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City of Vernon plans for outbreak

The City of Vernon is working with local, state, and federal agencies to insure that, to the best of our ability, our citizens and staff are protected during the possible outbreak of the Coronavirus as we would be with any disease   The city’s main focus will be on the safety of the public and as well as city staff.  The city continues to work with local, state, and federal agencies to address health concerns relative to the virus.  At this point, most changes in city operations are invisible to the general public, however, procedures are being modified to insure public health while maintaining essential services provided by the city.

One of the main concerns of the city is making sure that the city has enough staff on the job to provide essential services.  While we realize that we will be short staffed in some cases due to illness from the virus, the city is reaching out to other agencies to help fill in with personnel if needed.  The city has also made arrangements to bring in part time help from retired city workers as well as reserve personnel in case of illness of key personnel.    At the same time, the city has modified its staff travel to allow for travel that is  necessary, only.  All travel is currently being evaluated on a case by case basis to determine if that travel is necessary or if it can be postponed.  By limiting travel, the city will prevent spread of the virus from outside Wilbarger County and will keep valuable staff on the job while the potential for absences due to illness exists.

Protocol is currently being utilized to identify patients of the emergency services that might be at higher risk for the virus.  This screening is done by a series of questions by Police Dispatchers to allow the Police, EMS and Fire personnel to be appropriately equipped to protect both the patient and staff from the spread of the virus prior to answering a call.  This protocol is not expected to slow down response time.

All departments of the city are working to make sure that all inventories of city supplies are adequate to address the threat of the Coronavirus.

At this time, no city sponsored events have been cancelled.  Those events will continued to be monitored to determine if it is in the best interest of public safety for them to be cancelled or postponed.  The city will do all  in  its power to keep from inconveniencing the public, however, public safety will always be our major concern.  Any cancelation or postponement of events will be announced as soon as possible.

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