Monday, March 16, 2020

Mayor Rhodes-Conway Statement on City of Madison Actions on Coronavirus

"Monday, March 16, 2020 - 11:20am
The City of Madison has been working around the clock since before the first Dane County case on February 5th to slow the transmission of the COVID-19 virus and protect our community. We are actively coordinating with school, county, state and federal agencies to respond to the latest information and developments.
My priorities are clear: slow the spread of the virus, protect the capacity of the city’s health care system, protect our most vulnerable populations, and continue to deliver essential public services.
Below are brief updates on the status of some of our efforts. Expect more details in the coming days as our incredibly dedicated staff continue to work on these issues.
CONTINUITY OF CITY OPERATIONS
Public health and safety are our top priorities. All city departments have prepared continuity of operations plans and we have an active Emergency Operations Center managing our city-wide response. We are preparing as many staff as possible to work from home. We have reduced the number of in-person staff meetings for employees as well.
EMERGENCY ORDERS
Public Health issued a mandatory emergency order on Sunday stopping gatherings of 50 or more people in Dane County, with additional guidance for senior centers, restaurants and theatres. Details of this order can be found here.
SCHOOL CLOSURES, CHILDCARE
We know that with the schools closed, there is additional stress on all families of school-aged children and city staff are working with employees to minimize that disruption while continuing to provide essential city services. We understand the importance of quality childcare in all situations and are working with partners to assist in that crucial service as well.
CITY COUNCIL AND COMMITTEES
I am working with the City Council President, Alder Shiva Bidar, to minimize risk for city employees and committee members. We are working to temporarily cancel nearly all committee meetings, and teleconferencing options will be established. This cannot be done immediately for all boards, commissions and committees so we ask for your patience as we work through this with IT and develop appropriate public notification practices.
MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARIES
We know that people depend on the services available in our public libraries, and so although we are, for the time-being, postponing structured activities there, most libraries are open today and we are working to keep them clean and promote social distancing. The library board will be meeting on Tuesday to further discuss this situation. We hope patrons who use them to check out books, for early voting, for filling out the census and other purposes will follow best practices for protecting themselves and others from this virus as well.
PEOPLE IMPACTED BY HOMELESSNESS
We have staff working with our partners who care for and provide food and shelter for our homeless to make sure they are prepared and protected.."
City of Madison & Coronavirus

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