Carroll County Extension Efforts During COVID-19

The Novel Coronavirus, COVID-19, has made a significant impact across Kentucky, the United States, and the world.  The first case in Kentucky was confirmed on March 6.  As social distancing recommendations were put into place, the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service quickly transitioned to alternative educational delivery methods to support Kentuckians through a very fluid situation.  All agents and staff of the Carroll County Cooperative Extension Service utilized social media, videoconferencing, and pre-made packets to deliver educational material.

Utilizing the Carroll County Cooperative Extension Service Facebook page has been an excellent way to reach a broader audience.  Information released includes UK articles related to dealing with the virus such as Handwashing, Social Distancing, Sanitizing Laundry, Cleaning vs. Disinfecting, How to Talk to Kids about COVID-19, Cleaning a Cell Phone, Isolation Well-Being, and Healthy at Home newsletters.  A request was brought forth for handcrafted cloth face masks to be made to donate to the UK Children’s Hospital.  Carroll Countians donated 29 masks.  Posts were also shared on behalf of Kentucky 4-H (Virtual Experiences, Paper Crane Project, Camp in a Box, and Virtual Fishing Contest), UK Family and Consumer Sciences (podcasts, articles, live video demonstrations by FCS Agent on a wide variety of topics, including exercising, Easter egg dying, preparing meatloaf, and going on a picnic), and UK Agriculture and Natural Resources (Online Beef Webinar, general ANR information).  Due to increased efforts to distribute information through the Facebook page, there are 901 “Likes” as of June 30—an increase from 820 “Likes” as of March 6.

A chick incubation project was conducted at the Carroll County Extension Office and shared virtually through the Extension Facebook page.  Live videos included information on how to incubator eggs, why eggs are turned, candling eggs, preparing for hatching, and watching a chick hatch.  Each video averaged over 350 views, with the highest viewed video being the chick hatching with over 1300 views.

All agents and staff of the Carroll County Cooperative Extension Service have also been involved in providing pre-made packets called “Snag-A-Bag” which are made available weekly on the front porch of the Extension Office for pickup.  Since the end of March, nineteen different Snag-A-Bag activities have been distributed in the areas of 4-H, Family & Consumer Sciences, and Agriculture & Natural Resources.  Examples include Explore Outdoors, Gardening Fun, Glow Stick Dance, Kindness Stones, Rain Sticks, Grilling, and Sun Protection.  For youth activities, 100 bags were prepared.  For adult activities, 30 bags were prepared.  Over 15,000 people have been reached through social media advertising of Snag-A-Bag activities.

Partnerships were also created during these efforts.  The Extension Service collaborated with the Carroll County Family Resource Center to create and distribute youth Snag-A-Bags, and collaborations were created with the Carroll County School District and Carroll County Senior Center to pass out healthy information related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has challenged the Carroll County Extension Service to think outside of the box on delivery of programs and information to clientele, leading to an increase in reach of new participants and a knowledge of the Extension Service by new Extension users.  Current plans are to continue to utilize social media year round and Snag-A-Bag activities through the summer to continue to reach a broader audience.