Updates and Information on the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

As the concern about the COVID-19 virus develops, we understand there will continue to be questions about how City services could be affected. The City's most important responsibility is to protect the public. To that end preparedness plays a key role.

Our City has taken measures to ensure that we will continue to:

• Provide sewer, electric, and clean, safe water to our residents
• Ensure that public safety officers have the resources that they need to respond to emergencies
• Maintain the functionality of our airport

While we don't oversee public health, we work together with our national, state, and regional partners to protect the public when there are public health concerns in our area. Please refer to those agencies for updates not related to City services.

Dedicated Funding Towards Coronavirus Prevention and Treatment

The coronavirus funding bill signed into law by the president Friday puts much more money toward treating and preventing the spread of COVID-19 than his administration requested from Congress last week.

The Trump administration's initial request — in the form of a two-page letter to Congress on Feb. 24 — was for $1.25 billion in new funds, with additional money moved from other parts of the federal budget to get to a total of $2.5 billion. The amount authorized Friday is more than three times that.

Of all of the $950 million for state and local public health response that's to be dispersed via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half must be allocated within 30 days.

"That's great because that will hopefully get around some of the bureaucratic delays we've seen in previous responses," says Dara Lieberman of Trust for America's Health, a nonpartisan public health policy research and advocacy organization.