Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist and Jamestown Schools Superintendent Bret Apthorpe are pictured Monday during a press conference. A state of emergency was declared in the city of Jamestown effective today, days after a similar announcement was made for Chautauqua County. Local school districts who have announced closures until April 20 are preparing to provide instruction and meals to students during that time. P-J photo by Jordan W. Patterson

While there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Chautauqua County, the impact of the virus is impacting daily life locally.

Following in the footsteps of County Executive PJ Wendel, Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist announced a state of emergency for the city of Jamestown at a press conference Monday that will go into effect today.

“This is not because of any reported cases, but it is an attempt to be proactive and responsive to prevent further spread,” Sundquist said.

Wendel announced a countywide state of emergency Sunday, which followed similar announcements in Cattaraugus and Erie counties. The announcements over the weekend prompted school districts across the county to close for a month. Additionally, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday that all schools in New York state are to close for two weeks. Cuomo, along with New Jersey and Connecticut, banned gatherings of more 50 people as well.

Globally, COVID-19 deaths have surpassed 7,000 with more than 180,000 cases. In the U.S., the death toll reached more than 70 with more than 4,000 cases. In New York state, where the majority of cases have been found in New York City, there have been 950 cases with eight reported deaths. In Chautauqua County, four people were placed in precautionary quarantine with no confirmed cases of the virus as of press time.

Sundquist and Dr. Bret Apthorpe, Jamestown Public Schools superintendent, spoke to the media early Monday to detail the city’s and school district’s plan going forward.

“At this time Chautauqua County has zero confirmed cases, but this is not a case of if it comes to Jamestown but when it comes to Jamestown,” Sundquist said. “More than ever we need decisive leadership in both our government and our schools to prevent any further spread and ensure the safety of our residents and our children.”

Several changes include the city no longer issuing passports for March and April; encouraging residents to call before coming to city hall; and encouraging those seeking to pay taxes or parking tickets to use online alternatives.

Sundquist announced that future city council and school board meetings will be closed to the public. The mayor added, however, city meetings during the state of emergency will be live streamed on the city’s website.

“The issue is the spread and in many cases the lack of symptoms that our residents have,” Sundquist said. “In an average hour, many people don’t realize they touch their face 16 to 20 times. You don’t know necessarily what surfaces you’ve touched whether that is door knobs or handshakes, surfaces where the virus could live on and then you touch your face, you touch other people and then you spread it — especially for those that aren’t washing their hands, sanitizing in between.

“We want our public to just think about the number of times you touch a coffee pot at work or maybe you’ve shaken someone’s hand or even gone through a drive-thru and grabbed a cup or a lunch from someone and touched a surface. We want to be able to prevent the spread as much as possible. We want to encourage our residents to avoid touching their eyes, nose, mouth. Please stay home if you can, and limit your interactions with others. Maintain a safe distance with one another in public. Stay calm. Don’t panic. We’ve seen a lot of rush of people trying to buy toiletries and things like that at different stores. There is no need to panic to go buy all of those things.”

Sundquist also urged city residents to report any symptoms to the Chauatuqua County Department of Health, adding that individuals should continue to wash their hands.

The mayor warned that businesses that fail to comply with state restrictions on limited capacity could result in fines and temporary closures. However, he mostly praised the outpouring of support from the community and local restaurants as many transition to exclusively delivery and pick-up options. Sundquist said the Jamestown Police Department will be conducting spot checks at businesses to enforce the state’s restrictions.

During the press conference, Apthorpe detailed the school district’s plan going forward.

“The first component is we have to ensure we are able to continue instruction for our students,” Apthorpe said. “The second component is we will have to provide child care for those working families, especially the families who work in the healthcare industry. And thirdly, we have to provide meals. In the city of Jamestown, we provide thousands of breakfast and lunch to students everyday.”

JPS will be providing resources to students and families to support instruction, child care and food services. Apthorpe said more than 5,000 meals will be made available to the JPS community every day over the course of the month.

“A few weeks ago, our staff put together a plan around the framework of, ‘Hoping for the best, but planning for the worst,'” Apthorpe said.

He added that the schools will remain accessible to students, but noted that limits will be placed on how many individuals are in one place at once to abide by the state’s limit on large gatherings. Additionally, child care will be provided in all nine of JPS’ buildings to avoid grouping too many students together.

As for learning at home, students will receive learning packets each week prepared by their teacher. Middle school students will also be provided iPads to access resources online. At the high school level, students may be issued a Chromebook or an iPad to be used to complete online assignments provided by teachers.

Regarding food pickups, grab-and-go school meals will be available at Washington Middle School, Jefferson Middle School, Persell Middle School and Jamestown High School.

Additionally, child care is going to continue for families in the district who need the services.

Childcare services will be provided five days a week beginning Thursday from 7:30 a.m to 5 p.m. For any JPS student in grades K-5, childcare will be provided at Ring by the YMCA and Fletcher by the YWCA. For any JPS student ages 3 and 4, childcare will be provided by the YWCA and A Children’s Place.

Apthorpe added that planning for the next phase of the coronavirus impact has begun, which could potentially include quarantine. However, in collaboration with the city and county agencies Apthorpe said the district will ensure that it “will provide absolutely what we need to provide to our students.”

Many schools are preparing to operate in a similar capacity.

In the Falconer Central School and Southwestern Central School districts, meal and instructional preparation are underway.

While some districts are electing to utilize meal pick ups at school buildings, Southwestern officials will be delivering its meals to families beginning today. Southwestern Superintendent Maureen Donahue said school officials wanted to continue to make in-person connections with families during this time as much as possible. After the first day, Donahue expects the deliveries to increase to more families. The district is providing a meal for breakfast and dinner to families who elected to participate.

Additionally, Donahue said because Southwestern is a “1 to 1” district in terms of every student having a school laptop, she believes the staff and students are ready for online instruction. However, her primary focus was centered on the safety of students, staff and families.

“My biggest concern is that our families are safe and they understand the seriousness of this and we maintain a connection with our kids,” Donahue said. “When schools shut down it can be very scary and very difficult. We want to make sure that were are connecting and we’ll take this one day at a time.”

Southwestern school officials are set to send home learning packets for grades K-12 and district laptops are being made available for students in grades 3 -12.

“We’re navigating waters we’ve never been, and we want to try to do what’s best for our kids, families and our staff,” Donahue continued.

As of Monday, there were 40 families in Falconer who notified district officials they would be participating in the meal pick-up program. Families can pick up their school-provided meal at Fenner Elementary and Temple Elementary schools between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

Falconer Superintendent Stephen Penhollow said the change is much more familiar to students than staff as instruction will shift to an online-first format.

“Our kids are online constantly,” Penhollow said, adding that the at-home instruction will be a combination of various online tools. “They are probably much more prepared for online conversation and learning than any of us are. We are finally going to be stepping into their world. It’s more of a change for us than it will be for them.”

Falconer instructional staff is preparing educational material including district Chromebooks to be sent home with students so school can continue in an unconventional method.

Penhollow admitted that he was concerned about going into the “unknown” for the next month, but was confident in his staff and student population to persevere.

“We wish we didn’t have to face this situation, this closure — especially for such a long period of time,” Penhollow said. “At this point, this is our world, our responsibility and this is the challenge that we stepped up to.”

School districts have updated their websites with complete information regarding plans going forward while schools are closed.