notes. So I'm Lisa Stearns. I'm Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communications, and I'm here with Dr. Tim Cross, our Senior Vice President.
A couple of things to remember. Remember to keep your audio muted. That just helps for everybody to hear the conversation. If you do have a question, please use the chat function.
You can put the question out publicly, or you can even send it to me privately if you prefer that. We will try to get to all the questions today. And do remember that there is a recording that will be made of this fireside chat. It will be posted to the coronavirus website at utia.tennesse.edu.
So let's just jump right in. And Tim, based on the reports that we are hearing, there really does seem to be a positive response to Executive Order 23 and the actions that we are taking to social distance. Can you elaborate on what it is you're hearing? Yeah, thanks for joining us and organizing this once again, Lisa, and welcome everyone.
Really good to have this group together again, and an opportunity just to check in with one another and talk just a little bit about where we're at and where we're headed from here. In terms of response to Executive Order 23, you know, as an economist, I'm big on looking at data, and we don't have a huge amount of data. But what I've observed since the order was put into place, so with the requirement to shelter in place, work remotely, and only engage in essential services and essential activities, it does appear that the average number of new daily cases across the state has decreased. We were averaging 300 plus for a while.
Last week and before, and I believe now we're down more in the neighborhood of 200 additional cases per day. Now, that's still a lot of cases, and it's still far more than any of us would hope to see. But I think the point is, there does seem to be, at least to me, some positive response, and I think that's a good thing. So I think that also suggests to me that I need to thank you for what you're doing to be a part of that positive response.
All of you working remotely, doing your part for social distancing, following CDC guidelines with regard to hand washing and so forth, I think we are doing our part, and that's a good thing. So we're seeing maybe hopefully a trend that will continue in the future, and that would certainly be welcome news to all of us, I know. So what steps are we taking to explore potential federal support for UTIA, which might take shape in a coronavirus bill we're advocating for additional funding for the Institute? I suspect most of you are seeing or hearing things about the numerous bills, three bills that have already been passed, a fourth one that is being discussed right now at the federal level, most of which were really to mitigate, thus far at least, mitigate the impacts of the coronavirus on the economy.
I think the next bill that's being considered is more of a focus on what do we do to come out of the coronavirus to stimulate the economy, but we'll see how that shapes up. In the meantime, amongst the three bills that have already been passed our federal and state government relations team is working really tirelessly going through those bills, looking at what's provided, what is likely to be made available to higher education to the state of Tennessee, and ultimately, we hope, support as needed and appropriate for the University of Tennessee system. Right now, it's very much a leading game. Most of the funds are state pass-through funds, so there will not be really a direct distribution necessarily to universities, but rather this would flow either from an agency or through a state agency to eventually support Tennessee communities in public organizations.
So what we're doing right now is really staying in touch on virtually a daily basis with our government relations team, and they're also watching for opportunities where we can be of assistance and support to the state of Tennessee through our Institute of Agriculture mission, whether that be related to direct response to coronavirus or assisting our communities, assisting our farmers, assisting anyone in the field of education as might be needed or appropriate. So we're certainly watching those opportunities as well, and I'm making sure that we do our very best to remind our government relations team that we are here. We're still at work, and there are ways that we can contribute, ways that we can benefit our communities and the state. We want to do our part, whether that means additional funds or not.
I think, first and foremost, we want to help. We want to take advantage of the great public support we already have and provide assistance where we can, and I've already seen good examples of that, too. So many activities, there, but way too soon to indicate how much, if any, support there will be. Let me also mention that there is an effort at the UT system level to track expenses associated with the coronavirus pandemic, and then we will work with FEMA for potential reimbursement of those expenses.
You know, there's certainly some direct costs have been associated with this, and we'll be asked as a system to forward those costs probably to an agency like the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA, as it's usually referred to. And in my experience, those kinds of things take two to three years before they're ever really determined and resolved. And normally, again, in my limited experience, reimbursement is not dollar for dollar, but maybe some portion of a dollar reimbursement on the part of the federal agency. So we'll keep attentive to that, and we will track direct expenditures to the best of our ability and make sure they're reported up to the University of Tennessee system.
And I think I saw just earlier Cindy Nichols, our budget director for MAG research, joined the session today. She's going to be our point person working with the UT system as we try to aggregate and track those costs. So really appreciate Cindy's willingness to do that on behalf of the whole Institute of Agriculture. Great.
Well, we've heard a lot about social distancing and the need for washing our hands. There has been some discussion now about face masks. And the idea is that the face mask doesn't particularly protect you, but it does help protect others if you were infected with the coronavirus. So what are your thoughts on using face masks?
Well, I've got a couple. And my first thought is this is the hottest topic out there. You can't turn on the radio or turn on the news or get on the website without seeing something about face masks right now. And there's many, many different, I think, views and approaches to face masks.
But I think our best avenue at this point is really to follow CDC guidance. And I'm going to apologize, but I'm going to read this so I don't get the wording wrong. And we'll be, I think, adding this to our Institute guidelines next week. But CDC recommends wearing face cloth coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, like grocery stores and pharmacies, for example, and especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.
So I think, you know, my interpretation of what CDC guidance there says is if you're going out in public and you think you're going to be, you know, within six feet of other individuals, then it seems prudent to just wear a cloth face mask. And again, as Lisa just mentioned, it's really not so much to protect yourself, but to protect others in case you may be one of those asymptomatic carriers so that we're not contributing to the spread of the disease. At this point, I think the university campus is really encouraging that recommendation as well for those that are out and about performing their duties. I believe those on campus will start to see employees here wearing cloth face masks in observance of that recommendation.
And I know personally, as I've made very, very few limited trips to the grocery store, I see an increasing number of individuals out in public wearing face masks. I think that seems to be the next trend or the next step or direction that we're taking. But if we're all doing what we're supposed to be doing, and that is practicing good social distance, working remotely and staying out of direct contact with others other than our direct family members, there's really not much need for a mask. So we just need to use common sense here once again and heed the CDC guidance and continue to practice that safe social distancing and remote working as we have been.
So I know our task force has done just a wonderful job of building out our coronavirus website and making sure that it contains a lot of great information. And we're excited because we've added actually a couple of new features to that website. Did you want to talk about what those new features are? Yeah, I sure do.
And thankfully for everyone, the new features aren't new rules or new policies. So that's a good thing. I think we're still in the same status that we have been for the past week or two. But what's been added, first of all, is the opportunity for you to enter online examples of the good work that you're doing and how you're adapting to the coronavirus, how you're carrying out your research, education or extension responsibilities, how you're serving clients in our animal clinic using safe practices, whatever you're doing that you think we ought to know about that others would have an interest in, there's now a place in the coronavirus website for you to enter that information.
And what we hope to do, what we plan to do is use that information to start putting out more and more communications about the good work that's going on. We know our communications and marketing group as well as our IT group does a good job of putting up-to-date information on our websites, pushing out information on social media and so forth. But if we have more to work with, we can get more done there as well. So I want to thank the task force as well as our IT and marketing communication staff for getting that online survey up and running.
It's a very brief forum. It simply needs a little bit of text to describe what you're doing. Be bold and brag on yourself. You can identify places where there's media that would illustrate what you're doing.
That's all the better. Picture speaks a thousand words, right? So videos or pictures are certainly welcome. And let us brag to the public about what you're doing and how you're helping, how you're serving, how you're getting ag research, extension, education, College of Veterinary Medicine work done, even in spite of the restrictions that we're currently under.
So that's enhancement number one to the website. Number two is we've added some Zoom. I say we, as though I did something, right? So I'm sorry about that.
The task force has added five new Zoom backgrounds. I know everyone of you is probably on a Zoom session multiple times a day. If you want to have a new Zoom background to promote the Institute of Ag, like the one that I'm using, the one that Lisa's using, those backgrounds as well as others are now available on the website. So I encourage you to think about that.
Use those as they are appropriate for you. And I really, again, thank the task force for not only providing those as well as the online survey instrument, but continue to respond and just keep things up to date as we move through this pandemic. Great. Well, we want to remind everyone you can ask questions by putting them in the chat.
I've received a few already, so we'll jump right into those. Tim, how long will we be working from home? That is the question of the day, isn't it? And I guarantee only one person asked it, but there's every one of us have that question on our mind.
At this point, I really don't have an answer, and I'm not sure that anyone does. The state order to shelter in place is affected through midnight on April 14th, and that's coming up in less than a week. So I think one thing that we'll be watching is information to make a decision going forward would be what the state of Tennessee and what Governor Lee decides to do, whether that order gets extended, whether it gets rescinded. That certainly has, I think, a major impact on what we consider.
I think, obviously, we also have to work in concert with the University of Tennessee as a whole, and forget to recognize and thank our Tennessee State University partners that are on here as well. I don't mean to always indicate that it's only UT that matters. We certainly also need to be cognizant of that great partnership we have with TSU, but we'll want to coordinate with our entire university so that we're not out of sync, if you will, in coming back to work hopefully at the same time. And, again, at this point, no clear indication of that.
Our administrative team will meet next week and talk about that and determine if there's any changes or recommendations in mind, but at this point, it's business. I was going to say business as usual, business not as usual, and continue working remotely. So this one is along the same lines, but I'm going to ask it and make us get into this question, and that is, for those of us who work in Knoxville on this campus, is it possible that we might return to our offices in a few weeks, even if the university has online classes only this summer? Do we follow that academic class standard in terms of being on campus?
Well, you know, we've got different issues that we're dealing with. One major concern of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville is the dormitories, residence halls, and I've heard a few folks describe the dormitory as a cruise ship that's located on land. The idea being it's a lot of people in close proximity, very difficult to social distance, so that's a real challenge for all of our higher ed campuses, obviously, and that tends to be a major factor with regard to then how much of campus is open and accessible. At this point, I think it's possible we'll be back in a few weeks, but I think it's possible we won't, so I wish I had more clarity there.
I should have some politically correct statement about that, but I'm prone to honesty, and honestly, we don't know right now. So I think if we're going to err, we're going to err on the side of health and safety, which was our number one priority going into this, and continue what we're doing now until it's obvious that we can do something different and still be healthy and safe. So along these lines, another question asks, would we follow Governor Lee's stay-at-home order or President Trump's? Because they do seem to differ.
Yes, we got order upon order. Well, you know, I guess I tend to think that locally is more critical than nationally, so I would tend to, you know, technically we all work for the state of Tennessee. I suppose we're all residents of the United States of America as well, so hard to choose any alliance there, but I think our coordination needs to be closely in alignment with Knoxville, the state of Tennessee, and other higher ed campuses and agencies, so I think that would be the number one criteria. Certainly, then, we consider federal guidance, but keeping in mind, even now, higher education aspects of it are considered essential, and we're not shut down.
We haven't ceased operations. We're just working in a different manner, so we can continue to do our work, do it from home, provide education, research, outreach, and service to the best of our ability. I think we'll continue to follow the state and work with the university to do that. So, some questions that we received earlier.
When could face-to-face trainings provided by extension resume? Well, I think, first of all, that's the same crystal ball that I've been looking in and trying to answer the previous two questions, so no real clue at this point. All of the Institute of Ag had agreed to suspend face-to-face programs or meetings through April 30th, and we're going to reconvene next week to reconsider what we do May 1 and beyond, and so we'll consider that further at that time. I know many of you may be either planning or responsible for meetings that are scheduled in May.
I've got some myself. I am currently leaning towards saying, you know, just again, from a standpoint of health and safety, why not conduct those online? It's hard to plan when you're not sure what venue or format might be possible, so if we know for sure it can be done online, I don't see the harm of going ahead and planning it that way, but other meetings or events may not be so easy to move online and understand that. So I think we'll try to have some more firm guidance from May 1 and beyond publicized next week.
And then this person, and I should have put this up the other one, but can they resume after the emergency declaration order of May 11th? Yeah, I think that's more or less the same question, and we'll just consider that next week. And all face-to-face type events after May 1, we'll do the very best we can with the information we have next week and provide some guidance on it at that point. You know, the other thing I think about, we're making decisions, you know, weeks, months in advance in some cases.
We can decide today not to do something, and we can change it two weeks from today if we choose to. So these are not necessarily irreversible decisions. However, once we've, you know, provided some guidance, I know it's hard to unwind or to unplanned something that has been planned. So we're trying to do our very best with the information available, also recognizing that we may have to adapt as we go and as we learn more as the situation changes.
So I know that's frustrating. None of us like uncertainty. We've got a lot of it right now, but bear with us, and if you'll be a part of the solution going forward, we'll do our very best to enable you to get back to business as normal as soon as possible, but, again, when it's safe to do so. So this question did come from an extension agent, a person who works in extension.
What if an agent or specialist was asked to speak to a group at the group's location and not the extension office or UT property? Well, you know, I think that's a question, even if it's not extension, but if anybody is asked to do that. I think, really, that has to be a discussion with a direct supervisor. There are so many variables there that it's hard to give a firm and fast answer to.
Are we talking about a discussion that has three people that are spaced 20 feet apart, or are we talking about a group of 100 people shoulder to shoulder, you know, in a crowded meeting room? I really think that that's hard to give firm advice to. So my recommendation would be when those kinds of invitations come about, individuals discuss it with their supervisor. If their supervisor is really unclear or uncertain, that could be forwarded up the chain, if you will, and we can provide some guidance through our teams offices or our human resources offices to try to respond to those specific questions.
I feel like I've been very vague in the last three questions, but unfortunately, that's the world we're in right now. The important thing is to consider those invitations and consider the ramifications of them. You know, it's not just a matter of one individual going to give a talk either. Once that individual goes, they're going to return, right?
They're going to return to their family. They may return and possibly be in interaction with other employees. So there is a dimension of this that it's beyond just the individual's responsibilities or self-interest. It's also something that affects our community as a whole, and that's why we're trying to be very careful.
And maybe we could even suggest to that group that they do it through a zoom-type function. It's always good to take on a leadership role when we can. Great. Well, it looks like we don't have any other questions, so did you have any final thoughts that you want to share with everyone before the long haul?
Well, I've got several things. You know, every week pretty much I've tried to wrap up by saying keep up the good work, thanks for what you're doing, and don't forget about taking care of yourself. I've seen several great examples this past week of how we're serving Tennesseans, whether it be through some of our clinical services here on campus, whether it be through research efforts or through extension efforts. I know that our online courses through both Herbert and the College of Veterinary Medicine are going quite well, considering we went from very little online content to remote delivery overnight, so many positive things to say there.
I do think that each of us, you know, is probably going into a holiday weekend that will be different than past holiday weekends. Some of you maybe are going to experience celebrations with faith-based organizations that are different than what your family has participated in in the past. Recognize that. I want to, you know, emphasize, though, that it takes some time to do those sorts of things that give you a break, that allow you to be with family, allow you to relax and energize yourself, recuperate just a little bit, and get off of email every now and then, because email never stops, but we can stop email.
So take a break and enjoy yourself. Let me just glance at my notes to see if there was anything else. Well, I did want to say I've seen a lot of discussion about making cloth face masks and donating those masks to various units and programs. I really give a great shout-out to our Family Consumer Science program that I know has organized a lot of that across the state.
That's outstanding. I've seen units sharing masks from one unit to another. Outstanding teamwork really, really, really reemphasizes to me how much we treat one another like a family, and that's why I think we all enjoy working on jobs that we have. So thanks for all you're doing.
Continue to keep up the good work. If there's questions that you have, please don't hesitate to ask. I know you're going to say, well, we asked some questions today, and we didn't really get any straight answers. Unfortunately, we won't have a firm, definitive answer for everything, but maybe if we talk together, we can come up with some creative solutions to those situations that you find yourself in.
So let's not forget how important communication is. Stay in touch with your team, with your coworkers, with your supervisor, and working together. I'm very confident that we will continue to make an impact, and we will come out of this in a positive way. I appreciate Mike's family for helping out with this, and Tammy J and Trish in my office as well.
The one fireside chat I plan to do has now escalated into polar. I realize you're all tired of hearing from me, but it's so good to see those faces that I've seen today, and I wish you all a very happy and relaxing holiday weekend. Thank you. Thanks, everyone.