Entities respond to Coronavirus spread
The Scurry County Public Library, Senior Center and Youth Center will remain closed for at least two weeks, and the county criminal court will not hear cases, due to concerns over potential COVID-19 exposure.
The decision was reached at an emergency meeting of the county commissioners. About 30 people attended the meeting.
“We’re trying to slow the spread of this in Scurry County,” Commissioner Shawn McCowen said. “The recommendation is two weeks, which is what we did. Two weeks minimum. We’ll go back and revisit it for large crowds such as the youth center and senior center. The only way to remedy this is to minimize large gatherings.”
The county court session scheduled today was canceled, McCowen said.
“It’s hard to do, but if it helps, it will be better than not doing it at all,” he said.
County Judge Dan Hicks said he felt the meeting was a positive step for the county.
“I think it went good,” he said. “I think that we were able to work through any kind of issues that we may foresee. Of course, it’s constantly changing, so we just need to stay ahead of the game.”
Hicks suggested that county residents keep themselves informed.
“Just follow the guidelines, all the CDC guidelines,” he said. “Go to CDC.gov and see what their guidelines are on staying healthy.”
During the meeting, Hicks clarified that while there have been no cases of COVID-19 in Scurry County, the county is taking steps to limit the spread of the disease “out of an abundance of caution.”
“We’ve today closed the library, senior center and the youth center just to be cautious,” he said. “We want to discuss what we’re going to do going forward. It’s preventative, is what we’re looking at. We’re not reacting out of fear or trying to cause a panic. It’s just preventative, to keep us from the spread. We know it’s coming. It’s going to be here. But if we can keep that spread to a minimum, we want to do that.”
Hicks also presented a plan to formally issue a declaration of disaster, which both the county and city declared later on Tuesday.
Those declarations are for seven days and will have to be renewed next week, if needed. The renewals can extend the declarations for up to a month, according to Snyder Fire Chief Perry Westmoreland. Commissioner Craig Merritt questioned the need for the disaster declaration.
“Could be, would be, should be, but there’s not (any cases reported so far),” he said. “Let’s not go about talking about money, let’s talk about the disease. The first thing that comes out of our mouths is money.”
Hicks responded with a hypothetical scenario.
“If we spend money for a week — say we don’t declare it until next week, next Monday we have three cases in Scurry County and I declare an emergency then — any monies that we’ve spent from today until next Monday, we cannot declare that money from FEMA. If we go ahead and declare it today, any money that we spend, we can declare that money.”