Commentary: What the COVID-19 response means at a city level
Published 1:30 am Sunday, April 12, 2020
By Jon Nehring / For The Herald
What a difference a month makes. In early March, we were just beginning to understand the depth of the threat of the COVID-19 virus as it started to gain a foothold in Snohomish County. By month’s end, the Snohomish Health District reported 1,229 confirmed cases in the county, 114 of those in Marysville. Sadly, at that time 33 Snohomish County residents had died from COVID-19 complications.
Essential services: In response, the City of Marysville has been following the directives of the Snohomish Health District along with state and federal mandates. I am participating in several video conference calls daily, meeting virtually with Gov. Jay Inslee, Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, mayors and other elected officials and leaders throughout the state as well as local partners including the Marysville School District, social service organizations, law enforcement, our faith community and more.
While city buildings remain closed to the public, we continue to provide the essential services that you expect of your city: law enforcement, public safety, clean drinking water, garbage pickup, wastewater management, road maintenance and more.
As the governor’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order and associated orders have been put into place, city staff is continually working hard behind the scenes to respond promptly and appropriately. Among many other things, large events — many of them very popular — have been canceled or postponed. Our Municipal Court rescheduled 2,000 court hearings and now must reschedule them again; all infraction hearings are now conducted by mail or email. Public works crews are doing business differently, such as limiting one person per vehicle to maintain appropriate physical distancing, as they continue to collect trash, maintain roads and more. All internal and external meetings have been moved to video or teleconference to comply with physical distancing.
In my discussions with other Snohomish County mayors and leaders, we agree we are all traversing unknown territory as we lead our communities through this pandemic response together. I am grateful today for the many critical partnerships we have actively built through the years that are more important now than ever and for our shared commitment to serving our residents as best we can in challenging times. We also recognize the severe impact this is having on our local business community and those who have lost their jobs. While much of the needed assistance here will come from the federal and state levels, we are committed to doing all that we can locally to help them through this unprecedented time.
Community coming together: Here in Marysville, I am encouraged but not surprised by the amazing community partnerships that quickly sprang into action over the last few weeks.
The YMCA and Boys & Girls Clubs are providing free child care for health care workers and first responders. The Marysville, Lakewood and Lake Stevens school districts all are offering free breakfasts and lunches to children under 18 in our community, some using bus drivers and para-educators to help with assembly and delivery.
A Marysville business, Jeff’s Texas Style BBQ, is providing free lunches to parents of those children twice a week and has been able to expand the number of those lunches through community donations. Rairdon’s Honda of Marysville is offering free oil changes to first responders, health care, grocery and pharmacy employees. City workers are helping the Marysville Community Food Bank serve twice the usual amount of customers as more of our residents face layoffs or have their work hours reduced by COVID-19. The faith community continues to step up and help those in need while also adapting to the current limitations by offering online ministry. Those are just a few examples; there are so many more.
What you can do: As we all continue to fight this pandemic together, I ask that you please respect and continue to comply with the the governor’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order. Please limit your trips to only those that are essential. When shopping for groceries and needed household items, please plan ahead, go alone if you can, wear a mask and maintain the 6-foot rule. If you’re used to eating out, consider supporting a local restaurant by ordering takeout or delivery instead. Calling your neighbors, especially senior citizens and those with special needs, to offer assistance or just a friendly ear is more important now than ever.
As this community has shown so many times in the past, we can and do get through tough times better when we work together and care for one another. I am positive we are doing just that again.
Finally, I so appreciate the opportunity that I have had to communicate directly with so many of our residents and local business owners through social media, email and phone conversations over these past several weeks. You are all in my thoughts and prayers continually, and together we will make it through these challenging times.
Jon Nehring is the mayor of Marysville.
