VCC Begins Plans To Reopen Volusia

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DeLand, FL - During today's regular Volusia County Council meeting, the talk turned to reopening county services. Deputy County Manager Suzanne Konchan said that department heads have already been meeting on the best tack to take. "Most of our focus is actually about providing services to the community in areas where we've had to scale back in response to the COVID-19 virus. Most notably, the beaches."

As for offices where county employees deal directly with the public, the thought is to use plexiglas shields between the employees and the public. Konchan said the department heads are also trying to get the libraries back online, especially the public computers for people that don't have internet access at home.

Konchan said they are better prepared to go forward because of the things that happened at the beginning of the pandemic. "We're looking back at the lessons we learned in March as we began to close those access portals and to try to reopen them in a logical way that follows advice from our health professionals."

Among the metrics that the Public Protection team is reporting is the capacity for hospitals both in terms of their ICU beds and their total bed  capacity. Konchan said she believes  that we've been very successful in flattening the curve in Volusia County. "Assuming those capacity numbers continue to exist at the hospitals, our thinking is that we will see leadership out of Tallahassee.  Unless there's some extraordinary reason, I would expect Volusia County will follow the state's lead."

County Manager George Recktenwald stressed that whatever the county does, it will need to
ensure the safety of its employees, coordinate with local cities and enlist the continued support and cooperation of the public.

“My recommendation is a phased approach,’” said Recktenwald. “We don’t want to jump out ahead and then have a relapse. So it is going to require the citizens to continue to work with us.”

reopen Volusia, COVID-19