The City of Monterey has initiated a daily news briefing to update the media on the city’s response to the coronavirus. Click here for the latest updates from the City.
KAZU was on the first conference call, which was an attempt to be both transparent and reassuring.
Monterey City Manager Hans Uslar opened the briefing by emphasizing the importance of calming fears and letting residents know the city is responding to the spread of the virus.
“As you know, there is a lot of angst out there,” said Uslar.
The city has activated its Emergency Operations Center at the lowest level. The center has three departments. The first focuses on logistics, which supports emergency services.
“We have enough firefighters on the contract. We have enough police officers hired. So public safety number one is maintained,” Uslar said.
The second department is intelligence, which coordinates information from the federal, state, county and local sources.
“How are they doing? What is going on? How are we taking care of each other?” said Uslar.
The last department is care and shelter.
“Their task is to figure out how do we reach the most vulnerable population in the city of Monterey,” said Uslar.
That department will focus on the city’s homeless and caring for seniors who may not be closely following the spread of the virus.
“They are our residents first and foremost, and we need to take care of them,” Uslar said.
Uslar also reported that the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula has tested 30 patients as of Monday, and none so far are positive. The hospital has a 240-bed capacity with some expansion possible.
