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[Music] [Applause] good evening and welcome to this special Memorial Day edition of rural health matters I'm Christina Lauren tonight we're going to take an in-depth look at the military's role in combating kovat 19 and we will honor those brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom joining us tonight Chancellor the University of Nebraska Medical Center and world-renowned dr. Jeffrey Gould and we have Nebraska National Guard Major General Darryl bohac coming to us from the University of Nebraska Omaha thank you both for being here Christina thanks so much for having us tonight it's a great pleasure to be with you on this special occasion and particularly to be joined by a general bohac we all know that freedom is not free and it's special occasions like this that we get an opportunity to recognize and honor all those who have served so I really look forward to our time together tonight and thanks so much for having us we have so much to cover we're gonna take a look at how the National Guard is fighting the virus on the frontlines and we have some hopeful data to share about kovat 19 but first in honor of Memorial Day we would like to begin with a moment of silence as we celebrate remember and pay tribute to those who gave their life in the name of freedom just something beautiful about seeing that flag today love seeing Old Glory blowing in the breeze dr. gold that's why it's so hard right now to see what's happening to this great nation especially to our economy we know it all has to do with copan 19 so let's start there in an overview of how copan 19 is impacting rural america so Cristina I think the news is starting to shift in a more positive direction now you know we still see increasing number of cases across the United States and unfortunately increasing numbers of deaths but the rate of rise is slowing the number of new cases that are being reported per day is starting to fall off and even the number of deaths fortunately even as a late indicator are going down and while that has been the case for a while on the East Coast on the west coast we're now starting to see those trends across rural America and so while it's not time to take off the masks and stop the social distancing it is time to realize that all of this that vision going on here and all of our efforts are really starting to pay off so good news tonight happy to hear it happy to hear it part of those efforts has been supplied by the military and tonight we have Major General bohac joining us you have been a busy man since the pandemic started I understand you've actually been deployed to all 50 states during the pandemic catch us up with your mission so far so that's correct it's actually 50 states three territories in the District of Columbia which is really unprecedented in in the history of disaster response for the National Guard so it is definitely a different time and and an amazing response all across the 54 as we refer to it in the National Guard and so we we're doing a variety of missions out there variety of missions and your work is still unfolding as we continue on through this pandemic so we really look forward to finding more out about what you're doing in regards to testing and helping to protect this nation citizens and of course now we're hearing that the National Guard is also going to play a key role in vaccines so we're going to dive into all of that tonight but first we want to start with your questions and our first question comes from social media Sandy and Oregon says I'm concerned about our veterans right now who may be isolated and alone these are soldiers who put their lives on the line for our country how can we do a better job of reaching out to them well I'll start and then I'm sure general bohack's gonna have some thoughts on this important subject as well but there's a definite sense of isolation that's not just true in our veterans but it's true across the whole country you know people have been locked in so to speak than those that have you know been staying at home particularly the older generation those people with some comorbidities such as heart disease or lung disease and you know they've been warned and we've been talking about it on the show now for months that they need to take care of themselves and that of course does not exclude our veterans and I know that you know I read about all the time and hear stories from friends and colleagues about that generation who are you know feeling extra isolated and extra alone and reaching out how understanding how they can connect to their family and to their friends electronically having resources available to them if they're really feeling down or worried is important but general do you have some thoughts on you know advice we might give some of this generation of America's greatest sure so I think one of the things that we would take a look at is doing things outreach things and in fact part of what we do in emergency management is look at ways to to reach out to isolated populations so for example one of the programs we launched helped launched here in Nebraska was a crisis counseling program that is designed to do exactly that and connect people to resources but for veterans in particular there's a great Network out there and the National Guard could be part of that but creating connections to other members of the community that helped help to make contact with veterans is a definite a definite approach that we like to promote we've also offered a significant increase in testing and screening for veterans because you know what some of these individuals have got other medical problems that they've developed as a result of their service or as a result of their aging and so getting them real on time testing and fast results to reassure them if they think they may or may not have been exposed to the virus there's another importance service just to essentially put their mind and put their family's mind at ease that's one of the great things I think that's also happening out there is telemedicine and using that as an outreach tool I know the Veterans Affairs Department of Veterans Affairs definitely engages in that and it's becoming a really important tool for those isolated sometimes it's their only connection to health care yeah yeah it's great to hear that the VA is doing things that are so advanced as well to see telemedicine for our soldiers just to let our soldiers know that we care that we are trying to get them the testing that they need I think that you've taken that role and just knowing that someone's looking out for them is important to a lot of these guys as well they need us to go ahead and represent their best interest right now sometimes nobody else does our next comment comes from Harris in central Illinois he shares a devastating experience his sister was in a nursing home where the virus spread she got a positive test she was then put into quarantine let's listen six days later went to the hospital short of oxygen in five days she passed away this is why everyone should be tested for going to work well Harris first of all my thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family on the on the loss and as you know unfortunately she's not the only one that passed as a result of this virus and hardly a day goes by that I don't say those very tragic words to friends and colleagues across the country who've had a loss of somebody they love and care a lot about testing is becoming much more common and I know what's going on in ours five-state region where we're doing a lot of testing of individuals and senior living facilities we're working with a lot of our businesses particularly the meatpacking plants we've talked a lot about and and maybe general you want to talk a little bit about that kind of testing that the guard has been so effective in doing tor chancellor so one of the things that we've done in Nebraska and this is being done over many other states as well which is to stand up testing teams that go either towards the meat processing plants can go into nursing homes they also set up in community centers to test some of the frontline healthcare workers tests first responders and those that may have symptoms so those teams are very experienced they go in for example one of the meat processing plants here in Nebraska I think they did something like 1,900 tests in three days yeah it was amazing these are skilled people that know how to do the nasal pharyngeal swab and do it safely and and pretend we did a lot of that training actually that's right we're back to the beginning yes and it's mobile testing that's been such a huge aspect of what the National Guard has been doing to help during the pandemic take a look at this we're located in Grand Island today at the fairgrounds and we're helping with tests Nebraska tests Nebraska is where patients will be able to go online answer a very simple questionnaire and if they qualify they can stop by our test site and receive a free test so once they're accepted for a test what will happen is they'll be emailed a QR code so they'll bring that QR code here so when they go into the drive lanes we have a person that's a go/no-go person we'll ask do you have your QR code and do you have your driver's license and the reason why we want to make sure is we want to have positive identification of is this individual the individual we're about to test and if they're available to do that we'll hand them some information packet along with the Kleenex and the Kleenex will be used later on in the process where we'll ask them to blow their nose prior to receiving the nasal pharyngeal swab so then we'll direct them to add to the swabbing station and they can the quality control person will take the tablet with the scanner will scan the QR code they'll utilize the information that's on the tablet to positively identify the patient we'll ask them either verbally or will they ask them to put their driver's license up on the window so that we can confirm that in the information that's in test Nebraska is the information that has been provided on an ID or verbally to us then the QC personal scan the sample bag which also has an identifier QR code to link the two we're linking the patient to the sample bag we'll end up taking the sample and then we'll put the sample in a vial inside the bag we'll seal it up and then send it out to the lab hopefully within the next 72 hours the patient will be contacted directly with the results general bohac I have to ask you did you ever think at your military service that this is what you would be doing well I'd have to say I wouldn't have predicted nasopharyngeal swabbing but we actually have a pandemic response plan that we built several years ago and it was in response to concerns about the pandemic flu coming through the country so sure this is something that we've prepared for in many real ways and I think it shows the adaptability of the National Guard to meet the mission where it needs to go and and so doing the rapid testing teams it's just a great event to I think someone told me like 40 locations across the state yeah it's 40 location crinimal yeah and we have 19 public health districts in the state we've supported every one of them Wow I think a lot of people have have learned from this pandemic that things that we thought could not be done have been able to be accomplished here what what have you really taken away being in charge of such an important role here and you're talking about involving public the public citizens people everyday people and you're dealing with the civilians that's the word I'm looking for here what is it like to to shift completely course of what you normally do to be deployed for a pandemic like this how did that change your life your family's life and the lives of your fellow soldiers tor so one of the things as we prepare to do these kinds of things constantly so the National Guard is the force that responds in the homeland whenever a disaster response we're the perfect fit for that because we have relationships and our communities we know the folks that we're supporting one important caveat here is well I might be in charge of the National Guard when we go into these areas we're not in charge we're always in support of somebody or some agency so in this case for us it's Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services that is the lead state agency so all these things that we're doing whether it's going into nursing homes providing logistical help at warehouses supporting food banks the two main food banks here work in Nebraska which push out food all over the state again repeated across the states we're always supporting those in terms of our families they are trained just right along with us to be ready to support and the great thing is at least here in Nebraska and I think this has been mostly true across the 50 floors it's an all-volunteer force signing up to do these missions no Christina just going back even to February you may remember general that we were sure you remember very well that when we were asked by the United States government to help repatriate American citizens from Wuhan City in China that it was the partnership with the National Guard and the federal government that made that all happen yep that's a great example Chancellor of of a community relationship that matters when it matters the most yeah it was incredible and you know we talked about seeing these things done that we didn't think we're possible the amount of testing that you have been able to take care of what is it like to actually to see people they drive up they get the tests just knowing that they're gonna find out whether or not they have the virus what does that experience like for you so I think the thing for us is that we know we're helping our fellow citizens and we get a chance to serve them and it's one of the things that's unique about the National Guard among the military in the United States we serve both the state and mission the National Guard is the only component of the services that does that and so having that community connection being connected on the front line like that and helping your neighbors a pretty special thing and it's very important when that information when those test results come back that it goes to the local public health department because particularly for those that are positive you know when the when it's a negative test it's good news right right you don't have the virus but if it is positive there's got to be important medical advice that has to be shared there needs to be contact tracing and that's where the partnership is so very important because it's the combination of the access to testing the contact tracing and then the quarantine and isolation that has to occur that's allowing us to continue to reduce the spread of the virus particularly in the rural communities yeah I think that that one of the really important features for us is by help us helping do the testing that frees up other frontline healthcare workers to remain on the job and do their do their work taking care of patients those that are sick yeah there are plenty of those yeah I have to ask you that as well how does this differ from other experiences I know that you are also deployed for Hurricane Katrina for example how does this experience measure up compared to some of the other big big tasks that you've had to take on in your role yeah so I think what's different this time Cristina is just the fact that you're fighting a battle you can't see sometimes and so trying to help people understand the seriousness of all of this is one of the differences when a tornado or a flood or hurricane strikes you can see it and you know what to do you know we know what to do with that and so the Nebraska National Guard like many of the other National Guard forces across the states have a long history of reaching out and helping each other so for example in 2017 we sent helicopters and a medical unit down to Texas to help in the response to Hurricane Harvey and another group went to the Virgin Islands to help with hurricane the response to Hurricane Emma we this is just something we do and do it exceedingly well and and again just the right force to do this okay we know everybo
y is anxious for life to just go back to normal and I'm sure the deployed members of the Guard are wondering how long their work is going to continue dr. Gould we've seen some success in states like Georgia that have reopened but we know the virus still poses a significant threat talk about the safety precautions why they're so important as the country does move toward this new version of normal yeah so that's exactly what we call it Christina we talked about the new normal and not thinking that we're going to get back to the old normal at least not immediately so all of these social distancing or physical distancing all of the surface cleansing all of the other precautions for instance I still wear a mask in public areas you'll notice that the general and I are seated a full six feet apart tonight to do this broadcast with you that's the kind of caution that's going to continue to be necessary so we are seeing some very preliminary but optimistic news from some of the states that have really started to open up but it takes a full 14 days maybe a little bit longer to get through a full cycle of viral transmission to know whether we really are going to be successful and once we get through that first 14 days or so you know everybody's gonna want to go yay and celebrate and you know and move forward but we have to do it with cautious optimism is what I described you know just to continue to take those extra special precautions and I'm sure that's true with the guard as well it is so one of the challenges we're facing too is not bringing large formations together to do training and to maintain our readiness and how do we address that and I think the term new normal or next normal whatever it might be we're gonna have to change some of the things that we do and and one of the things I think we're all learning is the value of technology and how we can stay connected and work together using a variety of platforms whether it be zoom or Microsoft teams or any of those things it's we are changed for it in some ways for the better but it's a challenge we're so used to coming together as a society and to do things and and we're challenged when we can't do that but figuring out new ways to move forward okay we're gonna pause for a quick break stay with us this is a really important topic tonight love hearing more about our soldiers and airmen proud of what they're doing for our country right now stay with us more rural health matters when we come right back as Tina's another one thing that we need to do right now so I'm glad y'all trying if we're trying to be proactive instead of retroactively what I'm used to it's a it makes me feel good dealing with purpose you welcome back to this special Memorial Day edition of rural health matters I'm Christina Lauren dr. Gould we have to get the latest information on new therapeutics any new data there or vaccines I know we've been following Rome disappear and UNMC has been right there at the forefront yeah so again there's good news Christina the Rome des aveer trial the first phase of the ROM death severe trial was actually stopped and that's good news because it demonstrated that it shortened hospitalizations in seriously ill individuals with a very definite trend towards better survival as well and so the second phase of the room des severe trial is a combination trial of Rome des aveer plus a very potent anti-inflammatory drug called Barris CIPA map it's a hard mouthful to say but I learned how to say it though I'm really pleased uh and uh and so we've actually very pleased to tell you that we've enrolled the first patients in the world in this second phase trial here in Nebraska and we're very optimistic that this combination will be even more effective but there are a number there are literally hundreds of new drugs that are in development several of which we're actually working on here we're working on a unique monoclonal antibody drug which is a unique approach to to treating it and also working on the vaccine side of it as well we hope to be one of the first institutions in the country to roll out a trial of a new and upcoming vaccine as viewers may have read recently one of the vaccine trials who have finished phase one which is the safety part of the vaccine trial was completed and it demonstrated that the vaccine that they're developing is safe and they even devout we're able to measure some antibody activity in several of these volunteers off for the safety trial and so they're going to get off to what's called a phase two trial which is also known as an efficacy part of the trial in which they're going to see whether or not they can actually prevent infections because it's one thing to have antibodies it's another thing to confirm that you're actually immune and not going to get the infection even if it will come down to an annual vaccination to prevent this it would be a heck of a lot better than where we are right now so again Christina are both on the therapeutic side and on the vaccine side the prevention side good news tonight absolutely president Trump launched Operation warp-speed which aims to make millions of doses of coronavirus vaccine available by years and of course we still you know that's an aggressive timeline we don't know if we're going to get there for sure but it does bring us to our next question Edward from Alabama says I understand the National Guard will play a role in distributing the corona virus vaccine when it's available but I'm unclear on why the military is getting involved can you explain well let's start and then the general can fill in more specifically but just like the testing require is a literal village and army of people to get it done at the scale that we need to get it done to have people that are trained and dedicated to this and to sort of do what I would call mass production of testing we're gonna ultimately have to immunize you know well north of a hundred million people you know that's a lot of people to have to get immunized and so we're gonna need doctors and nurses pharmacists therapists and I think we're gonna need the National Guard's or I mean as the guard actually preparing and planning for that at this time I don't think we've actually got it in our plans yet but I would say this that just like as you mentioned with why we're a good fit for testing we are going to be able to deploy forces use our our National Guard members to go into communities that they know and how do you have relationships with community leaders etc one of one of the things that the the question raises and it's important to understand is for the Army National Guard about 80% of the force and for the Air National Guard about 65 to 70% of the force are part-time members sure who are going to come into this which means when they're not on duty they are not costing the government anything for their services it's only when we come come in and come to work and do things on behalf whether it's training or doing missions like so what you're saying it's a bargain to ask the guard to help us it's an absolute bargain for the country and for the state well I mean I would say the value proposition is huge because you have all these dedicated hard-working people who volunteer to do these things and they do it so well you know does the audience probably knows there are all kinds of different results from the testing that has occurred and the efficacy of the guard in terms of doing quality testing making sure the right specimen ends up in the right little bag and gets processed at the right time has been just incredible so it's a it's a great partnership very important one one with no no continue I was going to say that reputation builds confidence and it makes people leave feeling secure their test is not going to get mixed up it's going to go to the right facility I think that speaks volumes about what you have done as an organization yeah I think that's right Christine I often tell people that when the national guard shows up that's when people start to believe things are gonna get better just because of the confidence they have in us and and and again because of our connection across the community across the states in which we serve so it's a it's a great value you know I think there's another aspect to that general and and that is that when the National Guard gets involved I think people take things really seriously you know just to carry on for that point for another minute you know there are a lot of rural communities here in Nebraska and in other places where farmers and ranchers are reading all about Kovan 19 but they probably never met somebody early on in this whole pandemic who actually got infected they may have heard about friends or colleagues elsewhere but I think when the National Guard started doing the testing and particularly when the virus started showing up some of these senior citizen facilities or in some of the meatpacking plants I think that's when people said wow you know I really need to take this seriously yeah I think so I think our presence out there on the forefront if you will chancellor does send a strong signal about what we're dealing with and and and also our professionalism and one thing you mentioned just a little bit ago it's about us being an all-volunteer force everybody that joins the military today is a straight-up volunteer they want to be there sure and and and they want to do these missions so but you're right when we show up that folks know it's we're taking it serious I love that and it speaks volumes to your training as well because we know it doesn't come easy our next question comes from Leslie in Idaho she says in my small town nobody is wearing a mask in public and I feel foolish wearing mine all alone just wondering how long you think masks will be a necessary part of life well Leslie whatever it's worth to you you're not alone I have my mask right here I wear it in public I wear it in hallways I wear it throughout our Medical Center and I wear it for not only to protect myself but mostly to protect others I wear it as a clear signal to the people that I work with and communicate with to send that message you know as I said earlier in the show tonight while the news is good and the numbers are starting to fall across the United States that is not a sign to take our foot off the gas and to be absolutely solid in maintaining all of the appropriate cautions that we've had over these last month's and the day will come I am really optimistic that we'll not be wearing masks in public but we're doing it now to not only protect ourselves but maybe even more importantly to protect others you know the last thing in the world I would ever want to do is feel that if I coughed or sneezed or or reached out and touched a doorknob and that I caused somebody to get sick to be hospitalized or heaven forbid worse than that end up on a ventilator or or pass away so it's a sign of respect for the people that we care about in the communities that we serve man I know the guard wears these masks all the time yep we've actually issued masks to everyone in our formation that needs them and it's coming on you know coming into duty and and I think one thing that's really important to to mention is the number of cases that are asymptomatic out there and so it's been estimated I think I've read somewhere that up to 50% of the cases can be asymptomatic that means you don't know you're shedding virus and don't know you might be infecting others all the more reason to wear a mask you know they did a very large amount of testing on the Theodore Roosevelt in the United States aircraft carrier and what they found is of these young American sailors a very significant percentage of them who tested positive were feeling absolutely fine and yet shedding live virus I know they if they were you know with their parents grandparents etc they would be running the risk of infecting them right that's yeah I think that's the one of the Christian slurs cut carrying it into your home and then particularly if you're in a multi-generational home infecting elderly folks there which is like dr. globe pointed out the last thing any of us want to do is infect somebody else dr. Gould I do want to ask you is there any new data about the surface spread is that more prevalent than we thought it was before is it not as big of a concern as it as we thought it was before where are we there where do we stand yeah Christina you know we get asked that question about surface spread a good deal and so there is no question that whether you look at sink tops or doorknobs or even in air filters in buildings that you can recover genetic material from the virus by that I mean fragments of RNA that are specific to the Cova 19 causing virus what some of the recent research has shown is that the amount of virus that's actually present and possibly even the ability to get infected from that virus is somewhat less but you know again III don't think that that's a sign of giving up our appropriate degree of caution you know the the science will continue to be available to us we'll learn more and more about the virus over a period of time but I can tell you myself and I read this information all the time in our scientists as you probably know are some of the leaders in the nation on doing this research about coughing and sneezing and surface contact and things of that nature has clearly shown that you can't demonstrate viral particles in that and so I carry around my sanitizing wipes and wash my hands several times a day I'm very careful about surface cleansing so before we sat down here tonight for instance general we scrub down the table with sanitizers so and I'm sure the minute we walk out these nice people in the studio are going to scrub down every last bit of material as well you know we've we've learned so much about this virus you the doctors the medical community have learned so much about this virus in such a small amount of time we talked about this potential know of a second wave and I'm sure the National Guard has been preparing for that on some level when it comes to that potential for a second wave we have the ability to learn so much more between now and then what are your thoughts in regards to that dr. gold well every pandemic every major infection cycle that we've had going back a hundred years to the Spanish flu of 1918 has had additional waves of viral spread and it relates to a number of phenomenon sometimes it's seasonal that is to say when you get into the winter season there's another wave a virus sometimes it has to do with loosening up the the NPI's the nonpharmacologic interventions people stopped social distancing they stopped washing their hands they put their masks away and they celebrate the victory and then all of a sudden they're there they're back in the middle of us of a second wave you know I think the good news in this Cristina is that we continue to learn more and more about this virus we continue to learn how to test for it better how to quarantine how to isolate we are learning more and more about antivirals hopefully we'll have some vaccines at warp speed or at least at some reasonable speed in the future but I would be quite surprised if we didn't see at least one or two minor bumps of resurgence of the virus and hopefully you know we'll see it coming and it's going to be community by community it's not going to occur in a single place that you know across the country at one time because just like we saw East Coast and West Coast spread of the virus before we really saw the central part of America infected I think we're going to see that type of resurgence in local communities as well and it's going to be very similar to what we be seeing now with these so-called super spreaders somebody will go into a senior citizen facility somebody will go into a manufacturing plant somebody will go you know to an event you know think a athletic event or a concert or somebody's church service and they'll be just a lot of spray there which will just cause that resurgence but hopefully with adequate testing contact surveillance and appropriate quarantine and isolation we can prevent getting to where we have been recently and I'm pretty optimistic about that general I think we'll be much better prepa
ed not we'll call the National Guard yeah well we're always ready always there Christina so we will stand ready if that occurs standing ready for the invisible enemy that that's really one of those moments in history we're finding ourselves sitting here tonight yet again talking about a pandemic that nobody saw coming it just swept us all off of our feet completely the invisible enemy I wonder if you thought that you would ever fight a battle on this front well it's not yeah I was not expected I think that we as I've talked about earlier we've definitely prepared for different things and this has definitely been a challenge but you know in addition to the testing mission we've done food bank distribution here in Nebraska have also done isolation and Quarantine operations to help people that in particular who are exposed and need a place to go because they can't go back into the home for fear of infecting others that they live with and and and then just a shout out to health care workers about this on the front lines we we had the privilege of conducting a flyover here last Wednesday and I was great in a in a salute our kc-135 Stratotanker that's based in Lincoln Nebraska flew that mission and I forget exactly how many places we we touched here but it was it was pretty amazing it was all across the state it was I saw the flight plan it was amazing we touched every place that said hey what about me we we unfortunately got rained out or the week before but that was a blessing in disguise because we got to got to do more I I will tell you this that the United States Air Force is a total force as part of this whole operation and salute to health care workers flew 110 flyovers the Air National Guard is a whole flew 50 but here in Nebraska and I know as I speak for every airman out there that helped make that happen we were honored to do that and we are so grateful all of these people are risking their lives and their families lives and that's just a small way to say thank you yep that's exactly right because we get told thank you often but it was our turn to give a shout-out to our heroes and that says health care workers ah that's just beautiful camaraderie that I'm watching and you know what and just see notice those airplanes go over Kansas just gorgeous absolutely gorgeous from Kansas Nebraska right over the heartland amazing we're gonna pause for a quick break but the work being done by the Army in the air Guard's invaluable to our communities stay with us for more rural health matters there's a manpower shortage right now throughout the healthcare industry and it's good to see the North Carolina National Guard actually activated here at home helping in this local community situation [Applause] physician assistants nurse nurse practitioners and medics like myself have come here to provide assistance to the staff and patients here we're in this with you you have support and to help relieve the staff and the patients and show that we care and to make a difference welcome back to rural health matters I'm Christina Lauren we'd love seeing those messages our next comment comes from Lawrence in Maine he's struggling with the issue of finding adequate health benefits for his employees right now let's listen in agriculture it is hard to to get health insurance for your employees you cannot deal with the insurance companies the costs are so high that it's not profitable well Lawrence there's no question that there are challenges across all of healthcare and whenever we have the stress on the healthcare system like we have now in this pandemic all it does is exacerbate some of those gaps in coverage the good news is though is that the testing for kovat is is completely covered through the federal legislation and the so-called coronavirus supplemental the cares Act and other supplemental acts and that's really important because whether you're in the large city or you're in one of our rural communities all of your employees have an opportunity to get tested and all of your opportunities will be cared for it if they need health care as a direct result of that and that's important not only to the health and the you care of the community but that's important to our economic recovery as well because we need to know that we can get people back to work on our farms and ranches as well as in our factories in our offices and in other places as well and so I hope Lawrence that that's helpful to you and helpful to those that make your operation successful thank you for that Ernie from Alaska says we have escaped the virus so far but now its prime fishing season and out-of-state crews are filling up our isolated towns what advice do you have for those of us who may be on the verge of an outbreak well Ernie you know Alaska has actually been one of the lowest spread States for the pandemic in the entire country you know I checked that every day and I see which state is beating out which state and Alaska is right at the bottom of the list as uh as one of the very slowest but you know you're absolutely right as the season starts to change and as more people start to travel again and come to Alaska they're going to crisscross the country and they do run the risk of carrying virus with them so again it's the same basic common sense precautions it's six foot physical distancing it's hand-washing surface cleansing you know if you're sick stay home wear your mask please continue to wear your mask and let's see to be absolutely sure that as we back into the tourist season in Alaska and as well as many of the other important industrial aspects of the hunting and fishing and agricultural parts of the season and you know I've had the opportunity of touring Alaska several times and it's a it's a magnificent part of the United States and we need to keep it that way and therefore we need to keep people safe all right thank you for that Nebraska is another beautiful part of the United States and you know what parts of the United States UNMC where they are doing some of the most important scientific research when it comes to cope at nineteen dr. Gould our relationship that we had already formed rfd-tv and UNM see before this was just perfect timing because we were so lucky to have the opportunity to talk to you throughout this pandemic and now we're hoping to push through it Major General bohac with predictions of a second wave of Kove at nineteen or even the continuing resurgence in these hotspots we see in parts of the country do you anticipate the guard remaining deployed or going through periods of redeployment how do you think that's going to work going forward that's a great question Cristina so currently using federal resources that remain under the control of the governors of the states were were authorized up through June 24th we're working on getting that extended to July 31st because as Chancellor Gould is this we're gonna be at this for a while and I and there are some states they're anticipating meeting their National Guard forces much longer than that I think it's variable look like by location and so I think we're looking to transition at some point later this summer early fall and let others do some of the work we're doing so that we can kind of reset and be ready if we're needed again you know the peak number of Guard members supporting Hurricane Katrina recovery that was in 2005 51,000 39 it represents the largest domestic response in US history where does this response to Coba 19 measure up it's the second-largest so it's about 46,000 Airmen and soldiers from across the 54 that are supporting the cove in nineteen response and from a national perspective some of the things that they've done is to help deliver one almost 1.5 million tests 121 million pieces of personal protective equipment delivered a hundred and four meals and then one of the most unique missions I think or the National Guard has been in several of the states as supporting elections one of the most fundamental rights that we try to preserve in our way of democracy and so here in Nebraska for example we supported counties that were worried about poll workers showing up and in fact we had two cases where our two polling sites that if we wouldn't have been there they wouldn't have been able to open and the state of Kentucky in the state of state of Wisconsin also did several things but you know in addition to everything we're doing with kovat 19 we're still deploying members overseas and doing doing the missions that the nation has asked us to do so we have almost I think almost another 30,000 members deployed globally across the world supporting combatant commander missions around the world I do wonder as well if you're going to be involved in what happens in November third when we do have the next big election as well will we be to a point in our country where we can safely show up to polls again we still don't know that's up in the air but it's going to be interesting to see if the National Guard does get involved dr. Gould what does it mean for the medical community to be able to partner with the guard and other agencies as well for that matter in government in this response to cope in nineteen you're really meeting with some of the greatest minds well Christina it's incredibly powerful there's no part of our communities whether it's the military whether it's the health care part the public health workers the elected officials etc everybody has got to work together law enforcement first responders and in Nebraska here we have been so privileged to enjoy this relationship with our federal partners all through the Department of Defense all through Homeland Security all through Health and Human Services the Veterans Administration the Department of State and this goes back about you know more than 15 years since our bio containment unit was first built it goes back to the days of the Ebola outbreak in western Africa when we had the privilege of caring for patients who are infected with Ebola virus disease and those partnerships build trust they build personal relationships and you know that word when somebody picks up the phone and says you know hey general Barr what if we do this together right you know that the answer is always yes and let's see what we can do together and and that's how we solve these gigantic problems Christina you know it's what makes America so great it's never a yes but it's always a yes and let's do this okay you know I love that I love hearing this and in many cases as well you didn't wait you took dr. cold you got on the phone you didn't wait for people to call you you started making those calls and we love that about you you're so proactive you're so well connected and you're helping us stay connected with a brand new app as well it's available in Android devices now tell us more about that sure well you know approximately eight weeks ago nine weeks ago we started developing a new smartphone app it's called one check covert that would be number one check and covet CoV ID and the idea was very simple we wanted individuals to be able to screen themselves according to the CDC guidelines by symptoms and by what we call comorbidity meaning to have you been treated for cancer do you have high blood pressure etc and what we found is that we had thousands and thousands almost a hundred thousand people come and check out the site now was originally available only on the iOS on the Apple platform but it's now available on Google Play and so over time we've continued to evolve this and what people find is that it's very very useful it's completely private but if you want to share it with your physician with your pharmacist with your family member etcetera all you have to do is just click once or twice now I self screen every day just to make sure the app is working and I'm also just to provide data which I then share all the choose to share electronically and it takes me less than 15 seconds to do a self screening because I have no symptoms fortunately and so I can just click none none none none none right down the list and and it's fast and easy and it's gonna be a very important part about how we reopen in our community so to speak so for instance we think about the app is sort of like a passport because after you self screen you get a little answer that says you know maintain social distancing in a big green circle or if I were to say that I had fever and chills and shortness of breath I probably wouldn't get a green circle I'd probably get a red circle it said you probably need to make a phone call get some help you know contact your health care professional and so we plan to use this app that has now been so widely made available into all different types of of private businesses farms and ranches the University and and many other areas as well all right Tim from Pennsylvania has a question I think that you're both going to appreciate he says as an equipment dealer customer relations are the key to our business do you think kovat 19 killed the handshake or will it make a comeback you know a great question Tim I'm not sure how soon it's gonna be before I'm gonna really feel comfortable shaking somebody's hand I'm much more comfortable bumping elbows with with somebody these days do I think it's going to come back yes I do but you know there are other parts of the world who have had extensive viral spread have had a much harder time with either SARS or MERS or even h1n1 flu where handshaking has pretty well gone away and you know I so I think it's gonna be a while and I think it's gonna be a balance and they're probably gonna be some people who are not going to feel comfortable for a really long time I know general you have thoughts on that well I think you're probably right Chancellor I think it'll come back and I think in part our confidence about having it come back maybe because of all the other measures were taking like frequent hand-washing not touching your face doing all the things that helps not just with kovat but all other kinds of transmittable kinds of viral conditions so I think I think it'll be hard for us not to shake hands ultimately we'll little tire of it but I'm with you I don't shake hands I don't even bump elbows right now yeah I do I actually I think people are stopped they're they're nervous yep yeah we're gonna have to figure out it there's been some awkwardness all across the country with the lack of the handshake we have another special video to share with you tonight from the Nebraska Medical Orchestra honoring health care workers right now [Music] dr. Gould Cristina this video was produced by the Nebraska Medical Orchestra and these are all physicians medical students technicians pharmacists nurses and others who as a way of saying thank you to everybody else participate in what's called the Nebraska Medical Orchestra and it's a way of relieving their stress and their tensions and their worries but it's also a way of saying thank you to the whole medical community and I am so proud of them in partnership with the University of Nebraska at Omaha School of Music under the directorship of Professor Matthew Brooks well thanks for giving us an opportunity to say thank you to all of rural America with these talented talented healthcare professionals and musicians it's really heartwarming just beautiful just beautiful what a lovely tribute well thank you both for joining us tonight I wanted to give you both an opportunity to say something in honor of Memorial Day general yeah thanks Chancellor it's just an honor to be here tonight and to recognize all our veterans but in particularly those that fell on the battlefields that America has served in and and to remember also their gold star families that continue to carry the loss each and every day in their lives and the best thing we can do as a country to share a shoulder with them yeah and we should never forget general that freedom is never free and that every day there are men and women that are protecting our freedom and make this country as great as it is this is one of the many opportunities that we get to say thank you thank you thank you thank you that's right this is the greatest nation in the world and as a woman a free woman I am so thankful for your sacrifice unmc chancellor dr. jeffrey gold Nebraska National
uard general Major General Darryl bohac thank you so much for joining us if you'd like more information about our panelists head to rfd-tv dot-com and for more resources on cope at 19 you can head to Nebraska med comm thank you so much for joining us god bless you [Music]
