Gallia, Mason each report new COVID-19 case - Daily Sentinel

Gallia, Mason each report new COVID-19 case - Daily Sentinel
2020 Rockies Simulations - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
HomewardBound to open family shelter - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
Printed Letters: June 30, 2020 | Letters | gjsentinel.com - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Posted: 29 Jun 2020 03:41 PM PDT

OHIO VALLEY — Gallia and Mason counties each reported a new case of COVID-19 on Monday.

On Monday, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reported a new COVID-19 case for Mason County. The Mason County Health Department confirmed the additional case with Jennifer Thomas, nursing director/administrator of the MCHD, stating the case was considered travel related. This means, since March, Mason County has had a total of 17 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 16 of those now considered recovered, according to the health department.

The Gallia County Health Department announced its 11th COVID-19 case on Monday morning, a male in his 30s.

"At this time, we are reporting 1 additional case of COVID-19 for Gallia County. This case is currently an active/symptomatic individual and not the result of an antibody test. The case is not associated with travel and is not connected to our most recent case. The case will be listed as 1 additional confirmed case for a total of 11 cases (8 confirmed, 3 probable). We urge individuals to practice all necessary safety guidelines, including social distancing and the wearing of facial coverings when not able to social distance," read a statement from the Gallia County Health Department on its Facebook page Monday morning.

This brings case numbers in both Gallia and Meigs Counties to 11 each. Only Morgan (seven cases) and Noble (nine cases) have fewer than Meigs and Gallia.

Gallia County has had eight confirmed and three probable cases, while Meigs County has had nine confirmed and two probable cases. Meigs County also has seen one person with a positive antibody test who is not included in the case numbers according to Ohio Department of Health requirements.

In Gallia County the cases to date are as follows:

Female in the 40-49 age range with onset date of March 1

Female in the 30-39 age range with onset date of March 12

Male in the 60-69 age range with onset date of March 18 (hospitalized)

Female in the 60-69 age range with onset date of March 19 (hospitalized and deceased)

Female in the 50-59 age range with onset date of March 25

Male in the 50-59 age range with onset date of March 31 (hospitalized)

Female in the 30-39 age range with onset date of April 4

Male in the 30-39 age range with onset date of April 8

Male in the 30-39 age range with onset date of May 27

Male in the 20-29 age range with onset date of June 23

Male in the 30-39 age range with onset date of June 24 (case announced on Monday)

In Meigs County cases to date are as follows:

Male in the 50-59 age range with onset date of March 11

Male in the 40-49 age range with onset date of April 8

Male in the 40-49 age range with onset date of April 29

Female in the 0-19 age range with onset date of May 20

Female in the 70-79 age range with onset date of May 20

Male in the 20-29 age range with onset date of May 22

Male in the 60-69 age range with onset date of June 10

Female in the 60-69 age range with onset date of June 14

Male in the 30-39 age range with onset date of June 19

Female in the 70-79 age range with onset date of June 21

Male in the 0-19 age range with onset date of June 24

The first six Meigs County cases are now listed as recovered.

Neighboring Vinton County announced on Monday morning that as of 8 a.m. on Monday there were no active COVID-19 cases in the county for the first time since the initial case was announced on April 25. Vinton County, the last in the state of Ohio to report a confirmed case, has had a total of 22 cases since that time.

Meanwhile, Lawrence County, which borders Gallia to the southwest, has seen a spike in recent cases. As of Monday, there had been 61 cases in the county, of which 15 continue to be monitored according to the Lawrence County Health Department on Monday afternoon.

"As summer progresses, more things are opening up, we're traveling more, and we're spending more time with family and friends outside our homes. Please keep in mind that we are still in a pandemic. Our recent increases in numbers have been related to vacation travel and large group gatherings (church and otherwise)," stated the Lawrence County Health Department on its Facebook page Sunday.

In Ohio, Jackson County has seen a total of 17 cases, Athens County has had 32 cases and Washington County has has 124 cases. The majority of the Washington County cases came early in the pandemic.

As of Monday, DHHR reported the following total COVID-19 cases for counties which are nearby or border Mason: Putnam 52; Jackson 143; Cabell 118; Kanawha 300.

In West Virginia, on DHHR's Monday afternoon report, there have been 169,556 total confirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 2,870 total cases (of those total cases 99 are probable) and 93 deaths, in the entire state. DHHR was also reporting 2,196 recovered cases in the state as of Monday with 581 active cases.

On Monday, DHHR reported the following demographics regarding the percentage of positive patients per age group in the state:

0-9 – 2.33%;

10-19 – 7.74%;

20-29 – 17.35%;

30-39 – 13.59%;

40-49 – 14.70%;

50-59 – 15.82 %;

60-69 – 13.14%;

70-plus – 15.33%;

Of those who tested positive, 48.3% were male, 51.5% were female.

Beth Sergent is editor of Ohio Valley Publishing. Sarah Hawley is the managing editor of The Daily Sentinel.

2020 Rockies Simulations - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Posted: 29 Jun 2020 02:59 PM PDT

Editor's Note: With the Major League Baseball season being suspended by the coronavirus, a pair of websites — strat-o-matic.com and baseballreference.com — are offering simulations of the 2020 seasons. Baseball Reference is using Out of the Park Baseball 21 to simulate the season (without injuries). The Daily Sentinel will run those game scores until the MLB season begins.

Strat-o-matic

Colorado 5, Pittsburgh 3: Jon Gray allowed only one hit over six innings and the Rockies (40-44) put up three runs in the top of the ninth.

Nolan Arenado ripped a one-out, three-run home run to give the Rockies a 5-1 lead after Garrett Hampson walked and Trevor Story singled.

Pittsburgh (34-50) scored a pair of runs off Scott Oberg in the bottom of the ninth on Bryan Reynolds' home run.

Gray (9-2) gave up four hits, struck out five and didn't walk a batter. Arenado went 2 for 4 with four RBI.

Baseball Reference

Colorado 3, Pittsburgh 0: Hampson and David Dahl hit solo home runs and German Marquez and Oberg combined on a four-hit shutout.

Marquez (12-3) allowed all four hits, struck out seven and walked two in eight innings and Oberg needed only five pitches (four strikes) in the ninth for his fourth save.

Dahl singled home Tony Wolters in the third inning, Hampson hit a home run in the fifth of the season and Dahl went deep for the 18th time this season in the ninth for the Rockies (48-36).

HomewardBound to open family shelter - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:15 PM PDT

Families and women experiencing homelessness in the Grand Valley will soon have a new shelter to provide them with not just a bed to sleep in, but primary medical care and a facility designed with them in mind.

The new Pathways Family Shelter, a project of HomewardBound of the Grand Valley, has been in the works since 2013 and will start housing single women and family units next month. The $6.7-million three- floor facility can fit more than 140 beds, has a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen, children's room and family clinic attached. It will even have modular walls to accommodate different-sized families.

HomewardBound Board Chairman William Wade said the entire project utilized "Trauma-Informed Design," a relatively new concept that reduces stress and promotes wellness through the design of the building itself.

This includes softer colors, high ceilings and even a key card system that gives guests the freedom to move through the facility on their own.

"Sometimes the way we build a facility triggers people," Wade said. "If you don't like being enclosed or you're uncomfortable with supervision, the fact that you are in a tiny institutionalized hall with gray colors is going to give you a trigger."

The shelter is paid for entirely through donations and grants, Wade said.

More than $400,000 in individual gifts have gone toward the project, along with the millions raised through grants and private foundations like the Daniels Fund.

One unique aspect of the shelter is the nurse-led family health center in the facility. HomewardBound, in partnership with Colorado Mesa University's School of Nursing and MarillacHealth, was awarded a Health Resources and Services Administration grant to fund the facility. Out of hundreds that applied, the Pathways Family Shelter is one of 18 that received that funding.

"We got (a grant) that funds this clinic for three full years with a full-time advanced practice nurse, full-time behaviorist, full-time medical assistant and a full-time family navigator to manage resources," Wade said. "That will save this community innumerable thousands of dollars on emergency service because they'll be able to get primary care looked at here."

With the new facility, Wade said he expects some will fear it will draw more homeless into the community. He said that historically the majority HomewardBound has served are local and he expects it to stay that way.

"We know that the people we serve, 85% of them live in this valley," Wade said. "Sure, are there transient people that come through? Absolutely, but 85% of the people we serve are people that live here."

Those people become homeless for many reasons, Wade said, from suffering trauma to losing a job to having a health crisis.

He said for most, if they can get job training and a safe place to stay early on they can break the cycle of homelessness for that person.

He said the families and women who will use the Pathways shelter are mostly homeless temporarily, rather than chronically.

"Most of the families and most of the other category that is growing the fastest of all, which is single women, older single women particularly, are homeless not by choice — they didn't choose to drop out — they got into it because of a situation," Wade said.

For those hoping this new shelter will lead to an empty Whitman Park — the downtown park often used by the homeless population — Wade said it won't be that easy.

However, he did say some men in the park may be able to use HomewardBound's current shelter, which will become for men-only once the new shelter opens.

"We can let those people in because there will be no kids there," Wade said. "The problem we have right now is we can't do that. So there will be people who move out of Whitman Park, but chronic homelessness is never going to go away."

Other larger cities around the country are looking at this shelter as a test case, Wade said. HomewardBound has been contacted by homeless advocates and cities interested in the results the Pathways shelter is able to achieve, he said.

"We can deal with the problem, and we have a kind of a test kitchen if you will where we can look at different kinds of solutions," Wade said. "Some of the stuff we're doing in here we've already had contacts from Chicago shelters, Los Angeles, Salt Lake, San Francisco because they're saying, 'Let us know how that works.' "

Overall, Wade said, he and the HomewardBound board were thankful for the support from the community over the years. He said this shelter will be an asset for the community and for its members experiencing homelessness.

"We want people to know that we're incredibly grateful for the kind of support we've gotten from the community to raise the funds to build this facility," Wade said. "We want them to know that it's designed not just to house people, but to move them back out into society and be productive members. That's why it is different from your typical homeless shelter."

Printed Letters: June 30, 2020 | Letters | gjsentinel.com - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Posted: 29 Jun 2020 03:48 PM PDT

Drive-up ballot box a problem to be fixed

Dear Clerk Peters, please check your ballot box video of the morning of June 15 to see me climbing in and out of my car to retrieve the two ballots I was trying to drop off at the drive-by ballot box.

After twice attempting to insert them, only to have them fall back out to the ground, I gave up, parked my car and went to find the not-prominently placed ballot box inside the office. On the way out, I noticed a suggestion box. My suggestion was that the drive-by box should be reconfigured. Now many more voters have described the same problem in the newspaper. No one had to "stage" anything. It's a problem. Admit it. Thank you.

CAROL KELKER

Grand Junction

Nobody should be rebuked for doing their civic duty

I was more than dismayed to read of the personal attack and unfounded charges levied against Ann and Dave Brach by the current Mesa County Clerk and Recorder. Ann and Dave are people of the highest integrity, long-time business owners, community leaders and generous philanthropists. To see them attacked and maligned like this for merely reporting a disturbing incident, as they felt their civic duty, is an affront to all community members who believe in the right and responsibility to speak out and report questionable practices or errors in the process.

No one of us should fear retribution and personal attacks for speaking up. If you find this unethical attack as unconscionable as I do, I hope you will speak up and stand with them.

KATHLEEN TEDI GILLESPIE

Grand Junction

Senior asks fellow citizens to please wear a mask in public

If I stumble coming out of the grocery store, you hurry to help me up. If my battery goes dead, you grab cables from your truck and jump my battery.If my dog runs away, you scour our neighborhood to help find him. If my loved one dies, you send cards, pies and flowers to help lift my spirits. I believe that you are instinctively kind and willing to help me when needed. Will you help me now and wear a mask in public? Think of me as your mom or favorite auntie or your grandmother. I have old lungs and heart and am very susceptible to catching this airborne virus. So I need your help now to keep me, you and others safe.

ROSEMARY LITZ

Grand Junction

Walker's change of heart over KKK should be celebrated

In regards to the suggested removal of the statue of Walter Walker:

Walter Walker is a huge part of the history of Grand Junction. His great deeds have been listed many times in this paper: publisher of the local newspaper, The Daily Sentinel, establishing Mesa Junior College, now Colorado Mesa University, establishing the Veterans Hospital, advocating for commercial air travel to the Grand Valley, bringing in the Fruit Grower's Association, organizing the building of the Avalon, helping with the building of the Lincoln Park Pool, serving politically, and backing Goodwill and The Salvation Army charities.

This, to me, sounds like someone who should have a statue erected to honor all that he has done for our city. To me it seems as though we should reflect on all his numerous good works, and be inspired by them. But now there is talk of taking down that statue, based on one instance of misjudgment. Yes, he helped bring the Ku Klux Klan to Grand Junction in the 1920s. We don't know his motives. But we do know that he regretted that action and took every measure available to him to get rid of the Klan, even enduring physical harm. He succeeded, using his words and his power as the publisher of the newspaper to uproot and eradicate the Klan from the Valley.

Let me say again — he made a mistake, took actions to reverse that mistake, succeeded, and continued with good works that contributed to the well-being of his community.

Nowadays we applaud people who come from questionable pasts, who work hard to lift themselves up and distance themselves from elements that seek to do harm, who strive to become decent members of society, and who succeed at their endeavors. We applaud them.

Walter Walker is no different.

Statues are erected to mark a point in time, to remind us all of moments in history. In this current environment of hyper-sensitivity and emotion-fueled decisions, surely Walter Walker's statue deserves a second thought. Should all of the good work that his statue represents be negated because he made one mistake? Should that mistake outweigh all of the good? Should there be no forgiveness of that mistake even though he recanted and worked his hardest to repair, to mend the damage he had done? When we look at his statue, should we not understand that he was human, as are we all, and as such, made mistakes, but worked for the good to the best of his ability? Who amongst us has never made a decision that we later regretted deeply? Should we not extend forgiveness? As we would want to be forgiven?

Certainly, for me at least, that is more hopeful than taking down a good man's statue.

REBECCA CORBIN

Grand Junction

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