The first Wednesday of March landed on a beautiful Spring day and President Bill Frei commented on the fine weather as he rang the official Rotary Bell to bring the members to order.

Pastor Bill offered up a prayer for the meal, for the warm weather and asked for guidance for the Rotarians as we go about serving our community.

Pastor Laurie led the group in singing America The Beautiful and Sing, Rotarians, Sing.

Secretary-Treasurer Patty Frei reported 2 makeups with Pastor Bill’s team having 3 absences and Pastor Laurie having only 1 absence today which brings up their respective totals to 11 for Pastor Bill and 8 for Pastor Laurie. There was $22.00 collected bringing the total in the Queen of Hearts Fund up to $359.00 Francis Doom had a chance at drawing the Queen but picked a 5 of Spades.

District 5610 Raffle Books were passed out to those who had missed last week, and Secretary Patty thanked members for turning in some books already. The raffle drawing will be on April 24th at the annual District 5610 Conference to be held in Hot Springs this year.

Rotarian Gerrit Juffer and Laurie Kidd announced that there would be a musical performance at the Methodist Church in Wagner on Thursday, March 5th by a violinist and pianist. Everyone is welcome for the free performance.

A very interesting program was given by Bryan Slaba, CEO at WCMH, Mike Kotab, Charles Mix County Emergency Response, Kelly Cimpl, County Health Nurse, and Julie Dykstra from the SD Department of Health.

A great deal of information was given on the current Coronavirus that seems to be dominating the news right now. Slaba began by asking if anyone knew the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic. An epidemic is an outbreak of a known medical issue that is usually local in cause and effect. A pandemic is an unknown outbreak that occurs globally and spreads from country to country and if severe enough requires an emergency response.

The four members of the program all have a documented plan for responding to emergency issues in case of a pandemic. The four entities of hospital, county, and state officials all have a role to perform. Charles Mix and Douglas Counties are connected under this plan. If the hospitals become engulfed with patients they can ask for help from County Emergency Responders and the County Health Nurse; who rely on known providers and also solicit volunteer help from citizens in dealing with issues such as transportation to a hospital or clinic, assisting at a immunization location, or providing extra hospitalization facilities. If extra help is required, the State is contacted, and they will arrive with all their resources as well. Mike Kotab said, “our standard response time is within 24 hours of being contacted” in our two-county area.

Slaba relayed some statistics on the usual influenza virus that most people are familiar with. There are approximately 350 Million people in the United States. About 35 Million get the flu every year. One out of 10 people eventually go to the hospital. Out of every 10,000 cases one person will pass away. There has been one death in Charles Mix County from the flu. This year’s flu virus has been especially hard on young people.

“In comparison there have only been 30 deaths worldwide from the Coronavirus” said Slaba. The presenters all felt that there is too much information that is not true being spread by the news media. The Coronavirus is a cold. It has been around for years. There have even been cases of it in Wagner in the past, but it has been a mild infection. This year the Coronavirus is especially severe, having mutated into a stronger infection. It spreads by contact. The best advice all four presenters gave was “WASH YOUR HANDS”.

A discussion ensued on hand sanitizers. They must contain at least 60% alcohol in order to be effective. Read the labels on your little bottles of sanitizer.

They advised NOT to wear a mask unless you have been diagnosed with the actual infection. The hospital reported people coming for masks to wear and taking not one, but five or six and this is happening everywhere and has created a short supply of masks.

You may have been exposed to the virus without knowing it and you will not have any symptoms for four or five days. Then you should seek medical help. All viruses are detected through blood work. If the Coronavirus is suspected the bloodwork will be sent to the State and then on to the CDC in Washington.

Flu season typically starts in the fall and subsides in March or April depending on the strain of the virus and the weather. You are encouraged to visit the South Dakota Department of Health website on flu information and the CDC website for national information.

The presenters were thanked with a round of applause and the meeting was adjourned in our usual fashion.

Sergeant at Arms Becky Brunsing fined the following:

• Scott McAdargh $2 for two phone infractions at last weeks meeting.

• Jeff Doom was fined $1 for making a comment about the bell ringing last week.

• Francis Doom was fined $4 for his 4 stitches.

• Pastor Bill $2 for not sitting at the table with the other ministers.

• Linda Soukup $2 for coming back from vacation.

• Pastor Laurie paid a $5 Happy Fine for Linda Soukup being back so she didn’t have to report the meetings anymore.