Coronavirus: Northern Beaches Council ‘Pandemic plan’ activated
Northern Beaches Council have activated a ‘pandemic plan’ which will see staff working from home, public facilities being cleaned with high grade disinfectant and the potential closure of aquatic centres.
Manly
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A pandemic plan has been rolled out by the council which includes staff working from home, disinfecting public facilities and looking into the potential closure of aquatic centres.
Northern Beaches Council told the Manly Daily an incident management team had had been activated to “ensure the health and safety of our community” amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Council has a plan in place to proactively manage the risk of coronavirus,” Mayor Michael Regain said.
“It considers how the council will respond to the changing environment and advice from leading state and federal health authorities. It looks at how we will manage our workforce and make sure we maintain essential services such as waste collection, road maintenance and delivering Meals on Wheels.
“To date we have increased cleaning regimes in public toilets and council buildings, introduced sanitising protocols for community and staff at our public facilities, cancelled large events and currently have a range of smaller events under consideration.”
He said the incident management team are still assessing the situation.
“Some staff are working from home and we expect this to happen in greater numbers in the coming days.
“At this stage we are reviewing all our services and facilities in line with the advice from health authorities and will respond accordingly to ensure the health and safety of our community.”
Councillor Rory Amon said the council is also looking at shutting down aquatic centres.
“We’re looking at whether we’re going to close aquatic centres after Sydney’s Olympic Aquatic Centre at Homebush shut its doors.
“Pools can be like a petri dish but there’s no decision made yet - it’s dependant on the government’s advice.
“Our view is better to be safe than sorry and I think council staff are doing a pretty good job. They are doing everything they can by being responsive and proactive.”
He said while councillors will carryout briefings in a room where they will sit a metre and a half from each other, under the code of meetings practice councillors have to show up in person for the monthly council meetings.
“There’s no provision for people to dial in so we’ve asked if the local government can accommodate conferencing video and telephone meetings.”
The pandemic plan comes after a coronavirus “incident” had also happened at Queenscliff Surf Club last week.
The club was thoroughly cleaned and closed for a short period, patrons were informed and it has since reopened.