Reprint: Being Prepared for COVID-19 - Municipalities of Saskatchewan

On Mon, 16 Mar 2020 17:27:02 -0400 (EDT), Municipalities of Saskatchewan <communications@munisask.ca> wrote:

Being Prepared for COVID-19 The COVID-19 outbreak is a challenge to public health in our hometowns. Find information and resources below to help keep your residents safe.

Social distancing measures are a way to minimize COVID-19 transmission in your community - this means minimizing close contact with others. As of March 16, Saskatchewan's Chief Medical Health Officer has ordered that: no events of more than 50 people with speakers or attendees who have travelled internationally in the last 14 days take place. This is in addition to the Chief Medical Health Officer's order that: no public gathering of more than 250 people in any one room take place. Social Gatherings With the above mandate, your community may want to ask members of the public to postpone events such as weddings, sporting events, and other non-essential community gatherings. Council Meetings Council meetings still need to happen, and still need to be public, but efforts should be made to allow distance between people of two metres where possible. If your municipality's council procedure bylaw allows for it, your council could hold regular and special council meetings electronically during this time. Any decisions council makes should be communicated to the public. Other precautions that may be put in place for staff and residents include: Council making a decision to close the municipal office or; reducing the public hours

Emergency Preparedness Every community should have an emergency plan that covers what to do if some sort of catastrophic event occurs. Now is the time to dust those off and see what you have in there. Your plan should answer how you will keep your municipal services going in the event of an emergency. Your primary goal is to find backups for your backups when it comes to essential services like water and wastewater treatment, then solid waste and snowplowing. Keep in mind any coordination that needs to happen; what will you do if your office staff fall ill? Can you mitigate these risks by allowing people to work from home, or meet electronically? Also, do your employees have children, and have you thought about how you will handle your day-to-day business, beginning March 20, when the schools close and those staff need to be home with their families? Ideally, all of these questions should be answered in your emergency plan. If not, there is still time to act. Work with your communities, and your neighbours. Share backups, if you can, and make plans together to offer support.

Remote Communities Communities that are remote or isolated should consider stocking up on needed supplies like food and medicine. The supply chain may be interrupted or become unreliable. Additional challenges should be taken into account. For example, some remote communities may have limited access to clean running water for frequent hand hygiene.

Resources: Government of Canada: Being Prepared - Communities Community-based measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 Risk-informed decision-making for mass gatherings Outbreak update Know the Facts: Factsheet Being Prepared: Factsheet

Government of Saskatchewan

• COVID-19 in Saskatchewan Resource which includes updated Corona virus information, Saskatchewan's COVID-19 Preparedness Plan, COVID-19 Guidance for mass gatherings, and more

• Self-Assessment Tool

Other

• Convention 2020 Recording: Bracing for Disasters with Emergency Preparedness

• PeopleFirst HR webinar: Corona virus and the workplace

• Federation of Canadian Municipalities COVID-Resources for Municipalities