The bad news: COVID-19 appears to be filling hospitals throughout the South and the Southwest with patients with a deadly, highly contagious disease. The good news: The federal government is now publishing a COVID-19 hospital bed occupancy map that looks terrible. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been trying to track COVID-19 with a weekly collection of maps, tables and charts based largely on the data sources and methods used to track influenza.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Think Advisor

City Council has tabled a proposal to hire, for the first time, part-time firefighters to beef up the Fire Department staff, instead opting to seek a tax increase that would pay for additional full-time firefighters. The Strongsville Fire Fighters Association, the union representing firefighters here, opposed hiring the part-timers, saying it would undermine the professionalism of their department.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Cleveland.com

Firefighters with the Orlando Fire Department who have recovered from COVID-19 are donating plasma. The Orlando Fire Department and OneBlood have teamed up for a plasma drive where firefighters and their family members who've recovered from COVID-19 can donate plasma. "As the cases surge throughout our service area, the need for convalescent plasma has reached new heights," said Susan Forbes, with OneBlood.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WOFL-TV FOX 35 Orlando

A big fire continues to burn on Konnowac Pass. Firefighters say the fire is now at more than 1,000 acres at 75 percent containment. Officials at the Northwest interagency coordination center say 49 firefighters are on the scene of the fire that started at about 3:40 Monday afternoon. The fire threatened homes and forced evacuations on Monday night but no homes were burned and no injuries were reported.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NewsTalk 1280 KIT

As Kittitas County begins to experience the first wildfires of the 2020 season, local first responders are up to the task of ensuring they are dealt with in an expeditious manner. Although the county saw a relatively mild fire season in 2019, Kittitas Valley Fire and Rescue Chief John Sinclair said the conditions this year suggest that we will not see a repeat of last season.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Record News