CSi Weather…

.TONIGHT…Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 40s. Southeast winds 10 to 15 mph shifting to the southwest 5 to 10 mph after midnight.

.FRIDAY…Sunny. Highs in the mid 70s. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph.

.FRIDAY NIGHT…Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 30s. North winds

5 to 10 mph shifting to the northeast after midnight.

.SATURDAY…Sunny. Highs in the mid 60s. Southeast winds 5 to

15 mph.

.SATURDAY NIGHT…Increasing clouds. Lows in the mid 50s.

.SUNDAY…Partly sunny. A 20 percent chance of rain showers in

the afternoon. Highs in the lower 70s.

.SUNDAY NIGHT…Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain

showers. Lows in the lower 40s.

.COLUMBUS DAY…Mostly sunny. Slight chance of rain showers in

the morning. Highs in the upper 50s.

.MONDAY NIGHT…Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 30s.

.TUESDAY…Sunny. Highs in the upper 50s.

.TUESDAY NIGHT…Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 30s.

 

(CSi)  Governor Doug Burgum held his weekly news briefing Thursday morning at the state capital in Bismarck to provide an update on the COVID-19 pandemic in North Dakota.

October 8th, 2020 COVID-19 Press Conference – ND Joint Information Center

Posted by North Dakota Department of Health on Thursday, October 8, 2020

 

He was joined by North Dakota Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, Senate Minority Leader Joan Heckaman, District 29 House Majority Leader Chet Pollert of Carrington,and House Minority Leader Josh Boschee.

Burgum outlined changes in county Risk Levels.

Those included Stutsman going from yellow-moderate, back to green-low risk, as has Richland County.

Moving from Blue-New Normal to Green-Low Risk is LaMoure County.  Meanwhile Dickey County was moved from Green-Low Risk to Yellow-Moderate Risk.

He has said the risk levels are not mandates, but rather guidelines, and go into effect on Friday October 9, 2020.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burgum moved on by saying that  the test positivity rates in the region, shows North Dakota has the second lowest positivity rate, in the state, but leads the nation in the nation in positive rates in the nation.  He said the state is performing more testings.

NDDoH

COVID-19 Stats

Thurs. Oct. 8, 2020

Posted 9:30  am

Barnes

New Positives  2

Total Positives 262

Active Cases 25

Recovered 236

 

Stutsman

New Positives  9

Total Positives  572

Active Cases 59

Recovered 509

COVID-19 Test Results
The results listed are from the previous day. Additional data can be found on the NDDoH website.

BY THE NUMBERS

6,898 – Total Tests from Yesterday*

686,464 – Total tests completed since the pandemic began

531 – Positive Individuals from Yesterday*****

25,384 – Total positive individuals since the pandemic began

8.09% – Daily Positivity Rate**

 

3,832 Total Active Cases

+126 Individuals from yesterday

395 – Individuals Recovered from Yesterday (194 with a recovery date of yesterday****)

21,242 – Total recovered since the pandemic began

125 – Curren­tly Hospitalized

+9 – Individuals from yesterday

6 – New Deaths*** (310 total deaths since the pandemic began)

INDIVIDUALS WHO DIED WITH COVID-19

  • Woman in her 80s from Burleigh County with underlying health conditions.
  • Female age 10-19 from Mountrail County with underlying health conditions.
  • Woman in her 80s from Stark County with underlying health conditions.
  • Man in his 80s from Ward County with underlying health conditions.
  • Woman in her 90s from Ward County with underlying health conditions.
  • Man in his 50s from Ward County with underlying health conditions.


COUNTIES WITH NEW POSITIVE CASES REPORTED TODAY

  • Adams County – 1
  • Barnes County – 2
  • Benson County – 3
  • Bottineau County – 6
  • Bowman County – 3
  • Burleigh County – 90
  • Cass County – 137
  • Cavalier County – 1
  • Dickey County – 1
  • Divide County – 3
  • Dunn County – 3
  • Eddy County – 1
  • Emmons County – 2
  • Golden Valley County – 10
  • Grand Forks County – 32
  • Hettinger County – 1
  • Kidder County – 1
  • LaMoure County – 3
  • Logan County – 8
  • McHenry County – 1
  • McIntosh County – 1
  • McKenzie County – 12
  • McLean County – 3
  • Mercer County – 7
  • Morton County – 20
  • Mountrail County – 9
  • Nelson County – 1
  • Oliver County – 4
  • Pembina County – 3
  • Ramsey County – 11
  • Ransom County – 1
  • Renville Count – 6
  • Richland County – 4
  • Rolette County – 4
  • Sargent County – 3
  • Sioux County – 1
  • Stark County – 49
  • Stutsman County – 9
  • Traill County – 2
  • Walsh County – 4
  • Ward County – 34
  • Wells County – 2
  • Williams County – 32

 

* Note that this does not include individuals from out of state and has been updated to reflect the most recent information discovered after cases were investigated.

**Individuals who tested positive divided by the total number of people tested who have not previously tested positive (susceptible encounters).

*** Number of individuals who tested positive and died from any cause while infected with COVID-19. There is a lag in the time deaths are reported to the NDDoH.
**** The actual date individuals are officially out of isolation and no longer contagious.

******Totals may be adjusted as individuals are found to live out of state, in another county, or as other information is found during investigation.

For descriptions of these categories, visit the NDDoH dashboard.

 

For the most updated and timely information and updates related to COVID-19, visit the NDDoH website at www.health.nd.gov/coronavirus, follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and visit the CDC website at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus.

 

Senator Rich Wardner said, North Dakota has distributed from the federal government, dollars to support North Dakota Businesses, along with support for unenployment funds.

Senate Minority Leader Joan Heckaman talked about essential compensation for front line workers.

House Minority Leader Josh Boschee, said the state legislature has addressed how to best distribute CARES ACT funding, and said he’s hopeful that the federal government will allocate additional funding.

District 29 House Majority Leader Chet Pollert of Carrington, added legislative action concerning distributing $1.25 million in CARES  ACT funding, including holding conversations with the governor’s office, with open dialogues.  He, along with other speakers urged North Dakotans to follow protocols in staying safe, to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

With hospitalizations due to the virus, Burgum outlined the monitoring of those individuals, and ensuring health care worker staff bed capacity which will be added to the State Health Department’s web site, dashboard.

Dr. Michael LeBeau of Sanford Health in Bismarck noted healthcare frontline workers continuing to be prepared with dealing with the pandemic and caring for patients.

He also urges all North Dakotan to wear masks, and pointed out that North Dakota has recorded it’s first COVID 19 death of a female in her teens.

LeBeau says he understands concerns about the amount of hospital beds available for COVID-19 patients, yet believes medical facilities around the state are ready to adapt to meet the challenge. Sanford Health Bismarck President Michael LeBeau’s comments followed the North Dakota Department of Health’s daily update showing new highs for active cases of COVID-19, newly confirmed cases and coronavirus-related hospitalizations. LeBeau says that although hospitals around the state are competitors, they are working together on additional space and there are no plans to build temporary facilities. He says there may be longer wait times or patients will have to be transferred to another hospital.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A surge of coronavirus cases in Wisconsin and the Dakotas is forcing a scramble for hospital beds and raising political tensions, as the Upper Midwest and Plains emerge as one of the nation’s most troubling hotspots. The three states now lead all others in new cases per capita, after months in which many residents and politicians shunned mask requirements while downplaying the risks of the disease. It is increasingly apparent that those choices have come with costs.

Jamestown  (Chamber Release)   Members of the Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors and the Young Professionals of Jamestown held a ribbon cutting ceremony for, Chamber member, University of Jamestown to celebrate their new building on campus, UJ Place in Jamestown. UJ Place features a mixture of student housing and commercial spaces.

Businesses qualify for a ribbon-cutting ceremony if they open, move, remodel, are under new ownership or change their name.  For more information, contact Emily Bivens by emailing: director@jamestownchamber.com or call the chamber at 701-252-4830.

Jamestown (Chamber)  Members of the Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassador Committee and the Young Professionals of Jamestown presented the Customer Service Award for October to Anna Stansbery of Southwood Veterinary Clinic for her outstanding customer service.  The chamber honors individuals who demonstrate a consistent commitment to delivering products or services that satisfy customers by exceeding their requirements or expectations.

Her nominations said, “On Saturday, June 13th I went to my dad’s house in Edgeley to visit. When I got to his house the feed shed had been left open and his three horses had been in there eating. When a horse eats too much grain, it can overload and can get colic and laminitis. Dad’s horses mean the world to him. He uses two of them as a team to pull the grandkids, and many other kids in Edgeley, in his buggy. When I discovered my dad’s horses, I called Southwood Emergency after-hours number. Anna Stansbery answered and said she was up getting ready for work and asked if she could call me back. When she called back, she said that if I could bring them in right away, she’d find a way to fit them into her schedule, so she could get them started on mineral oil and charcoal right away to stop the feed absorption. She explained that the timing of this was critical. Anna could have easily declined to take on the additional work and turned us away. She did this despite the fact that I am far from the most valuable customer at the clinic. The horses would have suffered permanent injury if she hadn’t taken the time to treat them that day. She treated me like the most valuable customer. As of now, dad’s horses are healthy and happy and he’ll be able to give the grandkids rides for years to come. Thank you, Anna.”

Congratulations to Anna, who along with all the other monthly winners, will be recognized at the Chamber’s annual banquet in January 2021.  Customer Service Award nomination forms are available at the Chamber office and on their website at www.jamestownchamber.com or call 701-252-4830.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A longtime effort to bring intermodal rail service to North Dakota is finally coming to fruition. Gov. Doug Burgum says BNSF Railway’s plan to provide an intermodal unit train at a facility in Minot is a “game changer.” Burgum says it will reduce shipping costs for farm products by as much as 25%. Intermodal service allows producers and processors to directly load containers on rail in Minot to ship to international destinations. State officials have pursued intermodal rail service for more than two decades.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal appeals court has blocked a decision to extend by six days the deadline for counting absentee ballots in Wisconsin. Democrats will almost certainly appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge William Conley ruled last month that any ballots that arrive in clerks’ offices by Nov. 9 will be counted as long as they’re postmarked by Nov. 3. Previously ballots were due by 8 p.m. on Election Day. A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the extension on Sept. 30. Republicans then sought a ruling from the full 11-member court. The judges stayed Conley’s ruling on Thursday.

In world and national news…

DETROIT (AP) — Six people have been charged in federal court with plotting to kidnap Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at her vacation home. Separately, seven more people have been charged with trying to target police and the Michigan Capitol. The FBI says in a court filing that four had planned to meet Wednesday to “make a payment on explosives and exchange tactical gear.” The FBI quoted one of the accused as saying Whitmer “has no checks and balances at all.” The government used informants and undercover agents to thwart the plot. U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge says the men are “violent extremists.”

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden’s presidential campaign says the Democratic nominee tested negative Thursday for COVID-19. It’s at least the fifth time Biden has tested negative since President Donald Trump confirmed that he had contracted coronavirus. Biden is campaigning in Arizona on Thursday. Trump remains sidelined at the White House. The president’s illness helped cast the remaining presidential debates into doubt Thursday. The Commission on Presidential Debates said the Oct. 15 town hall debate would be virtual. Trump refused to participate and proposed pushing back that debate and the third debate originally scheduled for Oct. 22. Biden’s campaign has rejected that idea.The commission will make the final determination and then the candidates will be left to decide whether to participate.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s suddenly up in air when the next presidential debate, or maybe debates, may take place. President Donald Trump says he will skip next week’s debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden if it’s virtual. Debate organizers announced Thursday that the debate would be virtual out of health concerns. Some staffers associated with producing the debate raised safety concerns after Trump tested positive for the coronavirus following his first faceoff with Biden last week. Biden’s team countered the Trump reaction by saying the town hall event should instead be moved back a week.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Law enforcement officials are bracing for the possibility of massive unrest at the polls on Election Day, Nov. 3. They’re conducting drills, setting up command centers and warning the public. It comes in the wake of claims by President Donald Trump and his allies that the vote will be rigged and his call to supporters to “go into the polls and watch very carefully.” Tensions across America are high following increasing political polarization, and months of mass demonstrations against racial injustice that have seen violence by the left and right. Gun sales are way up. And extremist groups are emboldened after Trump told one group to “stand back and stand by.”