Wayne Byers Show – Morning – Sept. 2

CSi Weather…

.REST OF TODAY…Rain showers and scattered thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 60s. Southeast winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

 

.TONIGHT…Cloudy. A 30 percent chance of rain showers in the evening in the Jamestown area, 50 percent in the Valley City area. Lows in the mid 50s. North winds 5 to 10 mph.

.FRIDAY…Partly sunny. Highs in the mid 70s. Northwest winds

5 to 10 mph.

.FRIDAY NIGHT…Decreasing clouds. A 20 percent chance of rain

showers. Lows in the lower 50s. West winds 5 to 10 mph.

.SATURDAY…Sunny. Highs in the mid 70s. West winds 5 to 15 mph.

Gusts up to 30 mph in the afternoon.

.SATURDAY NIGHT…Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 40s.

.SUNDAY…Sunny. Highs in the lower 70s.

.SUNDAY NIGHT…Partly cloudy. Lows around 50.

.LABOR DAY…Sunny. Highs in the upper 70s.

.MONDAY NIGHT…Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 50s.

.TUESDAY…Sunny. Highs in the mid 70s.

.TUESDAY NIGHT…Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 50s.

.WEDNESDAY…Sunny. Highs in the mid 70s.

Showers and thunderstorms are expected through the day Thursday.
An isolated strong to severe storm is possible, with hail to the
size of quarters and wind gusts to 60 mph. Locally heavy rain is
also possible mainly in the southeast.

 

 

Bismarck  (NDDoH)   On Wednesday morning Governor Doug Burgum held a  a virtual press briefing with the North Dakota Department of Health (NDDoH) and hospital officials from across the state  to provide an update on the COVID-19 pandemic in North Dakota.

Guest speakers included: Dr. Nizar Wehbi, State Health Officer; Janice Hamscher, Chief Nursing Officer, Altru Health System; Dr. Cary Ward, Chief Medical Officer, CHI Health Midwest District; Dr. Richard Vetter, Chief Medical Officer, Essentia Health; Dr. Michael LeBeau, President and CEO, Sanford Health; Dr. Jeffery Sather, Chief of Medical Staff, Trinity Health.

Burgum is pleading for citizens to get vaccinated against the coronavirus as North Dakota’s hospitals struggle with an influx of patients infected with the highly contagious delta variant.

 

Burgum said  hospital capacity is a “present and looming issue” and “that the risk is real.” North Dakota ranks 42nd in the nation in vaccination rates and Burgum says the trend line for new cases is worse than it was during the outbreak’s winter peak. Doctors say COVID-19 patients are younger and healthier than they were a year ago.

 

The North Dakota Department of Health dashboard is updated daily by 11 am and includes cases reported through the previous day. The investigations are ongoing and information on the website is likely to change as cases are investigated. The information contained in this dashboard is the most up to date and will be different than previous news releases. This dashboard supersedes information from previous news releases or social media postings.

Check out our other dashboards: The COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard, NDUS Dashboard.COVID- 19 stats:

 

COVID 19 Stats.

Wed.  Sept. 1,  2021

10:30- a.m.

Barnes

New Positives: 1

Total Positives: 1467

Active: 15

Recovered: 1425

 

Stutsman

New Positives:  15

Total Positives:  3697

Active:  52

Recovered: 3558

 

 

 

Jamestown  (ACC)     The Anne Carlsen Center  announces that it will be implementing mandatory employee vaccinations starting in September with the expectation that all staff are fully immunized by November 15, 2021. The announcement says, the Anne Carlsen Center action is necessary to protect the individuals and families they serve as well as the nearly 600 staff providing those services statewide.

Anne Carlsen’s medical director, Dr. Myra Quanrud says,  “The American Academy of Pediatrics noted that more than 180,000 cases of COVID-19 were recorded in U.S. children the week ending August 19, 2021. Of the total number of cases in the U.S., 22.4% were in children.  Our staff need to be vaccinated so that COVID-19 isn’t brought in to our vulnerable children, many of whom cannot be vaccinated and are medically complex.”

Anne Carlson Center, CEO, Tim Esissinger  sasy,  evidence shows that the delta variant of COVID-19 is more contagious and dangerous to younger people and that doing its part to limit additional spread will help ensure that new variants don’t develop that could be even worse.

He said in an announcement with staff, “I have imagined the scenario of being seated across from the table from a family receiving services from us who had lost their child to COVID, or a spouse or significant other because of the loss of a staff (member). If I was to be asked if Anne Carlsen had done everything possible to have prevented this from happening, I want to be able to say yes to that question.”

Anne Carlsen Center’s mandate affects all programs across North Dakota including its staff members in Jamestown, Fargo, Grand Forks, Devils Lake, Bottineau, Minot, Bismarck and those based in Moorhead, Minnesota.

Anne Carlsen Center noted that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

The delta variant is more contagious. The Delta variant is highly contagious, more than two times as contagious as previous variants.

Some data suggest the delta variant might cause more severe illness than previous variants in unvaccinated people. In two different studies from Canada and Scotland, patients infected with the delta variant were more likely to be hospitalized than patients infected with alpha or the original virus that causes COVID-19. Even so, most of the hospitalization and death caused by COVID-19 are in unvaccinated people.

Unvaccinated people remain the greatest concern. The greatest risk of transmission is among unvaccinated people who are much more likely to get infected and therefore transmit the virus. Fully vaccinated people get COVID-19 (known as breakthrough infections) less often than unvaccinated people. People infected with the delta variant, including fully vaccinated people with symptomatic breakthrough infections, can transmit the virus to others. CDC is continuing to assess data on whether fully vaccinated people with asymptomatic breakthrough infections can transmit the virus.

Fully vaccinated people with delta variant breakthrough infections can spread the virus to others. However, vaccinated people appear to spread the virus for a shorter time. For prior variants, lower amounts of viral genetic material were found in samples taken from fully vaccinated people who had breakthrough infections than from unvaccinated people with COVID-19. For people infected with the delta variant, similar amounts of viral genetic material have been found among both unvaccinated and fully vaccinated people. However, like prior variants, the amount of viral genetic material may go down faster in fully vaccinated people when compared to unvaccinated people. This means fully vaccinated people will likely spread the virus for less time than unvaccinated people.

 

People infected with the delta variant, including fully vaccinated people with symptomatic breakthrough infections, can transmit the virus to others. CDC is continuing to assess data on whether fully vaccinated people with asymptomatic breakthrough infections can transmit the virus.

 

 

Dazey  (Barnes Co. Sheriff)    The Barnes County Sheriff’s Office reports, that a man died in an accident on Tuesday, August 31 in Barnes County. Emergency responders received the call around 3:20pm at a location near Wimbledon, North Dakota.

Barnes County Sheriff Randy McClaflin said a chain and a tow rope broke as two individuals were trying to pull out a stuck tractor in a field. The man who was struck by the chain and tow rope died at the scene.

The Sheriff’s Office is not releasing the names of those involved, in the incident at this time.

The Sheriff’s Office thanks the Wimbledon first responders, Wimbledon Fire Department, Barnes County Ambulance Service, Valley City Rescue squad, and Sanford Med Flight in responding to the call.

 

 

Jamestown   (CSi)  A reward of $40,000 is being  offered for information in a large-scale cattle death case reported in Stutsman County.

Over 58 cows were found dead in a pasture of 138 on July 29th in pasture leased for grazing on the Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge.

Of the surviving cows, at least 15  aborted their calves, at near full term and due in September.

Stutsman County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Jason Falk says the cattle deaths may or may not be linked to two fires that were reported in Mid-April on land owned by Brian Amundson.

Following an investigation, NDSU Extension Veterinarian Dr. Gerald Stokka says they’ve narrowed the cause down to “unnatural nitrate toxicity.”

Dr. Stokka  ruled out lightning, anthrax, blue-green algae, clostridial disease, lead poisoning, lack of water, and naturally occurring nitrate toxicity.

 

Anyone with information that could be helpful is encouraged to call the Stutsman County Sheriff’s Department’s tip line at (701) 251-6232, NDSA Deputy Brand Inspector Fred Frederikson at (701) 290-3993 or Northrop at (701) 390-2975.

 

 

Jamestown  (JRMC)  — Challenging doesn’t begin to describe this year. However, it’s because of community support that legendary care remained possible.

As a thank you for the community’s generosity, the Jamestown Regional Medical Center Foundation is hosting a drive-thru Pillars of Giving event on Thursday, Sept. 2. Pillars celebrates healthcare philanthropy and supporters of the JRMC Foundation. JRMC will announce Philanthropist of the Year and celebrate the wins and future of care at JRMC. The virtual guest speaker is Emergency Department Physician Dr. Steve Inglish.

Dr. Inglish led JRMC and the community through COVID-19, especially in October and November when patients exceeded the number of hospital beds available around the state. Dr. Inglish leaned on his experience as a 21-year-old sergeant sent to invade Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He says,  “We will be tired and hungry. We will have very little rest. We will rely on each other to get through th  day, week and month. We will look at each other as family. But, until then, we need to stick together,” he wrote in a letter to JRMC and the community in March 2020. “We cannot enter this war as a broken unit. Then we will surely lose.”

The success of Dr. Inglish and the legendary teams at JRMC is due, in large part, to the generosity of the community.

JRMC Foundation Director, Lisa Jackson says, “Though this year presented challenges no one could predict, because of our supporters, we endured.  Throughout this pandemic, our care teams always had personal protective equipment and, they never experienced layoffs. Never once did our doors close. Some hospitals did.”

Supporters made possible equipment, technology and cancer care. All of meals, masks and monetary donations meant JRMC could care for the community’s physical health because the community supported the hospital’s financial health.

Lisa adds, “Independent hospitals like JRMC are incredibly special and rare.  This allows us to always act in the best interest of the patient and provide excellent quality and health outcomes, close to home. We continue to receive awards such as Top 100 Best Place to Work in the country and Top 20 Critical Access Hospital nationwide. Right now, with the support of our community and our organization’s commitment to our mission and vision, independence has served our teams and our patients well for nearly 100 years.”

The drive-thru event takes place from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 2 at The Hansen Arts Park, weather permitting. A commemorative photo book documenting the pandemic is also available for $25. Purchase a photobook at www.jrmcnd.com/photobook.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new monthly survey of business leaders suggests the economy keeps operating at a healthy pace in nine Midwest and Plains states, but supply delays and shortages of workers are limiting growth in the region. The overall economic index for the region slipped to 68.9 from July’s surging 73.1, but it still indicates strong growth. Any score above 50 on the survey’s indexes suggests growth. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss said strong job growth continued but businesses are having trouble finding workers to hire. The monthly survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

In sports…

— Frank Schwindel hit a three-run homer and a pair of Cubs pitchers combined on a two-hitter in a 3-0 victory over the Twins. Justin Steele won for the first time since joining the Cubs’ rotation on Aug. 10, yielding one run and three walks over five frames. Adbert Alzolay (AD’-burt AL-zoh-ly) worked the final four innings to earn his first career save.

 

(AP) An international effort is underway to evacuate members of Afghanistan’s girls national soccer team and their families over fears of reprisal by the Taliban. The effort known as Operation Soccer Balls suffered a setback last week after a suicide bombing at the airport in Kabul. There have been at least five failed attempts to rescue the girls in recent days as they were moved around for their safety. Most members of the Afghan women’s team were evacuated to Australia last week. The Taliban forbid women and girls to play sports.

In world and national news…

NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities say at least eight deaths were reported in New York City and New Jersey as relentless rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida sent the New York City area into a state of emergency. The storm carried early Thursday into New England with threats of more tornadoes. Police in New York City reported seven deaths, including a 50-year-old man, a 48-year-old woman and a 2-year-old boy who were found unconscious and unresponsive inside a home. One death was reported in New Jersey. Subway stations and tracks became so flooded that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority suspended all service. Videos posted online showed subway riders standing on seats in cars filled with water.

 

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Four days after Hurricane Ida struck, the storm’s aftermath and progress in recovering from it are being felt unevenly across Louisiana. In New Orleans, power was restored Wednesday to a small number of homes and businesses, city crews had some streets almost completely cleared of fallen trees and debris and a few corner stores reopened. A revamped levee system protected New Orleans from catastrophic flooding after Ida struck on Sunday with 150 mph winds. Outside New Orleans, neighborhoods remained flooded and residents were still reeling from damage to their homes and property.

 

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Fire officials say gusty winds are calming and giving them a chance to throw all their resources into boxing a California blaze that is scant miles from Lake Tahoe and neighboring Nevada. Three days of fiercely gusting winds had driven the Caldor Fire east through the rugged Sierra Nevada, forcing tens of thousands of people from the area. But forecasts call for the winds to calm heading into the weekend. The Caldor Fire has burned at least 700 homes and other buildings and threatens at least 33,000 others. South Lake Tahoe is deserted and casinos and stores closed on the Nevada side Wednesday morning.

 

LE CANNET-DES-MAURES, France (AP) — Winemakers are taking stock of the damage after a wildfire blazed through a once-picturesque nature reserve near the French Riviera. Rows of charred grapevines stand next to a vast expanse of steaming black vegetation devastated by the fire, which raged for a week in late August. The blaze left two people dead, injured 27 and forced some 10,000 people to be evacuated. At least one small wine estate saw its vines completely destroyed. And the grapes that survived may be too smoke-damaged to produce a sellable wine.

 

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is urging countries to ramp up their primary coronavirus vaccine programs and playing down the need for booster shots among the general public. The EU’s infectious diseases agency says approved vaccines are “currently highly effective” in limiting the impact of COVID-19. But the agency says extra doses should be considered for people with weak immune systems. On Wednesday, France became the first big EU country to give booster shots to people over 65 and those with underlying health conditions as the delta variant spreads. Spanish health authorities are considering similar action. The European Commission said Thursday that the bloc has enough shots on order should boosters be broadly required.

Update

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is lambasting the Supreme Court’s decision not to block a new Texas law banning most abortions in the state. He said Thursday he is directing federal agencies to do what they can to “insulate women and providers” from the impact. Hours earlier, in the middle of the night, a deeply divided high court allowed the law to remain in force in the nation’s biggest abortion curb since the court legalized the operation nationwide a half-century ago. The court voted 5-4 to deny an emergency appeal from abortion providers and others. The Texas law prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks and before most women know they’re pregnant.