A Message from Mayor Stimpson - April 15
Apr 15th, 2020
Good evening,
It is 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 15, and I am writing to give you an update on the City of Mobile’s efforts regarding COVID-19.
As of tonight, there are 561 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Mobile County, and 12 deaths attributed to the virus. While we are all eager to return to normal, please be aware that the data shows cases are continuing to rise and health experts warn that we are nearing the peak for the spread of this disease in Mobile.
Over the last 24 hours we spent much of our time focused on helping some of our most vulnerable citizens - seniors and health care providers at our area nursing homes. Like many of you, we saw the disturbing reports last night about the spread of Coronavirus in nursing homes. So, we immediately jumped into action.
Beginning early this morning we spoke to administrators at several of these facilities with a simple question: What can we do to help you? One of the hardest hit facilities, Crowne Health Care, expressed an urgent need for protective masks.
So, we immediately made arrangements to deliver 500 N95 masks to Crowne Health Care. We know this much-needed equipment, donated to us this week by our friend Yair Netanyaho of Israel, will be put to good use.
Lynwood Nursing Home of Mobile said they had an urgent need for COVID-19 test kits so that they could keep their nursing staff working. We delivered 60 test kits to Lynwood today. We are reaching out to other nursing homes and we are on standby to do all we can to support them as well.
Today we also delivered thousands of test kits to our local hospitals so that they may be used to test doctors, nurses and other health care professionals on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle. Those deliveries included:
- 1,200 test kits to USA Health
- 1,000 test kits to Infirmary Health
- 1,000 test kits to Providence Hospital
The leadership at Springhill Medical Center indicated they currently have an adequate supply of test kits for their employees.
My favorite call of the day may have been to Charles White, chief executive of Franklin Primary Health Care. Charles and his team have been operating a drive-through testing site, and they were sorely in need of masks to keep them safe while administering the tests.
So, we delivered 250 masks to Franklin Primary along with protective gloves. We are also working on them test kits as well. The gratitude in Charles’ voice reminded me of a kid at Christmas. I am so pleased we could use our relationships and resourcefulness to help our allies in this fight.
A few other updates from today:
- The Mobile Police Department is averaging about three citations per night for violations of the 10 p.m. curfew. Most of those citations were issued to repeat offenders, and on most stops MPD is simply giving a warning.
- The Mobile County Health Department issued an order today “highly recommending” that retail employees and customers were a protective face covering.
- I was able to spend some time catching up with Chresal Threadgill, Superintendent of the Mobile County Public School System. What MCPSS has been able to accomplish over the past few weeks has been nothing short of amazing. We will share some of our conversation with you tomorrow.
- Today the Mobile Infirmary shared an awesome video of a patient being discharged after beating COVID-19. I thought it was so inspiring that you'd want to see it, too. You can view it by clicking here
Last night I asked if you’d share any of your “Good Samaritan” stories. We got some amazing responses! Too many to share them all here, but we are working on a way to recognize these ordinary Mobilians who are stepping up to help their neighbors through this challenging time.
One I will share is Admoni Photography of Mobile. This local business offers free photo sessions to health care workers as part of an innovative “Front Door Photos” project, where they safely conduct drive-by photo shoots of families on their front steps. What a great way to serve our community!
It’s that spirit of innovation, helpfulness and service to others that defines us as Mobile Samaritans. It’s what gives me the confidence that we will get through this together an emerge stronger than we’ve ever been.
In my daily prayers, I ask the Lord for guidance and for protection over our great City. Good night and God bless Mobile.
Sincerely,
Sandy