Lori Walsh: We're taking a look at how Covid-19 is impacting the cities in communities across the state today. We head to Yankton and we will jump out of this conversation when the governor takes the podium so you can stay tuned right here. We're going to welcome to the program, Paul Scherslicht. He's director of Yankton County Emergency Management. Hi Paul. Welcome. Thanks for being here.
Paul Scherschligt: You betcha. Thank you for having me.
Lori Walsh: Also with us: Amy Leon, city manager. Amy. Thank you.
Amy Leon: Hi. Thank you.
Lori Walsh: In the first: you might only have minutes before the governor speaks. I want to start with the most important thing, which is, what do you want people in Yankton to know that they should be doing right now? What decisions are you making for your community? Amy, let's start with you.
Amy Leon: Sure. Our city commission just passed an ordinance yesterday with the closure of some businesses. Primarily those are entertainment facilities, bars, restaurants, et cetera. We do allow for curbside pickup, also closures of salons, those types of facilities. Those are really difficult decisions. We're trying to do what's right here for public health, not what's easy.
Lori Walsh: And then tell me a little bit about what you're hoping to hear from the governor because we've heard complaints from community leaders across the state that it would be a lot easier to explain to the people in your community why you're making the choices, if the governor came out strongly and said to do it. How do you respond to those questions and what do you hope to hear from the governor?
Amy Leon: Yes, I'd like to hear a statewide ban or statewide closures of certain businesses so that we're being consistent. We don't want to end up infecting people from other communities because our business are closed. It'd be nice if there was some consistency. So a message from her regarding consistency statewide would be helpful, I think, for our local businesses and for our community.
Lori Walsh: Paul, tell me a little bit from the emergency management standpoint for Yankton County, what some of those preparations are going to be? What are they looking like now?
Paul Scherschligt: Right now we've created a task force which encompasses the medical, the hospitals, the medical clinics, other healthcare providers, the cities and the communities, the county commissions and some other agencies within the county to start looking at, talking and making sure everybody is following, number one; the CDC guidelines and what needs to be done. And then what precautions and what shortfalls and other avenues that we need to be taking to make sure that we're number one; providing the services that we need for the citizens, but also protecting them in the best manner that we can. So with this big group, we have the schools onboard. We're talking and making sure that everybody is seeing the big picture, if you will, rather than just a small focus group here and there. And it's been working very well.
Lori Walsh: Paul, tell me about people's longing to volunteer to be of service, to help out and how you're handling some of that desire and really willingness and ability to do certain things.
Paul Scherschligt: There's actually two programs. One of them is though to serve South Dakota. And we asked people to go to that and sign up. You go to the South Dakota Department of Health website and there's a link that you can sign up. So if you're retired, well I shouldn't even say retired, but if you had a medical background and you wanted to become helping out, you could sign up. There's a lot of people asking for retired nurses and doctors and whatever, if you will in your field, to sign up so that you can become available if there'd be a surge in Yankton or in the state for that matter, by knowing what their capabilities are.
Paul Scherschligt: This program, you sign up and say that you were an RN and if you were an RN and your license is still current, they have all that information. So basically, as soon as the call comes in for help, they can send people. That's a very good tool. The other one we're having volunteers sign up, not doing a whole lot yet with it, but they're calling the 211 helpline-
Lori Walsh: Paul, I'm going to cut you off at 211 help line and I'm going to say thank you to both of you because the governor is taking the podium now.