something that you would consider as my typical "fun stuff" item, but the whole idea of how communities feel about police officers has been on my mind (I wonder why) for several months now.  This video was a breath of fresh air for me this weekend when I found it.  I hope it helps add perspective to what we hear so frequently among the many voices out there.  We all know that every public agency has room for improvement, but this reminded me that there is a lot of good going on in law enforcement and its interaction with the community.  

Have a great evening, and we will touch base again tomorrow!

Wayne