COVID-19 Task Force Update (May 18, 2020)

Dear KGI Community:

The KGI COVID-19 Task Force met during our regular Monday morning meetings to review important updates regarding the pandemic.

Return Information:

• We do not have a confirmed return to work date.
• We do not have a confirmed return to campus date for students.
• The updated Safer-at-Home Order was updated and does not have an expiration date. Information of when the restrictions can be lifted will be announced by LACDPH.
• A townhall will take place for Faculty and Staff next week. Invitation will come from the Office of the President.

COVID-19 Guideline Update:

• Safer-at-Home Order was updated.
• Safer-at-Home FAQ was updated.
• LA County released a new document Roadmap to Recovery.

General COVID-19 Press Conference Updates:

Cases – Reported as of Summary Time

Good sources for tracking data and updated a couple of times of day:

• latimes.com/projects/california-coronavirus-cases-tracking-outbreak
• worldometers.info/coronavirus
• covid19.ca.gov

Federal Government/White House/National Coverage

• Friday, President Trump announced Operation Warp Speed, a government coordinating effort aimed at securing a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year.
• “Operation Warp Speed, that means big and it means fast,” Trump said from the White House Rose Garden. “A massive scientific and industrial, logistic endeavor unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project.”
• The drug maker Moderna said on Monday that the first coronavirus vaccine to be tested in people appeared to be safe and able to stimulate an immune response against the virus.
• Those people, healthy volunteers ages 18 to 55, made antibodies that were then tested in human cells in the lab and were able to stop the virus from replicating — the key requirement for an effective vaccine. The levels of those so-called neutralizing antibodies matched the levels found in patients who had recovered after contracting the virus in the community. Two more age groups — 55 to 70, and 71 and over — are now being enrolled to test the vaccine.
• Though encouraging, the findings do not prove that the vaccine works. Only larger, longer studies can determine whether it can prevent people in the real world from getting sick.

State of California/Governor Gavin Newsom/State Coverage

• Governor Gavin Newsom announced that 53 of California’s 58 counties can now move into the second of four stages toward reopening if they so choose.
• Most notable in Monday’s announcement is that counties will no longer be kept from loosening the shutdown rules if there have been COVID-19 deaths in the previous two weeks.
• The new standard removes all death rate requirements and creates a more generous threshold on rates of newly confirmed cases. Counties will now be able to move toward a more expansive reopening if they can show no more than 25 coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents in the last 14 days before taking action — a standard that was originally one new case per 10,000 residents.
• Counties could, instead, show that less than 8% of residents tested for the virus over a seven-day period were positive.
• Counties also must show that hospitalizations for COVID-19 patients have stabilized, meaning they can’t increase by more than 5% over a seven-day period or that a county can’t have more than 20 hospitalizations on any single day over a seven-day period.
• Amid the pushback from counties, Newsom also adopted a framework to allow some areas to move ahead of his administration’s pace. If local governments want to open more businesses, the plan allows counties to submit an application declaring that the presence of the virus is limited or nonexistent in their jurisdictions and they’ve met certain requirements to prepare for a future surge in infections.
• Even after the governor announced Monday, he was rescinding the requirement that counties have no coronavirus-related deaths in two weeks in order to move ahead of the state, it’s still unlikely that Los Angeles County will meet the standards. Local officials say the infection rate in the county is falling, but they remain concerned about the potential spread of the disease.
• The Governor also announced that pro sports could return in that first week or so of June without spectators and modifications and very prescriptive conditions also can begin to move forward…”if we hold these trend lines in the next number of weeks,” Newsom said. Sports were previously referenced in Stage 4 of the reopening plan.
• If current trendlines continue, Newsom said, statewide announcements are expected for opening up:
  • in-store retail (not just curbside pickup)
  • hair salons
  • churches within weeks, not months
  • sporting events without spectators in the first week of June
  • other parts of the economy

L.A. Department of Public Health/County of Los Angeles

• 18 new deaths and 477 new cases reported today. As a reminder, Monday totals are always lower due to weekend closures at reporting laboratories.
• More than 350,000 people have been tested for COVID-19 and had the results reported to county health officials. Of those tests, 9% have been positive.
• 1,570 individuals are currently hospitalized; 5,835 total have been hospitalized.
• Regarding health care workers in LA County: 4,298 individuals have confirmed cases of COVID-19. The cases identified include 26 different occupations. Skilled nursing facilities count for 44% of all cases, hospitals have 27% cases. Nurses continue to account for most positive case results – 46%.
• 58% of positive tests, the source of exposure is known; 79% of confirmed cases were exposed in a health care facility.
• 86% of those tested positive for COVID-19 at nursing facilities were asymptomatic.
• L.A. County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer reminded “Masks are, in fact, mandatory across the entire county when you’re outside of your home, not with members of your household and in any kind of contact with other people.” Even when on a solitary walk or run, Ferrer said, “you now need to have a face covering with you, because if you came by other people, you were walking by other people, you tried to go into a grocery store, you absolutely have to have that face covering on.”
• County will be reviewing the Governor’s new guidance for application to the County of Los Angeles.
• Metrics to Guide Reopening LA County is online.
• The County will be launching a new “recovery” dashboard that will include specific indicators the county is relying on to make decisions about when to further relax restrictions and if new ones need to be introduced.
• There are two important questions that we need to always be answering through our recovery journey. The first question is: How capable are we of slowing the spread of COVID-19? This means do we have everything we need in place to make sure we can continue to slow the spread. And the second question we ask is: How effective are we at preventing the spread of COVID-19? This would help us understand if the actions we’re taking together are really continuing to work.”
• These indicators are summarized as follows:
  • HOW CAPABLE ARE WE OF SLOWING THE SPREAD OF COVID-19?
    • At least 10% of beds in intensive care units available
    • At least 20% of ventilators available
    • At least 60% of all hospitals have a 15-day supply or more of personal protective equipment
    • 90% of all newly reported cases are followed up within a day
    • 15,000 COVID-19 tests a day
  • HOW EFFECTIVE ARE WE AT PREVENTING THE SPREAD OF COVID-19?
    • Average daily deaths decreased or remained stable for last 14 days
    • No increases in specific groups by race, ethnicity and income to ensure the county’s actions are not increasing health inequities
    • Average number of people currently hospitalized decreased or stable
    • 90% of nursing homes with one or more reported case are offered testing for all staff and residents in a timely manner

Higher Education Updates

• Harvard Medical School announced that all of its fall courses for entering classes of medical, dental and graduate students will be conducted remotely. The school said it hopes to hold in-person research and clinical experiences for returning medical and graduate students. Academic program leaders will soon communicate details and preparations for the fall with students and faculty and staff members, according to the announcement.
• Students at Chapman University in Orange, Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks and Pepperdine University in Malibu will return to their classrooms, with safety measures in place.
• University of South Carolina will end its fall quarter at Thanksgiving break and transition to remote learning following the break.

As a reminder, the most up to date information on KGI’s COVID-19 response can be found on the coronavirus website.

Be well,

Kelly Esperias
Vice President of Institutional Development

Back to kgi.edu/coronavirus page