200922_COVID-19 Press

7:43PM Sep 22, 2020

Speakers:

Andy Davis - ADG

Mike Preston

Governor Asa Hutchinson

Dr. Jennifer Dillaha

Secretary Johnny Key (ADE)

Chelsea Helms - KNWA

Sec. Solomon Graves - ADC

Keywords:

continue

cases

week

people

governor

substitute teachers

pcr test

inmates

arkansas

districts

test

department

increase

terms

pandemic

report

antigen

deaths

result

state

Thank you for joining me for today's weekly COVID-19 update. And since we're doing it weekly Now, of course, there's a lot of business to cover today. A lot of news and reports that I think are important for everyone to receive. Glad to be joined by Dr. Jennifer delahaye of the Department of Health. Secretary Romero is out on a committee meeting. We have Secretary Mike Preston of Department of Commerce, who will give a report on unemployment, lost wages, compensation Secretary Solomon graves and brief report on our prisons. And did I say Secretary Johnny key from education for a report on the schools but first, this is international week of the death. And we are glad to honor and express appreciation to those who have that disability and we Edie check schmeck and biker, I always say it Edie but it's schmeck and Becker is with us who's always done a great job as a teacher and administrator the School of the Deaf and has been with me side by side through this pandemic. But we have four students from the school of the Deaf today. 10 Lee lease if they would all come back here at age five from North Little Rock, we have Braden cantril, age nine of Melbourne, Evelyn solace, age six of Little Rock, and Jeremy jermichael. Jordan, age 11 of Redfield, and Eddie will interpret in reverse fashion as these students sign and they have a special message for everyone. So Eddie, I think you might need to come to the podium up here. You're gonna Oh, he's gonna do it from over there. Okay, that makes sense. So go ahead students.

Hello.

I'm Tenley.

I wear a mask to protect myself and to protect my friends away.

Hello.

I'm Evelyn.

I wash my hands with soap and water. And I use disinfected

again and again and again.

To keep me safe and healthy.

Hello, I'm Braden.

I practice social distancing of six

feet

in the classroom, in the hallways, in the cafeteria, and in the dorms. Or I live during the week, on the weekends. At home, I do the same thing. Hello, I'm Dr. Michael. Thank you, Governor. And thank you community for your responsibility to help the people be safe in school and at home. Our word at the school this year is encouraged. And I want to share that with all of you.

We can learn together.

We can be safe together. And we can get through this together.

Go leopards

Thank you students. And thank you, Eddie, for that good reminder for everyone today, and with that, let's go to the case report. And in the last 24 hours, we've had an additional 486 cases which is 21 correctional and 465 in the community that brings this commute cumulative total of cases 270 4772. We've had 12 additional hospitalization that brings us to 459. And we have 12 additional deaths. That brings us to 1060. In terms of our testing, we've had 6810 PCR tests. So it was another strong day of testing and whenever you look at the level of testing with 486 cases, which is down from yesterday. We are pleased with that positivity rate continuing to decline. The antigen test we did 651 antigen tests. And so as the week progresses, you see that increasing 112 positives out of those antigen quick response test. And if we, let's go to the slides, and I think we'll be able to see all of this in a different way. And here again, you can see where we are in our last bar graph at 400. And some in cases, which is down from yesterday, fairly significantly. And let's go to the trend. And because we're down today, it dipped down in terms of our seven day rolling average trend line. I'm pleased with that. Hopefully, tomorrow. If it goes down in numbers, we're going to continue that trend down, we'll see what happens. And here's the active cases which we've had a number recover. And so that has a dip down the last 24 hours. But before that it's gone up and so we're something we'll continue to watch hospitalizations, you can see that that is a upward trend right now. And hospitalizations not where we have been at the peak, we've got some margin there. But we hope that this lagging indicator, which indicates increased hospitalization, because of the increased cases that are coming from a week and two weeks ago, we hope as we reduce the cases that will go down as well. And then this is the seven day rolling average of PCR tests the percent positive, of course, note that 10% marking there that we've been down for that long time, this is sort of the good news from where we are in the state with a declining positivity, right, we hope that that will continue to decline. And this is the

where we are in terms of our PCR tests for the month, we will continue to look at that we have set as a goal 180,000 PCR test, which is we're just we're going to make that without any challenge. We're having a good month and testing. And then if you look at the next one, you'll see the antigen test. And we again, we've exceeded our goal already, which we'd set at 10,000. So we've exceeded that. And and that's what I predicted with the new antigen machines, and that we're going to see more people taking advantage of that. It's a quick response. And it's getting gaining growing in acceptance across the country and here in Arkansas. And so this we're putting out there we've invested in for people to take advantage of. And they are and particularly with our education system moving and continuing that's helpful to them. The percent positive, of course, it's higher on the antigen tests. And that's just the way it is. But we're glad people are getting that test. And then let's look at it from regions for a moment. This just gives you a picture of the different health regions, the five different health regions across Arkansas. And then we're going to look at the trend lines for each of those regions. Here is the seven day rolling average of cases by region. And here you got to spend a little bit of time on it. But of course, the top line in the Orange is the Northwest, which you know, Pete, it's down, it's gone back up and it's we'll see where it goes. But obviously that increase was from probably the University of Arkansas college campuses going back. If you look at the next line, it is the yellow which is Central Arkansas, and other high population area. It's down from its peak, but we've got to watch it. You look at the next is the blue, which is the Northeast. That is a trend that we're concerned about because they've had one of the highest growth areas in terms of COVID cases. And it's almost equaling where we are in Central Arkansas. And then the red is south southeast and it's speak spiked up, but that's probably as a result of some of the increase in the prison system. And the green in southwest is flat which is the lowest number it looks good. And then this is the growth rate for by public. Kale region in terms of the percent growth rate, from September three to September 19. And here the Northeast, as I mentioned, is the highest growth rate at 7.4%. Followed by Central 5.7, Northwest 5.5. And and scary staircases get down from there. And then next you'll see this the same except by age group, and this gives us information is the highest growth rate is the 18 to 24, the college age students 7.6 growth rate during that September through 13 to September 19 period, followed by 65 plus followed by zero to 17. And so no age group is immune, we all have to be careful.

Now, I mentioned that today, I want to talk about the future for a moment, and our strategies for the future. And you've heard Dr. Fauci and others say that with flu season coming on that with the cold weather, it could be a very difficult time that we're going to come into here in the late fall and winter months. And I want everybody in Arkansas to be prepared for what's ahead, and to continue our focus, because we're going to be living with COVID for some time, but as everyone knows, we're increasing our activity from school, to sports. And we want to continue that, but we can't lose focus of our strategy. So I wanted to outline some of our winter strategies. And first of all, we want to our goal is to increase public flu shot participation. And so tomorrow, I will be getting my flu shot, joined by I believe the Surgeon General, and I'll be getting my flu shot here. We want everyone to get their flu shot, it helps you to be prepared for the winter season. Secondly, our goal is to perform 1 million COVID-19 tests by October 20. Currently, we have performed since the beginning 897,000 PCR test here in this state, we're looking forward to reaching the 1 million mark and PCR test. And we our goal is to have that accomplished by October 20. If we stay on target to that, it helps us to prepare for the winter months to be able to identify any spread that we have to address. Third, we want to increase the consistency of our state contact tracing. Stephanie Williams is here our chief of staff who will outline that we're making some progress in our contact tracing in terms of our timelines, trying to make them more effective and meaningful. That is a focus of our strategy. Fourth, is to emphasize continued wearing of mask and social distancing. While we're tired of it, and we get numb by the talking about it, it is still effective, it is necessary. we're adopting it, we cannot lose that focus. And the school children have really set the example for us wear a mask at school, not intimidated by it. They do that young people do that we have to continue to follow that very helpful practice. And as I say, they're lead by example, is interesting that in the NFL, some of the coaches in the NFL were not wearing a mask on the sidelines who they're supposed to, and they were fined $100,000, well, we're not gonna be fine, anybody $200,000 but they're trying to emphasize we lead by example, people see this. And so we want to, if you're a leader, if you're in the community set that example. And then finally, part of the strategy is do not grow weary, it is easy to do that it is easy to get overwhelmed with that we can't grow weary in this, we have to be consistent, because so much is at stake. And we can see hope on the horizon with the possibility of a vaccine coming, hopefully soon, even though it'll take some time to get that distributed across the state and available for everyone. Winter strategies. I hope that is helpful to you. And now, let me turn it over first since we have this up here to Stephanie Williams, to follow up with discussion briefly on our strategy and contact tracing.

Thank you, Governor and the slot is not a pretty slide but it gives you the three basic parts of the contact tracing process, and as the governor said it's a key part of Our strategy we look at the process every week, we study it in detail every week. And so this just gives you a little bit of a frame of reference for the timeline. We want to do it quickly and efficiently. So the first thing is lab, the lab sampling run in the lab sample, getting the result transmitted to the Department for action, the first block of time there, three days, nine hours and 23 minutes. This is an average of the times that we're receiving commercial lab, our public health lab and the antigen testing. So there's variability there. But that's just to give you an idea is it going to take a few days to get it into the queue for action, once it enters the department as a lab result, then we've dramatically decreased the time for action. We've got one day 17 hours and 49 minutes, so less than two days for it to be entered in to the lab system, investigated by a nurse and then moved on for contact tracing. Once it moves to our team of contact tracers, we've got it down to under a day, 23 hours in 10 minutes. So we've dramatically decreased the amount of time it takes to act on this information. Dr. Romero's Secretary Romero challenges us to look at this and improve it every week as the governor, so we will continue to do so. But that just gives you a little bit of the idea of the process that we're making. Thank you, Governor.

Good afternoon, and thank you, Governor. So I would like to add to some of the information that the governor provided in terms of the numbers of cases. So as he said, we had 486 new cases this year, I mean, this day, and yesterday, we had 596. So we've had 110 fewer cases today. And there were 465 in the community and 21 are in correctional facilities. So that gives us a total of 74,772 confirmed cases. We also have a total of 2209 probable cases, which is an increase of 131 since yesterday. And that gives us of 6188 confirmed active cases in the community. With regard to hospitalizations, there are 459 people in the hospital. That's an increase of 12 since yesterday, 88 of them are on the ventilator, which is a decrease of nine since yesterday. We've had 1060 deaths in Arkansas due to COVID-19. And that is an increase of 12 since yesterday, one was from a nursing home and otherwise there was no clustering related to these deaths. Fortunately, we've had a large number of people recover. They're 67,519 recovered, which is an increase of 585 cents yesterday. Our testing shows that we had 6810 tests reported yesterday. That gives us a cumulative average for our PCR tests positivity rate of 8.3, which is the governor noted as well under our goal of 10%. These specimens came from the health department which contributed 2272 test results from the commercial labs was 4340 test results and usms was 198. So our total monthly cumulative as of as of today are 163,704 PCR test results. Yes, so the top five counties are Pulaski County, which was at Benton County, which is 55 Craighead County, which is 30 Sebastian county 28 in Washington Tammy have 26. So I'd like to take just a moment to say a little bit about the flu shot. The flu vaccine given as a shot is effective and safe. It protects about half the people who get the flu shot from completely getting the flu at all. Those that do get the flu will have milder cases and it goes a long way toward keeping people out of the house. hospital. And that is something that in the time of a covid pandemic, it's very important to do, we all need to take steps to stay out of the hospital. So we strongly encourage people to get the flu shot this year. Our local health units beginning yesterday began providing flu vaccine to anyone who would walk up, it's a walk up flu clinic, and some local health units are also providing drive up flu clinics, there will be no cost no out of pocket costs to the patient. If you have insurance, please bring the information we would like to recoup some of our costs and Bill your insurance, but no one will be turned away for inability to pay. People can also get their flu vaccines at local pharmacies or their doctors. And we strongly encourage everyone to get their flu vaccine this year before the end of October. Thank you.

You ever Today marks the bat the middle of the fifth week of school. And during that time, we have seen 106 schools that have had some type of modified operations since the school began. The good news is 83 of those have already moved back to normal operation. We currently have 23 schools that have some type of modification, which could include blended learning or virtual learning for their school. It could also include a classroom, it could include a grade level, it could go up to include the entire school or district. So it's very fluid situation. But of those current 23 One of those is from my waterline break. So as you can see, not an earlier when we had weather incidences. Not every one of these situations is directly related to COVID. But currently 22 are related directly to COVID. We continue to work with districts with their plans. They are in the process of reviewing after the first four weeks of school, it has given them a good opportunity to look at their data to look at their practices and processes to see where their plans can be improved. And improvements are being made working locally with their administrators and school districts and educators. So we would just encourage our districts, our parents, our caregivers out there and our students to continue. As the governor said, don't grow weary. We have seen a successful beginning to the school year. We think that we can continue having a successful school year if we pay attention to the precautions that have been set forth by the health department. And we will continue working with districts as modifications become necessary.

Thank you govenor for your continued lose leadership during during this covid 19 pandemic. Wanted to update everyone on the continued challenges this virus poses within the Department of Corrections. As of this afternoon, we have 379 active cases within the department that is down from our peak high of case counts of 1001. At the end of July. of today's active cases, we have seven inmates that are being treated in a outside hospital. Of those two inmates are on a ventilator. Throughout the course of the pandemic. We have had 182 inmates that have been hospitalized. Unfortunately 39 inmates have passed away due to COVID related illnesses, with 36 of those being in a hospital and three of those passing away within one of our correctional facilities. Earlier this month, we did resume the intake of male inmates, which was suspended at early June due to the outbreak at our washita River unit in Malvern. We're currently bringing inmates in and cohorts of 48 those inmates are being held in quarantine for 14 days. During the course of their 14 day quarantine they will be tested at a minimum of three times one of those upon intake once at the Submit halfway point and the final test being administered about two to three days before they complete their 14 day quarantine. If an inmate test positive then they are held in isolation for an additional period of time, along with those inmates who were in exposed to them in their cohort group. The remaining tests that are being administered within the department are being administered for those inmates who display symptoms consistent with COVID-19. We're also continuing to test inmates before they are released from our custody either due to parole, or the discharge of their Senate's And finally, we are testing inmates as a result of a direct exposure to a confirmed positive case. specific to the men and women who work within the department and those that reside within our within one of our correctional facilities. I want to echo the governor's sentiments about not growing weary. This covid 19 pandemic has lasted longer than any of us would have one wanted. As the governor said, there is hope in the future as a result of Vax scenes and other medical developments specific to COVID. But we must continue to be vigilant with our with the wearing of our face coverings with sanitation, with basic cough, cough, hygiene, those little things that we have heard so much of these past few months. We know work and we know are essential to saving the lives of all of our loved ones, especially in my case, those men and women who are housed within our facilities. Thank you, Governor.

Thank you, Governor. Eddie, thank you for what you're doing. I'll do my best to speak a little slower today and just wanted to give a quick update on the lost wages Assistance Program. And big thank you to all those in the media who have covered this in the last couple of weeks. It is a complex program. And you all have worked closely with myself and my team to to get that information out there and deliver to our Kansans who may be eligible for this program. Today, we are starting to pay into the second week of the program. Again, we're have been approved for the first three weeks by FEMA, we hope to start making the third week of payments. Here in the next few days to date, we paid out over $47 million to our Kansans. The message I want to send out today is with respect to those who are qualified for this program on the regular UI benefits program. For those on the pandemic unemployment assistance who have already been automatically qualified as a result of that program said it being set up as a direct result of COVID-19. Those on traditional us unemployment benefits from August 1 through August 22 must go back in and recertify that their unemployment was due to a result of a COVID-19 impact. That's is what will make you eligible for these lost wages, assistance, dollars. We've sent communication out to all those individuals. Again, the media has done a good job to help us get that information out. But I wanted to share it with everyone today that you have until this Friday, September 25. To go back in and certify, we'll need to end it at that point in terms of those on UI going in and recertify or making that certification so that we can tell Yep, those final numbers and know what we as a state have to put in going forward with our match. So again, those on the regular UI benefits who are eligible from the week of august 1 to the 22nd, you receive communications from the Department of Workforce Services, please go on and certify that your unemployment was a result of COVID-19 impact, we need that in order to be able to pay out those funds. They are there. They're available, we just need that certification. Now on a positive note, we are seeing the numbers continue to tick down and unemployment, roughly about 37,000 continue claims on unemployment about 42,000 on the pandemic unemployment. This is the lowest that we've been since probably early May, late April. So the numbers are continuing in the right direction, which means people are getting back to work in a safe secure manner. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike and to the entire team has worked very hard through this. I know that was a lot of information. But that's what happens when we do it once a week. With that. We'll be happy to take any questions. Leslie?

So the White House estimate on the number of patients per day from Arkansas being hospitalized for a period, a recent period was 51 a day. So can you explain how those numbers differ from ours? If they're correct, it would mean like 40 people being discharged from the hospital a day. So

I think that's a conversation probably needs to be happen after. afterwards. We'll see if we can't get that information to you a little bit more. I've I reviewed the White House report carefully. But that particular detail I think, probably maybe Dr. Porter can answer that afterwards. Yes, there's that

report to the New York Times today talking about COVID-19 cases in schools. And basically, of the states they could get information on. Only Texas had more cases than Arkansas. Just wondering if you've seen that. Any idea why we might have more than other states? Meaning the schools? Yeah, and I can't.

I haven't seen that story. And,

you know, we've had a very good start to our school. You know, the, the challenge has not been the positive cases in the school, the challenges been those that have had to do quarantine as a result of a policy case in the school. So I'm not sure where they're getting that information, be happy to look at it. Do you have any information on that tricky. But we've we've got a great start, we're happy. The educators are really seeing the opportunity with the children. And they, again, the what they are concerned about is the contact tracing and how that impacts the staff and others. But in terms of number of cases, we have not been concerned about that number particularly. Yes. Increase consistency

of contact tracing, can you tell me a little more specifically what that goal is? Is it to do it faster? or What is it?

Well, first of all, it's a process. And so while we have greatly added to the number of contact tracers, it's about training them and making sure that it's going smoothly and quickly, and that we have a quality assurance reviews so that they are accurate, timely, for example, do you call five times in a row to someone that's not answering the phone, or you call one time a day for five days? That was a difference between how that was being approached, and we found out what was most successful. And so we implemented that. That's an example of how we can shorten that timeframe. So it's about the training, it is about smoothing out that process. It's and also, it's about controlling the number of cases. You know, if you have 1000 new cases in one day, it's going to be a slower response time, versus having like today, a half that number in terms of who we have to investigate and have the contact tracing on. But that's the goal is to decrease the amount of time before we resolve those issues. Do you have anything else to add to that? Stephanie? Is there any other question remotely hang up?

And say, terminated just

for the first one, I'm hoping you can provide me with some clarification on the health department's COVID dashboard listed next to confirmed and probable deaths, we see that there are five non COVID deaths. So we're just wondering what exactly that means. And then also President Donald Trump, he announced plans to announce his nominee for the late Justice Ginsburg seat on Saturday, Republicans, they indicate they have the votes to confirm that person. So do you think that we should be appointing someone to the Supreme Court prior to the November election?

Thank you. And I asked Dr. Porter, to answer the first part of your question on the graph that we put out.

Thank you. So regarding the inflammation, the non cobit deaths, some of those could be attributed to other mechanisms such as motor vehicle crashes, suicide, and other type of deaths that not you know, a person may have had a positive test, but that that deceit and or the the death event had nothing to do with COVID-19. Specifically. Thank you.

In terms of the Supreme Court nominee, I'm excited to hear the announcement later in this week as to who the President selects. The President is doing his constitutional responsibility to name a nominee when there's a vacancy. Once that's done, the Senate has a constitutional responsibility to hold a hearing and to take a vote that should move expeditiously. But adequate time for review and appropriate hearings on it. So I think you have to take it a step at a time. If that can be done thoroughly, with proper vetting with a proper hearing before the election, I'm for fulfilling the constitution that directs that process. So I don't think it should be tied to the election. I think it should be tied to the constitutional responsibility and continuing to move because obviously, that's a decision that a court has cases before it, that's going to make a big difference in the lives of Americans. And we need to have that ninth justice on the court.

Hi, Governor, Mercedes McKay with channel 11. Here remotely. This question is probably more addressed to Secretary key. It's related to what the current substitute teacher situation is in the state, because we've heard from several districts that there is a capacity issue. So we just wanted to see what that was like. And if there are any state efforts to attract more.

So yes, that that is an ongoing challenge. And really, that is the issue of substitute teachers. And the capacity is usually a local issue anyway. And there are some districts that traditionally have challenges doing that. So but right now, what we are asking schools and districts to look at, is, as they have seen the first four weeks into the fifth week now, and seeing what that availability can be on a district by district level, what are the other modifications they could make? What are the changes to their plan, they're ready for learning plan that might be necessary now that they have four weeks behind them. And the availability of substitute teachers is certainly one of the factors. So at this point, there is not a statewide effort, because the recruiting of substitute teachers is very much a local, as local flavor has local connotations, it's, you know, we could recruit substitute teachers, but it would be very difficult for a statewide campaign, so to speak, to really solve the needs of a substitute teacher shortage in sight McGee. So we are continuing to work with the districts to help them identify what other possible changes they could make to the ready for learning plan, in order to compensate for any shortages that they may have, as well as in substitute as well as the impact that they are seeing right now on close contacts, that in many cases, take those teachers out for 14 days for the for their quarantine period. But it's something that we continue to keep an eye on and we continue to receive feedback from districts.

Leslie

years ago, was that your position when President Obama, your constitutional position when President Obama did nominate but the senate refused to hold a hearing?

To the supreme court?

Yes, I understand. Is there a question?

The position you expressed today that it was a constitutional duty, your position then in 2016?

I believe that I've advocated for following the constitution consistently, including four years ago. I don't know whether I actually made any public statements on it or not. But that's my statement today. It was there any other question? I've missed.

Andrew with AP, one asked about the White House task force report, wanted to see what you thought about the the state's rate of new new cases turnout now the fourth in the country? It's been it's been going up the how big of a concern is that at this point, as well as the recommendation in there where they said there needs to be strengthened compliance with mitigation efforts. One See, how do you think the state can can achieve that or do you do that in terms of increased enforcement? What exactly are you looking at?

Thank you, Andrew. And very good question. First, in terms of the number of cases that's the bad news that we had in the report, that's obviously too high of a weekly growth in cases. That's why we're working every day to get that down. And I was pleased with decreased number the last few days. But that is a concern. We want fewer cases. And we want to slow that growth. And we hope that we can make progress there. The good news, of course, which you didn't mention was the reduction in the positivity rate in Arkansas, which they acknowledge in the report, we continue to. And as you continue to see improvements in positivity rate, there's a higher level of confidence that you're going to eventually see a decline in cases. And so we focus on both of those. And part of that is our testing. And if I read the report, right, it looked like it was like a 60% increase in testing here in Arkansas one week over the next. Now, that's my look at the report. And so the testing the reduction, the positivity rate, are good news. The concern, as you noted, is the increased number of cases, some of their recommendations. One is to strengthen compliance efforts. And so we are working on that, too, both through the Department of Health and strengthen our compliance efforts. Whenever we approve a local event, compliance is a big part of it. And so whether it is the Chuck Wagon races or whether it is another event, one of the things that we look at in terms of approval of the plan is their compliance and their enforcement, and how are they going to not just have a plan, but to have that plan executed. And then third part of it, of course, is what we're doing through the inspections that we undertake. And in fact, our COVID-19 inspection started on June 29. And since then, we've had 2067 inspections that have been conducted of different facilities. 90% are in compliance, so a 90% compliance rate of the 10% out of compliance, there were 173 violations found. And that's either accompanied by verbal warning, or citations. And so we're, that's made a difference. And we'll continue to emphasize those enforcement's efforts as well. And then I heard one more question.

Yes, Governor, this is Julian eclipsing with five news, um, a little bit more of a lighthearted question, but falls here. What is Halloween look like this year? Are you guys giving any guidance as far as trick or treating or haunted houses, or anything of that matter?

Actually, I've already started receiving letters from young people saying, don't cancel Halloween. And we don't plan on canceling Halloween, I don't know that that's within my prerogative to cancel Halloween. But we are looking at that. And, first of all, if you follow our guidelines, then it ought to be a safe Halloween, which is that if you go out socially distance and wearing a mask, and wearing a mask shouldn't be hard during Halloween. And so there's ways to do that if you don't go out and you go to a gathering, then that takes a little bit more serious thought. And there are limitations there. We don't want Halloween gatherings of 200 300 people in a gymnasium and without having a plan approved by the Department of Health. So we will have more to say about Halloween as we get closer. But Halloween will not be canceled this year. One last question here.

That CDC sorry, you have to take this up. The CDC changed its guidance on how how COVID is transmitted to say it's not majority aerosol?

Does that worry you that that could

make people stop wearing the masks if they if they think well, you know, this was CDC says it's really not aerosol? That's not the base of why should I have to wear a mask to stop my aerosol?

Well, I think their comments actually strengthen the reasons to wear a mask is now what Bob is bothersome, is that it's they came out with a revised statement one day they withdrew it the next day. And so they're still evaluating that we'll see what they say in the end, but I should defer to Dr. delahaye. Do you have any comment on the CDC guidelines there? And that's the most important thing. This is my team here. We've got w h o guidelines. We've got CDC guidelines and we've got decision makers that are here. That are very high quality epidemiologist experts in his field. And so our our guidance has been consistent. wear a mask, they will stay that way. Thank you all very much.