It’s been 13 days now since Albemarle and Charlottesville both declared local declarations of emergency to prepare for the COVID-19.we hear from local officials throughout the area about how they’re responding, as we drop in on some examples of how city and county officials are trying to stay connected with citizens. We’ll also get a brief update from Governor Northam on personal protective equipment and hear a little about how the Local Food Hub is working during this crisis.
Resources:
Local Food Hub press release for drive-through market
Attorney General Herring's opinion on local government
EquipCville
Quotes:
“Every decision we make is based on science and data and as your Governor I take full responsibility. The feedback I am hearing form Virginians is supportive. You understand what while these changes are difficult they are necessary. You understand that we are righting a biological war and to have economic recovery we must get through this health crisis first.” - Governor Northam, March 24
“Business is not usual. I think that’s pretty clear. We have made adjustments as quickly as we can and as responsibly as we can to adjust our work in order to both maintain the critical serves that our public relies upon for local government in order to meet daily needs as well as to adjust to the needs being kind of put on us.” - Doug Walker, Albemarle's Deputy County Executive, March 20
"We are in an unprecedented situation here in Greene County like so many communities around us… we’re forced to adjust to adapt to multiple changes in protocol on a daily basis and we’re going to try and do that here in Greene County as well.” - Bill Martin, Chair of Greene Board of Supervisors, March 24
“We have received the first shipment of PPE such as maps, gowns and gloves from the national stockpile and we have distributed that to health departments and other providers. We expect our second distribution next week. We know it will not be enough and this is an issue nationwide.” - Governor Ralph Northam, March 24