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FLATHEAD CITY-COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTHMINUTES OF REGULAR MEETINGSeptember 17, 2020ZOOM ONLINEEARL BENNETT BUILDING1035 1ST AVENUE WESTKALISPELL, MONTANAMembers PresentMembers AbsentOthersAnnie Bukacek, MDBill Burg, CPA Pete Heyboer, MDPamela Holmquist, CommissionerArdis LarsenRonalee SkeesTamalee St.James RobinsonKyle Waterman, City RepresentativeRoger Noble, PGCliff BennettAudrey Despain PriceCherilyn DeVriesJill GibsonHolly JordtJulie MartinDeidre McMullinKerry NucklesJen RankoskyMary SterhanAndy VianoKirk ZanderCall to OrderChairperson Bill Burg called the meeting to order at 1:04 pmAttendanceApproval of AgendaMOTION Skees to approve the meeting agenda.SECOND WatermanMOTION CARRIEDApproval of Minutes of August 20, 2020 Regular MeetingMOTION Skees to approve the minutes of the meeting.SECOND WatermanMOTION CARRIEDApproval of Minutes of August 27, 2020 Special MeetingMOTIONSkees to approve the minutes of special meetingSECONDWatermanMOTION CARRIEDCitizen CommentCitizen comment via email (see Attachment B) and summarized by NucklesJulie Baldridge, Kalispell citizen commentThe FCCHD is making such a big deal about COVID-19, despite the newly released data from the CDC. CDC issued a statement on Sept 9, 2020 “For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned.” The stats simply do NOT support what you are doing in our county with schools, restaurants, businesses and event gatherings.Elizabeth Schilling, MD citizen commentAnnie Bukachek attended a school board meeting provocatively NOT wearing a mask, to make a political statement. The meeting could not be conducted safely; it was cancelled wasting Board Members’ valuable time and energy. When she represent the BOH, which as a member, she does, her fringe ideas carry more weight and can give some the idea that the BOH is in agreement with her. I believe it is time to call for her resignation.Michael Sutter, Kalispell citizen commentFlathead residents have a 0.0122% chance of dying from COVID-19, an adult in MT has a greater chance of dying from a car accident than COVID-19, and a child in Montana has a greater chance of dying from a lightning strike than from COVID-19.Dan Manson, Kalispell citizen commentCivil liberties and the state of emergency we are under, we were told give us 15 days. What is it now, 180 plus? When will the Board of Health, Kalispell City Counsel and Flathead County Commissioners stand on the principles of Liberty and rescind the emergency declaration? There is plenty of evidence now to prove that lock-downs and mask wearing are not effective.Please see Attachment B for the response letter that Dr. Annie Bucachek wrote back to Lisa M Benedetto.Health Department and Board of Health COVID-19 MandatesBurg: I would like to educate the public, with a public announcement as to what the standards are in this county that they originated from the Governor, the Mayor of Whitefish and the School Districts. None of them originated here.Robinson: The school spectator is one that I worked with the Health Officers from the five largest counties. The Governor, the Montana Public High School Association, Mark Beck was also in on that decision and the athletic directors in all of Flathead County. Those guidelines that we wrote for school sports; were all written with input from all of those entities. Those truly were guidelines written in conjunction with local athletic directors. It is not a county directive, its only guidelines that we wrote together.Holmquist: I think that I, Tamalee, Kerry and maybe anyone else that wants to help. Then the message could from the Health Officer, and the commissioners may sign off on it, I cannot say for sure without talking to them first. I think we can work on that. I do not know that we need to get the Board involved.Heyboer: Should the statement be simply an outline of where the mandates and directives are coming from?Burg: Would like the letter to say that the blame goes back on the Governor, and if you have a beef with the mandates, write to the Governor.Bukacheck: It might be important to distinguish where it originated, which would be the Governor directive and who is carrying it out. I hear that our local health department here is still giving warnings, most recently at the gun show. Back in March when the gun show was shut down, Hillary admitted that she had been the one that called them and they voluntarily shut down based on what she said. The local health department is still carrying out orders and at the risk of sounding over melodramatic, the Nuremburg trials after Nazi Germany, it was no defense to say that you were just following orders. I think that the local community what they are seeing is the local enforcement and the warning from this department.Robinson: Nobody from our office went to the gun show. That was incorrect information.More conversation followed regarding putting a public message together and a discussion regarding large events.Rankosky: What happened in March with the gun show is everything was shut down, everybody was under quarantine. Different circumstances. Schools, businesses, non-essential businesses were shut down. That was the spirit of the letter that Hanson wrote.Skees: I want to have some sort of communication of where the directive is coming from and that this is nothing that we as public health have come up with, this is something that the Governor has mandated. We are missing that communication piece. We really should get that communication out.Burg: Unless I hear an objection, we will proceed with drafting a communication. Which all of you will have a chance to see before its released.Flathead Community Health Center Separation and Family PlanningFlathead Community Health Center, in respect to Family Planning. Please see the attached summary outlining Family Planning. Recommendation is for FP to go w/FCHC as we believe that the patients and community would be best served. More conversation took place regarding Title X.MOTION Heyboer affirmative vote to have Title X and FP remain w/the CountySECOND MOTION CARRIED7 affirmative one absentDepartmental ReportsPopulation HealthJennifer Rankosky reports for Population HealthPrograms are doing wellEverything is inundated with COVIDDennison reports for EP and CD: COVID cases are really ramping up an average of 20-30 cases per day, over 180 of those being active cases. 5 COVID cases that are currently hospitalized.Robinson addressed schools: Right now, there are 17 confirmed students and 7 lab confirmed teachers in the school system. That is not counting all the contacts taken out of the schools. The schools have gotten a lot better at all the recommendations we set up front.Board Member Discussion:Bukachek: I sent you some data about children not dying of COVID. Children get sniffles every year. The rate is less than 1% in Montana and the Flathead. Heyboer: The concern is whom these children bring it home munity Health, Home Visiting, WICHolly Jordt reports for Immunizations, Home Visiting and WICImmunizations will remain open Monday through Thursday, afternoon appointments only, 1:30-4:30. Numbers were up a little bit from the past several months.Flu clinic is October 7 at the fairgrounds from 8am-6pm.WIC saw a slight dip in the numbers in August. There will be more outreach in the coming year.Home visiting caseload remains high. Upcoming staff changes with two social worker positions to hire. There has been a little dip in referralsMAP has been low, as COVID hinders home visits. The entire state has low numbers. There are currently seven people on the waiting list.Animal ShelterCliff Bennett reports for Animal ShelterThis month is the toughest month here, certain groups of people here in the valley that don’t like the way we house cats here. When we have nights in the 40’s people are sure that the outside cats are not going to survive. There is a lot of pressure on the shelter to get through the next couple of months. We will with a smile, good customer service and respect. We do comply with the industry guidelines.Home HealthCourtney Gwiazdon reports for Home HealthOur census is trending up, our active patient census is to date is 73Financials, we are beginning to right the shipFamily PlanningMandie Fleming reports for Family PlanningOur numbers took a little dip in August due to women coming in before going to college.We have been called on this month to provide education outside for Montana Academy and the Center for Restorative Youth Justice.Shawna Himsl reports for Syringe Exchange: Visited the most frequented places where our homeless injection drug users visit, Motel 6, Blue and White, Outlaw Inn, Super 8 and Aero Inn. I reached out to them and gave them some giant sharps containers and narcan kits. They were glad that someone reached out to them, as a sounding board.Environmental HealthChristine Hughes reports for Environmental HealthSeptic Program: 78 permits issued, it remains very, very busy.Subdivision: Subdivision activity continues to remain high, higher than last year.Food and Consumer: Wrapping up seasonal inspections. We are doing inspections of all types, trying to social distance, masking, moved some inspections to off hours, so there aren’t as many people in the kitchen. October 1st we will be moving to pilot virtual inspections.We are working towards the approval to purchase Accela software, used to aid in septic applications and streamline permitting processes, will also aid in complaints tracking and response. Accela would be a commissioner decisionFCHCNo report for FCHCMosquito ControlAttached report for Mosquito Control.Financial ReportKirk Zander reports for FinanceFiscal year 20 was closed out with details on pages 1-3.Two grants were received. MT Coronavirus Relief and PHEP-COVID emergency grant.Health Officer ReportTamalee Robinson reports for Health OfficerBig increase in cases this past weekIncrease in cases in long-term care facilities, as well as with the staff in some.Increased cases in schoolsSpectators at sports events has been increased to accommodate split families (Four tickets are issued instead of two).Follow-up ItemsCoordinating meeting set for October 6th, 2020.BOH meeting October, 15, 2020Committee ReportsThere were no additional committee reports.Other BusinessHome Health Committee meeting needed for the month of October as well.Board Member CommentsBukachek: Nine months on the Health Board and I want to say that it is a true representation of diversity.Burg: I mirror those comments.Heyboer- I just want appreciate all the work that the health department is doing for Covid and keeping our community safe. I think that it is incumbent of us on the board to support the health department and their hard work and should not do anything to undermine or intentionally take away from the hard work they are doing or make their work more difficult.Holmquist- Tamalee I think that you have done an amazing job. Also, the whole staff, everything has been turned upside down and you keep going.Larsen- Thank you to the coordinating committee and the staff for everything that you have doneWaterman- I hope that we are finding ways to support the staff and invest in our staff longterm.AdjournmentThe meeting adjourned at 15:06.Attachment APUBLIC COMMENTS SUBMITTED BY EMAILDear members of the Board of Health,Will you please explain why the Flathead City-County Health Board continues to make such a big deal about COVID-19, despite the newly released data from the CDC?The?CDC issued a statement?on September 9, 2020:??"For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned."??Their chart linked above shows 174,470 deaths in the US involving COVID-19 between the dates of 2/1/20 and 9/9/20.? Per their own statement, only 10,468 deaths (6%) were EXCLUSIVELY from COVID-19.? All other deaths had an average of?"2.6 additional conditions or causes per death."??Given these updated?stats, why does the Board of Health continue to encourage mask?wearing,?social distancing, contact tracing, limits on gatherings, etc.?? Why are you not making updated decisions for the residents of Flathead County based on this new data???The stats simply do NOT support what you are doing in our county with schools, restaurants, businesses and event gatherings.??Sincerely,Julie BaldridgeKalispell___________________________________________________________________________________Hello, My name is Elizabeth Schilling from Kalispell.? I was very disappointed and frustrated to see that Annie Bukacek attended a school board meeting while provocatively not wearing a mask. Apparently this was done to make a political statement. As the meeting could not be conducted safely, it was cancelled, wasting Board Members' valuable time and energy.? ?It seems that Dr. Bukacek is using her position on the Board of Health to promote herself and her unfounded ideas.? She is advocating for practices that put us all at risk. Of course it is ok for citizens to express their ideas and opinions but when she represents the Board of Health (which as a member she does), her fringe ideas carry more weight and can give some the idea that the Board of Health is in agreement with her.? ?I believe it is time to call for her resignation.Thank you,Elizabeth A. Schilling, MDDear Health Board Members,In Flathead County, the population is approximately?106,134?as of 2020. Per the?Flathead County GIS Department website, that there have been 13 deaths in the county involving COVID-19. That means we Flathead residents have a 0.0122% chance of dying from COVID-19.To put that into perspective: An adult in Montana has a greater chance of dying from a car accident than from COVID-19, and a child in Montana has a greater chance of dying from a lightning strike than from COVID-19.?When will the ridiculousness stop? Your actions in Flathead County are not backed by science and statistics. ?Sincerely,Michael SutterKalispellThank you Flathead City-County Board of Health members for the opportunity to address you here today. I would like to talk a little bit about civil liberties and the state of emergency we are under, state, county, city. Will this ever end? What is the criteria for lifting the emergency status? Remember we were told, give us 15 days. What is it now, 180 plus? When will the Flathead City-County Board of Health, Kalispell City Counsel, or the Flathead County Commissioners stand on the principles of Liberty and rescind the emergency declaration? There is plenty of evidence now to prove the lock-downs and mask wearing are not effective.How many businesses have to go belly-up, some of them generational?How many suicides, elderly folks dying alone in nursing homes-including my father, before we realize that a magnitude of deaths greater than the virus are not worth it?The UN is warning that 265 million people may starve to death by the end of this year, not from Covid-19, from governments shutting down the whole worlds' economies.Civil liberties are guarantees that governments commit not to abridge, either by legislation or judicial interpretation, without due process. Civil liberties may include the freedom of conscience, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, right to privacy, right to equal treatment under the law. The right to a fair trial, the right to life, the right to own property, the right to defend oneself, and the right to bodily integrity. As we speak, we a bumping up against the next flu season, which scares me. Where are the men and women of conviction that will stand on the principles of liberty? Because there is a City-County Health Officer that wields dictatorial power given to them under Montana Code Annotated 50-2-118, we basically have none of the rights I listed. While the MCA 50-2-118 may have been on the books since 1967, the full force and effect wasn't known until this year.As George Washington said "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is FORCE; like fire, a troublesome? servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left alone to irresponsible action"Thank you for your time.Dan MansonKalispellATTACHMENT BFrom: Home [mailto:wbene3@] Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2020 9:55 PMTo: BoardofHealthadmin <BoardofHealthadmin@flathead.>Subject: Unmasked memberI was disgusted to see Dr. Bucacek @ the Flathead school board meeting last week among the unmasked protesters, literally unmasked, in the midst of a pandemic. What kind of message is she sending? When she is in the community, she represents the health board. She speaks for the health board. Showing up at a community function without a mask says you all don’t respect our health and well being. Now what kind of message is that?Lisa M BenedettoKalispell MT--Dear Health Board membersI share with you again the public school policy and remind you that at the school board meeting we sat 6 feet apart. As you know, I have stated many times publicly I do not represent the board with any of my actions outside the board meetings. That should be obvious. My actions continue to reflect use of the CDC data (which shows Montana does not have a COVID problem), the science (or lack thereof) that does not support masks (fourth attachment) or social distancing and the known harm to people of any form of isolation (see link below). I am not going to stray from the science, and sticking with the data and science is the only way I can think of us to speak in one accord. That doesn't mean we have to speak in one accord because we all value diversity. The health board's representative reported the same outcome I predicted: there was no "spike" in "cases" after 40,000 people attended the Flathead County Fair even though (as was reported at last month's meeting) attendees by and large did not follow the mask mandate. My third attachment above is a graph of the data that shows no "spike" in "cases" in Montana despite multiple 4th of July celebrations as well as rodeos, fairs and other events...and as with the fair, a significant percent of Montanans are not following masking and social distancing. In this graph which includes data from 6/23 to 9/7/2020, the number of tests done went from over 73,000 to over 260,000, almost a four fold increase in testing with an expected rise in COVID (+) tests because that is what happens when we test more people for anything whatsoever. Note, despite the test # drop before our fair and a four fold increase in testing several days after the fair, there was nothing you could reasonable call a "spike."I share with you again the information (attachment #1) I shared with the school board that highway fatalities are higher than death attributed to COVID, and that death % statistically approaches zero for Montana adults.It is notable, this most recent letter writer has the same uncommon last name as the medical student. This suggests it could be a complaint coming from one source while making it look like it is more than one source.Sincerely, Annie Bukacek ................
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