Pulaski County officials are battling the rapidly increasing spread of COVID-19. Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer gave an update on behalf of the incident management team to the county council Monday.
“We are doing what we can, but there is only so much that can be done without sending police patrolling every event, every household, every store, et cetera, which, obviously for a number of reasons, isn’t going to happen,” Origer said. “But the crap has hit the fan in the last five weeks.”
He noted that almost 150 new cases have been reported in the past five-and-a-half weeks alone, more than half of the county’s total. “We were bumped up to the orange level of community spread, and we’re starting to see it in all sorts of locations: businesses, churches, schools, health care facilities,” he said. “It’s really spread recently.”
Members of the Pulaski County Incident Management Team were set to talk with State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box and the Indiana Hospital Association Monday, but Origer pointed out that every county is begging the state for more help.
The incident management team is now meeting twice a week, and representatives from the county’s school corporations are now attending. Origer said Eastern Pulaski has put together a plan for indoor events, and West Central is expected to adopt one soon.
The Pulaski County Emergency Management Agency has been able to get $24,000 worth of personal protective equipment for first responders from the state. The EMA also got 1,000 disposable gowns. Origer said 100 were given to the Pulaski Health Care Center to help with the outbreak there.
Of the $100,000 in Riverboat money the council appropriated for COVID-19 response in the spring, a portion of it has been used to cover overtime costs for various departments. Less than $2,400 has been used by the incident management team itself, with the bulk of that being for sneeze guards for county offices.
The team continues to update its Facebook page with case counts, resources, and testing information.
