Declaration could provide state, federal financial assistance
The Hamilton County Commissioners have declared a local disaster emergency and authorized the furnishing of aid and assistance through the Hamilton County Emergency Operations Center. The local ordinance (Ord. No. 8-23-10-B § 3, 8-23-2010) was signed Friday morning and will remain in effect until Friday, Nov. 27.
Hamilton County has taken the necessary precautions to protect its community, employees and volunteers, but the rising number of positive COVID-19 cases has placed an immeasurable strain on resources and could soon exhaust emergency funding.
Altman
“Unfortunately, with the spike of COVID cases in the county and Central Indiana the Commissioners foresee the need for additional resources to deal with this pandemic,” Commissioner Christine Altman said. “The Emergency Declaration will enable the county and our Emergency Management Agency to move quickly to procure necessary supplies, personnel and equipment and to qualify for emergency funding.”
The disaster emergency declaration provides the Executive Director of Emergency Management the power to coordinate response and recovery as well as request assistance and potential reimbursements from the State of Indiana as well as the appropriate federal agencies. A disaster emergency declaration must be reapproved every week.
“In the meantime, we ask everyone to take action to protect themselves and as importantly to protect others from this virus,” Altman said. “Our mission has been and will continue to be the health and well-being of our residents. We hope that everyone will consider the impact to our friends and family in how we celebrate the upcoming holidays.”
What does this mean towards slowing the spread of the virus in Hamilton County? How will it help the hospitals and health care workers from becoming overwhelmed? Will there be any efforts to scale back capacity in bars, restaurants and gyms? Our health care workers need help now through the use of this economic assistance?