Greater Louisville Inc. has organized a task force to help the business community with post COVID-19 renewal efforts. Initial goals of the Renewal Task Force are:

• Provide high-level guidance and insight on business response efforts.
• Identify any areas of need in the community that have not already been addressed and organize partners for action.
• Advocate for COVID-19 relief at the local, state, and federal levels.
• Provide input on an exit strategy from the quarantine.
• Mobilize financial resources when needed.
• Leverage business networks to engage others in relief efforts.

Speakers from the first meeting in mid-April included leaders who facilitated a groundbreaking initiative with the commonwealth. Kentucky, in collaboration with the University of Louisville Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute and the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council, has developed a partnership with three large hospital systems – Baptist Health, Norton Healthcare and University of Louisville Health.

According to a recent press release, this partnership will help healthcare workers understand whether they were unknowingly exposed to COVID-19, determine how much immunity was generated by such exposure and identify those with the best immune responses as donors of high quality plasma for rescue treatment of patients with advanced COVID-19. 

In addition, data collected will be informative as scientists worldwide work to determine whether quantitative antibody measurements can be used to predict immunity in the overall workforce.

UPS and Gravity Diagnostics have also joined the commonwealth and Kroger to provide drive-thru testing with a 48-hour turnaround test time. This partnership is a key step in the state’s effort to flatten the curve and reduce the overall spread of COVID-19