COVID19 – Page 5 – The Other Side Dallas

February 1, 2021February 1, 2021

Chad West Lashes Out At City Staff

Chad West lashes out after he posted on Facebook that he was on the receiving end of “several calls and messages last night from neighbors who experienced 2, 3, 4 and even 6-hour waits at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center yesterday for their COVID19 vaccination appointments.”

Council Member West seemed dismayed at the Mayor, but the entire City Council has been acting as one observer noted “like a bunch of petulant children.”

This local political actist noted “if the Mayor and City Council had to rely on one another for mutual survival, they’d all be done six months ago. Every one of them is more interested in their memo or tweet to score political points than in listening and fixing problems and they are ignoring people with the experience to do help.”

Chad West Lashes Out – In Wrong Direction?

The angry Facebook post came the same day Dallas County reported 1,617 new COVID19 cases and a dozen deaths.

In late January, Dallas County Commissioner’s Court voted 3-0 with two abstentions to prioritize vaccine distribution to certain zip codes leaving black and brown citizens in other areas at the end of the line. An emergency meeting was required after the decision once the Texas Department of State Health Services reminded Dallas County of their obligations under their hub contract to serve everyone.

January 21, 2021January 21, 2021

Dallas COVID19 Politics Gone Bad

Locally, Dallas COVID19 politics have gone bad during the Inauguration – a day which is supposed to signify national unity.

Earlier this week the Dallas County Commissioners Court voted 3-0 with two abstentions to allocate COVID19 vaccines by zip codes. The effort spearheaded by Commissioner JJ Koch was stated to prioritize vaccine distribution by race.

It was attacked by County Judge Clay Jenkins as potentially illegal and now Texas has agreed.

In a strongly worded email to Commissioners, Texas health officials said, “While we ask hub providers to ensure the vaccine reaches the hardest-hit areas and populations, solely vaccinating people who live in those areas is not in line with the agreement to be a hub provider,” wrote Imelda Garcia, an associate commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services.

She continues, “If Dallas County is unable to meet these expectations, we will be forced to reduce the weekly vaccine allocation … and no longer consider it a hub provider.”

In addition to the state action at least two attorneys were preparing motions to stop the new vaccine rollout.

COVID19 Politics At 1500 Marilla

Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Johnson sent a terse memo to City Manager TC Broadnax regarding city vaccination rollout and individual council members seeking vaccine registration hubs.

The Mayor’s memo was immediately attacked as another COVID19 politics power grab by Adam Bazaldua in both personal posts and posts to the Other Side Dallas Facebook group.

The two City Council colleagues have been described by another City Council member as “the two boys in the sandbox who can’t get along because neither gets enough attention” from their mother.

“They both just complain about the other and neither does his homework,” the source said.

December 30, 2020December 30, 2020

Dallas First Responder Vaccinations

Dallas First Responder vaccinations have started in the City of Dallas for first responders from Dallas Fire Rescue (DFR), the Dallas Police Department (DPD) and the Dallas City Marshals.

These efforts were made possible through the Texas Department of State Health Services’ allocation of 2,000 Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

Recent new infections have ranged from 1500 to 2000 per day. During the summer Dallas was a hot zone for COVID19 then with far lower infections per capita.

Dallas First Responder Vaccinations Process

The process consists of a check-in, vaccination stations, made up of strike teams (two paramedics and one documentation officer) specially trained to administer the vaccine, and an evaluation area where members can be monitored for potential side-effects before leaving.

The City expects 250 first responders to be vaccinated per day and expects this first Moderna allocation to be followed in the coming months by additional vaccines to inoculate remaining City of Dallas first responders. 

In the weeks leading up to the vaccine allocation, DFR, DPD and the Office of Emergency Management put together a plan for a drive-thru style vaccination process using a parking garage at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

In addition to those that will be vaccinated with this allotment, there have been over one hundred DFR members to receive their first round of the vaccine through Parkland Hospital and Dallas County Health and Human Services.

Tracking is being done electronically; first responders will be automatically scheduled for their second round of the vaccine intwenty-eight days.

December 20, 2020December 20, 2020

TEA Interferes In COVID19 Response Again

TEA COVID19 response at cross roads again.

Per a local school site, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) is interfering in local direction again. COVID19 response plans have been shot down by Commissioner Mike Morath. He has rejected a proposal submitted by dozens of South Texas superintendents earlier this week that would have given districts the ability to continue a mostly remote instruction curriculum should COVID19 numbers surge over the winter break. While this decision does not impact Dallas now, it could if COVID19 numbers continue to rise.

South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley has faced a disproportionate number of COVID19 numbers. The Rio Grande Valley is just 4.7% of the entire Texas population, but accounts for 17% of deaths throughout Texas.

At a press conference Tuesday, Cortez and McAllen Superintendent J.A. Gonzalez outlined the plan, which would have included a waiver allowing districts to continue online instruction for 100% of families in areas with a hospitalization rate greater than 15% without having district funding affected. It also requested rapid COVID-19 tests be made available for priority students who do choose to attend on campus, with Cortez and Gonzalez citing potential superspreader events over the holidays as a chief motivator for the proposal.

TEA COVID19 Response and Funding

TEA has a long standing problem on the COVID19 question.

TEA has kept federal dollars meant for local school districts while demanding local schools be open despite the innovation shown, including here in Dallas.

Dallas ISD Trustees Mackey and Michiche have previously both publicly stated it is better if students stay home and learn virtually. COVID19 continues to hit school after school including shutting down two campuses and numerous classrooms.

December 13, 2020December 14, 2020

Drinks On Brink Zoominar This Tuesday

24 Hour Dallas is holding a Drinks On Brink Zoominar this Tuesday, December 15, 2020.

Join 24HourDallas as they host Drinks On The Brink, a free Zoominar that explores Dallas’ independent bars and how they might navigate the coming months. Guest panelists include Dr. Eric Anthony Johnson of Dallas’ Economic Development office, Stephanie Keller Hudiburg, the Executive Director of the Deep Ellum Foundation, and Jeff Brightwell, a partner at Dot’s Hop House.

You can register for this event at no cost to you here.

Neighborhood pubs, taverns, bars, and saloons have played pivotal roles in United States history. Paul Revere was known to frequent Boston’s Bell In Hand while first President George Washington favored Williamsburg’s Christiana Campbell tavern. The ideas, treaties, and revolutions that have shaped our nation have often been crafted and confirmed with a tip of a glass.

COVID19 and public health issues are concerns, but independent bars, pubs, and restaurants need financial relief they need to weather the pandemic. A major concern is what ideas, treaties, and revolutions are being lost with independent bars being lost to a pandemic.

24 Hour Dallas: Drinks On Brink

This is just the latest effort by the 24 Hour Dallas coalition to bring attention to issues hitting the Dallas service industry the hardest. 24 Hour Dallas had Seize The Night – Carpe Noctem – and race consciousness events in the summer and has existed to assist the Dallas service industry since 2015.

December 6, 2020December 6, 2020

1675 New COVID19 Cases, Jenkins Applauds

On Saturday, 1675 new COVID19 cases were reported in Dallas County by Dallas County Health and Human Services Department.

County Judge Clay Jenkins issued a written statement saying in part: “The improving numbers, while early, are an indication that residents are renewing their strength and engaging in shared sacrifice and patriotism to keep our community and our country strong until such time as the vaccine can be widely distributed and have its effect.”

Dallas County recently announced it is counting only positive antigen tests – also known as rapid tests – as probable cases. In other notifications of results, antibody and “household” results were included.

1675 New COVID19

November Dallas County hit 1500 daily cases. These rising cases are also contributing to the nearly 1600 in Dallas Independent School District. In early November, that number was less than 800.

The rising numbers do not appear to be stopping multiple public events where attendees forgo masks though meaning numbers will continue to rise.

November 12, 2020November 15, 2020

Students in Dallas ISD Failing

Dallas ISD failing to educate black and brown students is the headline in new reports showing students can not read on grade level. At the upcoming Dallas ISD Board of Trustees meeting staff plans to ask trustees to lower goal standards for students in the district.

Administrators recommended that trustees reduce goals to be “more realistic” for the current academic year after new testing data showed significant drops.

Tests results from Dallas ISD’s Measurement of Academic Progress, or MAP, test, have had all the hallmarks of a district failing its students.

Current goals for the 2020-2021 school year expected four out of every nine third grade students would meet standards for third grade math. That is less than fifty percent of third graders would meet third grade math standards.

Currently just over ten percent of third graders could meet standards for third grade math. The staff requested goal is to double that number by end of year to roughly one in four students meeting minimum math standards.

On the reading side, the benchmark was for 42% of third grade students to be able to read at level. Only one third of students are able to hit this goal currently.

Dallas ISD Administration wants to revise both of these goal numbers down while simultaneously talking about the need for an educated workforce to attact international companies ot bring jobs to Dallas.

Additionally, it is unclear what the real assessment is as several students never returned to campus so it is unclear what the level would be if full attendance had been achieved.

Students in Dallas ISD Failing…Again

The board also discussed goals for Superintendent Michael Hinojosa at Thursday’s board briefing. Part of the superintendent’s contract allows trustees to set seven performance incentive goals, with a potential reward of $20,000 for meeting each goal.

Since Hinojosa rejoined the district as its leader in 2015, he has not achieved his incentive goals, Micciche said. The board has until Nov. 30 to set these incentives, but Hinojosa said he’d be willing to waive that timeline if trustees wanted more time to deliberate on the matter.

November 11, 2020November 11, 2020

November COVID19

The November COVID19 numbers continue to be a headache for both local politicians, businesses, and residents as cases are rising quicker than expected. On Tuesday Dallas County health officials reported 1400 more COVID19 cases — all presumed new and the highest single-day total of the pandemic.

In July, Dallas was considered a “hot zone” because we were averaging more than two hundred cases per day. Dallas is now running between five and seven times that number. This may cause local hospitals to move to a surge capacity model.

Currently, the county is running out of available hospital beds. Per county data, the inventory of adult ICU beds was 52 as of Tuesday — one of its lowest points since the virus’s peak in July. The figure does not include beds that hospitals can add if needed. Each hospital has its own surge plan, which could include doubling up beds in rooms and converting surgical centers, but COVID19 is not the only user of bed space.

Every fall and winter elderly patients suffering from influenza use ICU space. Additionally, victims of car wrecks, heart attacks, and strokes all need these beds also.

“We are 7-10 days away from reaching our highest COVID hospitalization census to date if we do not immediately renew our resolve and change our behaviors,” County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a written statement.

According to Jenkins’ chief of staff, Lauren Trimble, Dallas County epidemiologists have recently spent less time sorting through which cases came from the state’s reporting system, since there have been so few older or backlogged cases.

Health officials use hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and emergency room visits as COVID19 tracking metrics to evaluate impact in Dallas. In the 24-hour period that ended Monday, 479 COVID-19 patients were in acute care in hospitals in the county. During the same period, 431 ER visits were for symptoms of the disease.

Dallas ISD November COVID19 Numbers

The cases in Dallas ISD are no better.

Between the first day back, October 5, 2020, and November 9, 2020, Dallas ISD is reporting an eighteen fold increase in COVID19 cases. This rise is occuring in all areas: central staff, school staff, and students. These numbers seem to match Dallas County at large which recently reported 1500 cases in a single day.

November 3, 2020November 3, 2020

1500 New COVID19 Cases

County Judge Clay Jenkins reported 1500 new COVID19 cases in Dallas on Monday. Dallas County Health and Human Services reported 1,517 new COVID19 cases in Dallas for a cumulative total nearing 100,000 confirmed cases, including 1,119 confirmed deaths.

For the 477 new confirmed cases, 375 came through the Texas Department of State Health Services’ electronic laboratory reporting system and one is from March.

The provisional seven-day average of daily new confirmed and probable cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 43 has increased to 652 — the highest daily average of new cases since July – when Dallas was considered in the hot zone for infections.

Dallas ISD has had a significant increase in COVID19 infections also. They nearly tripled their caseload in only the first week. A provisional total of 587 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in school-aged children (5 to 17 years) during CDC week 43 – over twice the numbers of children diagnosed in this age group 4 weeks earlier (CDC week ending 9/26/2020).

Most Of 1500 New COVID19 Cases Coming From Clinics

“The large amount of cases today can be attributed to this data dump representing cases that were performed over a 15-day period,” explained Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins in a statement. “This is not really a backlog, but rather a bulk upload from outpatient clinics that have ramped up antigen testing this month. With the numbers that we are seeing, it is increasingly important that we wear a mask and avoid crowds. You know what to do, we just need to all do it.”

October 20, 2020October 20, 2020

To Learn Virtually Or Not?

Should Dallas ISD Students Learn Virtually

Should students learn virtually or not? As first reported by a Townview group, statements from Dan Micciche and former Townview Principal Ben Mackey indicate your Dallas ISD students should be at home learning – particularly while Dallas County is in the Red danger area for COVID19.

COVID19 numbers are racing higher at a surprising rate given the preparation prior to students returning to campus, but the focus appears heavily focused in favor of Texas Education Agency funding over student safety.

Ben Mackey Says Learn Virtually If Possible

One insider said this was due to the need for state funding to support the $3.7B bond package the administration has been pushing for new school facilities as enrollment drops annually.

There are also concerns about current and former Trustees who may have been implicated in recent reports about corrupt Dallas ISD contractors.

You Can Learn Virtually Today

Students have the option of moving from on campus instruction to virtual learning immediately, but can not move from virtual learning back into the classroom until a nine week grading period ends.