Welcome to Community Resources: Minnesota - a new podcast that I’m giving a try. Today is March 5th, 2022. My name is Jerome Evans, I host the TV Show Bottomless Coffee with Jerome and another podcast called Bottomless Coffee Podcast. Those two projects are based around conversation. But for this podcast - Community Resources Minnesota - I want to focus on sharing information about the community resources that we have at our disposal!  Today I’m sharing information that was sent to me from The Minnesota Department of Health, CDC, the Cultural, Faith, and Disability Communities COVID-19 Updates list, the MN Immigrant and Refugee Health Announcements list, and The Center for Health Equity. For this episode we’re going to start with Announcements and then talk through Vaccine Events that are taking place around Minnesota and then finish up with CDC Updates. Also - you can open up the description and read through everything I’m talking about. I’ll put links in the description when possible. But a lot of these announcements and events come with flyers. So you really should go to BottomlessCoffeeShow.com/Community and look through all of the supplemental info there as well. Announcements MAJOR CDC UPDATE

On Feb. 25, 2022, CDC updated their framework for monitoring the level of COVID-19 in communities. With this new framework, the focus of recommendations is on minimizing severe disease, limiting strain on the health care system, and enabling those at highest risk to protect themselves against infection and severe disease. This new framework is called the “COVID-19 Community Level.” It moves beyond looking just at cases and test positivity to look at factors that reflect the severity of disease – including hospitalizations and hospital capacity— and helps to determine whether the level of COVID-19 and severe disease are low, medium, or high in a community. Knowing the COVID-19 Community Level in your area and your own underlying risk will help you determine what prevention measures to take. Go to www.CDC.gov to view the County Check Tool where you can identify your COVID-19 Community Level and the recommended prevention strategies for your community. Given this new framework, MDH website content, materials, and guidance will be reviewed and updated as needed in the coming days. The COVID-19 Community Level will inform CDC recommendations on prevention measures, like masking and screening testing in public settings, including schools. And CDC’s recommendations for layered prevention measures will depend on the COVID-19 Level in the community. In areas where the COVID-19 Community Level is low—people, households, and communities can take minimal, practical precautions. In areas where the COVID-19 Community Level is medium—CDC recommends focusing specific prevention measures on protecting those at increased risk of severe illness. In areas where the COVID-19 Community Level is high—layered prevention measures are recommended to avoid overwhelming local hospitals and health care systems by preventing severe illness and death. Layering prevention means the more steps you take to slow the spread of COVID-19, the safer you will be. Regardless of level, people should stay up to date on their vaccines and get tested when needed.   The letter in its entirety is posted on the site.   American Heart Association Virtual Town Hall.  Join the American Heart Association for a Zoom town hall to learn more about the Social Impact Fund and opportunities for funding. $500K is available for nonprofits that are sustainably addressing food insecurity, education, housing, health access and employment for residents in the Twin Cities area. Link on the page and in the description....