Kansas State University

Invitation to Zoom About Spring Livestock Shows and COVID-19 Response

Submitted by Wade M. Weber

On March 12, K-State President Myers issued a message through K-State Today about the steps the University will take to mitigate the risk of coronavirus spreading in order to protect the campus and local communities. Later that day, Gregg Hadley, Director For Extension, outlined a similar directive to local Extension units (See article in the March 2020 4-H Tip Sheet or Tuesday Letter). Kansas 4-H, being an Extension program, will follow the steps listed in his message, but because we work with a wide variety of people, we plan to be more cautious. Please refer to the Gregg Hadley's message for further specifics to that directive.

There have been a number of inquiries into the Youth Livestock Programs and Kansas 4-H Youth Development offices in the past day regarding these directives' implications upon various local 4-H related events including Spring Livestock Shows.

Lexie Hayes and I would like to invite KSRE employees to a zoom webinar on Tuesday, March 17, from 9:30  -10:30 CDT to discuss the directives's implications for Spring Livestock Shows preparations. The goal is to clarify the following directives and provide a venue for KSRE peers to share what processes they are using to prepare for, reschedule or cancel these events.

The link is as follows: https://ksu.zoom.us/j/356721728

or by phone Dial:

US : +1 669 900 6833 or +1 646 876 9923
Meeting ID: 356 721 728

From Gregg Hadley's Message (March 12, 2020)

We strongly recommend that local units incorporate the following:

• Extension events involving older adults between now and March 30 should be cancelled, postponed or moved to another format such as zoom. According to the CDC, older adults and people who have serious chronic medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes and lung disease are at greater risk for getting very sick from this illness.

• We strongly encourage local units to cancel county, district, regional or statewide events involving more than 100 persons between now and March 30. For any other face-to-face meetings, contact your local health department for their recommendation about holding face-to-face meetings and events. We will continue to monitor the situation and determine whether it will be necessary to cancel events after March 30.

We will continue to monitor the situation and determine whether it will be necessary to cancel events after March 30.