Thread by @PilarPedrazaTV

Sec. Norman says today's briefing will be a very dense session. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Says we've now reached 21 positive cases, 19 came through the KDHE lab, 2 through commercial labs. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

"10 days ago we were testing 7, 8, 9 a day. Now we're at 100 to 200 a day," he said. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Says they've relaunched their @KDHE website. They've gotten half a million visitors to it already. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says Kansas has repatriated the Kansans from the Diamond Princess cruise ship to their homes. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

He says that's 10 people, seven households in 5 different counties. They arrived by State Dept aircraft, greeted in protective equipment, escorted to their cars, followed them to their homes with KHP to ensure clear travel. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says they are under mandatory quarantine but none of them are ill at this time. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says Johnson Co has reached level of community transmission, 5 out of the county's 11 cases were acquired locally with no contact with someone who had traveled. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says this leads to a fundamental change to procedures as they approach. For one, testing strategies change. At this point they're recommending only residents hopsitalized who may have coronavirus be tested. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

He says testing everyone who could have, or with mild symptoms, woudl burn through all their tests. So recommending those with mild symptoms to stay home for 7 to 10 days, at least until 72 hours after the fever is gone. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says testing needs to be prioritized for those who are seriously ill and need to be hospitalized. Some states have been doing this all along. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says at this time we have 168 unutilized ventilators at this time, 102 negative airflow (isolation) rooms. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says yesterday they had 10 counties ask for help in getting additional equipment they were running out of , masks, gloves, gowns. Helping them depleted state's stockpile by about 10%. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says they've been talking with Kansas federal delegation. They're hoping to get 2500 or so from the feds this week. If not, they'll be in short supply by the weekend. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says the epidemiological hotline has been busy, 1500 calls a day. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

They've started doing daily local health department briefings because this is changing so rapidly. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

A recently retired local health department director has agreed to come in and be the state's liaison with the county dpeartments. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says he doesn't expect testing levels to drop even with the change in Johnson County. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says they're now thinking they'll get $5.9 million from the federal government to aid in the fight. Kansas will be in the second round of states to get aid. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says particularly in Western Kansas it's hard to get samples to the @kdhe labs. So they're asking their environment staff to become couriers to bring tests back to Topeka. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says they have a team in incident command that meets everyday. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

That team is working on:
1 - tracking the spread of the virus
2 - testing, how to reach public
3 - media/community engagement to get info out
4 - isolation/quarantine management and enforcement
5 - policy/guideline development

#kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

That team is also working on:
6 - local health dept/school liaison
7 - best practices research (what are scientists learning in other countries)
#kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

"I wasn't sure that we would be needing to do this three times a week, but it may be that we need to do it three times a day," Norman said. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman responds to naysayers in legislature/medical community, etc: in epidemics it is the nature to start slow and then increase rapidly. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says the development of coronavirus in the United States is directly copying the development in Italy, just a month later. Says we have to better if we want to #flattenthecurve.
#kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman responds to Senate's vote on limiting the governor's powers to respond. Says she's been very thoughtful in her responses and very grounded in the reseacrch. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says he advised the governor on the trajectory of where the illness is projected to go. From his perspective, mostly people are saying to him close schools. He did not have anyone say they wanted to keep schools open. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says once you hit 50 cases, you can plot out the line of development better. At this current rate, while he hopes the movement restrictions will put a lid on it, but then we'll have a better idea. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

"I don't think it's at all a stretch of the imagination to believe that a month from now we'll be in the hundreds of cases," Norman said. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman thinks we'll be ok on the number of testing kits we have. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says coronavirus has always been able to attack anyone of any age, it's just been more prevalent in seniors. He's speaking about a case in KCMO involving a student. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says Western Kansas is a different situation. The virus does better in areas where people congregate. With less population you would expect fewer illnesses per capita. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19v

Norman says the best differentiator between mild and serious symptoms will be if you have a fever. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says there's no sense to test anyone who's not symptomatic - like him or the governor. You'd just have to test again every day. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19

Norman says we have about 500 tests left and running through about 130-200 a day which puts them with none left by the weekend. #kakenews #ksleg #coronavirus #covid19