(CSi)  Governor Doug Burgum held his COVID-19 News Briefing, Friday afternoon at the state capital in Bismarck, including a new development in ensuring an adequate supply of personal protective equipment.

ND Dept of Health Joint Information Center press briefing with Governor Doug Burgum 5/8

ND Dept of Health Joint Information Center press briefing with Governor Doug Burgum 5/8Briefing will begin at approximately 3:30pm CT.

Posted by North Dakota Department of Health on Friday, May 8, 2020

 

With the COVID-19 testing results….

NDDoH

Reported Friday, May 8, 2020 – 11:19am

Numbers from Thursday May 7, 2020

Categories: Coronavirus

INDIVIDUALS WHO DIED OF COVID-19

  • Woman in her 80s from Cass County with underlying health conditions.
  • Man in his 80s from Grand Forks County with underlying health conditions.

COUNTIES WITH NEW POSITIVE CASES REPORTED FRIDAY

  • Burleigh County – 1
  • Cass County – 43
  • Grand Forks County – 7
  • Mountrail County – 2
  • Pembina County – 1

BY THE NUMBERS

42,501 – Total Tested (+1,634 individuals from yesterday)

41,076 – Total Negative (+1,580 individuals from yesterday)

1,425 – Total Positive (+54 individuals from yesterday)

3.3% – Daily Positive Rate of Completed Tests

104 – Total Hospitalized (+2 individuals from yesterday)

33 – Currently Hospitalized (-2 individuals from yesterday)

714 – Total Recovered (+113 individuals from yesterday)

33 – Total Deaths (+2 individual from yesterday)

Burgum updated increased testing in Fargo, with the assistance of the Mayo Clinic and an increase of contact tracing.

He said a new capability  will help North Dakota meet demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) during the coronavirus pandemic, as the state’s number of recovered COVID-19 cases surpassed the number of active cases.

 

On Monday, May 11, 2020 the North Dakota Department of Health (NDDoH) will begin operation of a Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System for PPE. The mobile decontamination system is self-contained and uses vapor-phase hydrogen peroxide to decontaminate N95 respirator masks.

The system allows North Dakota to provide shipping and N95 decontamination at no charge to health care organizations, EMS agencies, public health, public safety agencies including law enforcement and fire departments, funeral homes, dental offices, and optometry and chiropractic clinics, among others.
Health care systems will collect worn respirators each day in accordance with an approved procedure, and the PPE will be labeled with a bar-coded serial number that will be used for tracking the PPE chain-of-custody throughout the decontamination process. This procedure ensures that the hospital system gets its own respirators back.
Burgum amendment of  Executive Orders, includes new guidelines for isolation for those testing COVID-19, which includes active cases must isolate for 10 days, and increase from 7-days.

Another Executive Order involves a travel amendment, now releasing people from self isolation when returning from out of state and travel freely with in the U.S.

The NDDOT has started the phased in restart accessibility to DMV offices starting Monday May 11, 2020.

Check with local DMV offices for specific information about making arrangements for in person visit appointments.  On line registration renewals are possible.

. Driver licenses and motor vehicle tabs due March 1, 2020 until disaster declaration has ended, remain valid and do not need to be renewed at this time, per the Governor’s Emergency Declaration, that waived expiration dates.

 

Driver License services offered at this time by appointment only include:

  • Commercial Driver License (CDL) Knowledge and Road tests
  • H2-A (temporary Ag workers)
  • CDL renewal with HazMat
  • Regular Driver License (Class D) Knowledge and Road tests
  • Work permits (Temporary Restricted License)
  • License expired before March 1 (65+, regular renewals)
  • Out of state transfers
  • Motorcycle knowledge tests
  • ID cards for voting

 

Motor Vehicle services offered at this time by appointment only include:

  • Vehicle Title work – all types of titles
  • Truck weight changes
  • Large trucks 2290 required

Motor vehicle services such as license plates and titling can also be done by mailing-in paperwork. Vehicle renewals can be done online, at a self-service kiosk or by mail. Motor Vehicle kiosk fees for renewing your vehicle are waived until the emergency declaration has ended. Call local Motor Vehicle offices for service information at that location or check NDDOT’s website.

Access to all state run agencies is by appointment only.

With unemployment claims a total of 1026 were filed on Wednesday and Thursday.  Pandemic related claims were 300, for a total of 77,000 since March 16, 2020 through Thursday, 11,000 pandemic related claims in that time frame.

 

In Other State Announcements:

North Dakota’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and Department of Human Services have teamed up with support from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Services (USDA FNS) to provide food assistance during the pandemic emergency for children who participated in or qualified for the free and reduced-priced school lunch program prior to pandemic-related school closures.

USDA approved the state’s plan on May 1 to operate the new Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer program (P-EBT), which was authorized by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act. An estimated 39,670 North Dakota children ages 3-18 will benefit from the program.

“It is beyond difficult for a student to learn when he or she is hungry,” said Kirsten Baesler, North Dakota’s state school superintendent. “We are honored to partner with the Department of Human Services on this program, which is an important step toward preventing child hunger and helping our students to continue learning at home during a time when their schools are closed.”

Families of children who participate in the child nutrition program at their school will receive a benefit amount on a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) EBT card, which is a specialized debit card. The benefit amount is intended to replace the value of the food in free and reduced-priced school meals.

 

The North Dakota Department of Commerce has announced that the Innovate North Dakota program is again accepting new enrollments and resuming the program’s offerings with current participants.

Commerce announced in March that the Innovate ND program was placed on hold in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With our economy shifting to recovery and rebuilding, it is more important than ever to utilize the programs that we already have in place to restart and grow our economy,” Commerce Head of Investments and Innovation Josh Teigen said. “Supporting our entrepreneurial ecosystem will open new opportunities for business growth and job creation throughout the state.”

Innovate ND is a voucher and grant program available to entrepreneurs in North Dakota. The program provides resources to assist with turning an innovative idea into a profitable business.

For more information and to enroll please visit https://belegendary.link/InnovateND .