Local government is doing all it can to adjust operations as the latest COVID-19 surge wanes on.
At the county level, Lyon County Commission Chairman Rollie Martin says staff have done well for the most part in holding off any major infections or outbreaks within county departments.
He says individuals within the Public Health department are seeing frequent adjustments but that has more to do with workload than it does infection-related absences.
He adds that in terms of adjustments, major changes within the county have mostly been policy-related, especially within district court. The most recent adjustment from District Court came earlier this month when it was announced that all jury trials would be postponed through at least Valentine’s Day.
At this time, the county continues to strongly recommend mitigation strategies rather than mandate them despite recommendations to do so from Lyon County Public Health during a special meeting last week.
While county employees continue to confidently weather the recent COVID storm, the city of Emporia has had a bit of a tougher go at it according to City Manager Trey Cocking. He says several departments have been hit hard by the latest surge recently with some departments lacking upwards of five employees at a time.
That being said, Cocking says no major 24-hour services have been disrupted.
Cocking credited city staff for rising to the task of covering additional workloads as the pandemic continues. He also says he believes they are reaching the peak of the ongoing surge and mitigation efforts within city departments have been effective in lowering the level of exposures for the most part.
These updates come as Lyon County continues to see record new daily case numbers with Public Health announcing just over 800 new cases total over the past week.
