[CED/CD/EAT] Cooperative Extension Organizational Transition Phase Gating Management

Thu Aug 6 11:33:09 MST 2020

Thanks Jeff and Kim! That Rt site is a great tool! I will also be assessing County Health Department COVID-19 Data along with ADHS and Rt data shared today.

Regards, Jeff Schalau

From: CED <ced-bounces at list.cals.arizona.edu> On Behalf Of Silvertooth, Jeffrey C - (silverto)
Sent: Thursday, August 6, 2020 11:01 AM
To: EAT <eat at cals.arizona.edu>; ced at list.cals.arizona.edu
Subject: [CED/CD/EAT] Cooperative Extension Organizational Transition Phase Gating Management

Extension Administration Team (EAT) & County Extension Directors (CEDs):

Following our discussions on 4 August regarding the use of epi curves and rate of transmission (Rt) values as parameters for evaluating the phase gating criteria in our Cooperative Extension organizational transition plan, Kim McReynolds did a great job in finding a site from Harvard that does provide access to county-based Rt values.  I have recently been looking and had not seen this site.  So, I really appreciate Kim's good work in helping us find this information.

The site can be accessed with the following link:

http://metrics.covid19-analysis.org/

If you use the "Rt Map" section and change the resolution to "US Counties", you can zoom the map in and then if you click on a county, it will bring up the data.  This will provide the Rt value for the county, the date of its current value, and the Rt value ranges experienced in that county.  Please note that there is a 5 day time lag in the updating of the Rt value data.

Consistent with our discussion yesterday, our current plan for phase gate management for each county will consist of the following three categories when a CED wants to submit a request to move the unit to a new phase in the organizational transition plan matrix:

  1.  The "Confirmed COVID-19 Cases by Day", epi curves, for the county in question.  For this, we will use the Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDH) COVID-19 website dashboard to access this information.  It is important to have a substantial downward trend in this data for at least the past 2-3 weeks.
https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/infectious-disease-epidemiology/covid-19/dashboards/

  1.  Rt values for the county from the Harvard COVID-19 analysis website as previously described: http://metrics.covid19-analysis.org/

  1.  An assessment from the CED on the situation and conditions in the county, including the following factors: county health department recommendations and policies, local school conditions, the CED's capacity to manage Extension personnel and members of the community participating in Extension programs.  The nuances associated with this process are unique to each county and the CED should have the best understanding of the related conditions.  Therefore, this is the place for the CED to make their case for moving the county Extension unit to a new phase.  If additional data is used to substantiate the CED's case, please utilize AZDH data from the dashboard website referenced earlier and specifically identify what is being used and why.

We will begin the review process within the EAT for any requests received on 10 August 2020 and continue to do that on bi-weekly intervals.  The earliest possible date for implementation will be 17 August 2020 and we will continue in this manner on a bi-weekly basis.

Managing this process on a 2-3 week basis is necessary due to the conditions of the viral disease and public health conditions in an area.

All Cooperative Extension units are currently operating in Phase 0. As we discussed yesterday, we do not anticipate making phase changes in August but we can initiate our process on 10 August and become familiar with it.  Please refer to the attached phase matrix that has been revised in response to our discussion on Tuesday, 4 August 2020.

I encourage each of you to begin looking into this data and your surrounding conditions in this regard on a regular basis.  Recognizing trends in the data as well as community behavior and activity are all important in evaluating this process.

County Extension units will not advance in the phase transition process without the initiative and action of the CED by submitting phase change requests to the EAT.

Please send your requests to Kristie Gallardo.  Kristie will distribute these requests to the other EAT members.

I am well aware that all of this represents a new set of procedures and conditions for us all.  We truly appreciate your cooperation as we work together through this next stage of our COVID-19 journey.  Accordingly, I look forward to our continued discussions as we proceed.

Best regards,

Jeff

Jeffrey C. Silvertooth, Ph.D.
Associate Dean
Director for Extension & Economic Development
Division of Agriculture, Life, & Veterinary Sciences, and Cooperative Extension
Forbes 301, Bldg. #36
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ       85721-0036
520-621-7205

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