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PANDEMIC A MIXED BAG FOR INDUSTRIES, SOURCE OF UNCERTAINTY FOR COMMUNITY
POST-PANDEMIC RECOVERY COULD LAST TWO YEARS
Emporia’s recovery Locally, members of the business community are also feeling Gov. Laura Kelly announced a the frustration of finding a balance goal to start reopening the Kan- between planning to reopen and sas economy as early as May 3 — keeping the the community safe the date a statewide stay-at-home amid a pandemic. order is set to expire — during a Emporia Area Chamber of Comdaily briefing merce President Thursday afJeanine McKternoon, but “According to the White House, enna estimates with infection it will take Emthe Kansas Department of rates still risporia between Health and Environment, the ing both locally 18 months - two and around the health department — according years to fully state, the date recover once to everybody — they are may get pushed the city is able back even farto reopen. The wanting to see 14 days of no ther. local chamber increases in positive tests.” The state is working with has struggled to Ignite Emporia JEANINE MCKENNA, get enough sup- Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce President to write a Relief plies from the and Recovery federal governPlan that would ment and pribe presented to vate companies in competition board members as early as Monwith other states, as the governor day. The plan will give recommengrapples with the idea of lifting the dations and guidance for a multiple restrictions put in place to contain phase reopening of the local econoutbreaks. According to the Associ- omy, once certain conditions are ated Press, Kansas has had among met. the lowest testing rates of any “We are writing our own [relief state, 7.32 per 1,000 residents as of and recovery plan],” she said. “AcThursday. cording to the White House, the “We are nowhere near where we Kansas Department of Health and need to be with testing supplies,” Environment, the health departKelly said during a recent news ment — according to everybody conference. “It’s the biggest frustra- — they are wanting to see 14 days tion that I have.” of no increases in positive tests. The Kansas Chamber of Com- That’s what we are looking for, so merce released more than 40 rec- we know before we can even get to ommendations gathered from the phase one, we are 14 days out each state’s business community to help day we show a new case.” restart the state’s economy as the That means the clock resets COVID-19 pandemic begins to ease each time another positive is conearlier this week. firmed. “The Kansas business commu“Each day, we hope we can start nity’s priority is ensuring its em- the counting of ‘one’ all the way up ployees are safe and healthy while to 14,” McKenna said. “What we working to provide the much-need- have done is sort of a document ed support, services and products that we hope to send out to our during this global crisis,” State members that is information for Chamber President and CEO Alan them to look at and start prepping. Cobb said. “At some point, possibly Things like, what’s in phase one soon, the health crisis will subside that I can start prepping for as we to the point where business and go into phase two and phase three?” society can begin to reopen. To enThe document will include comsure Kansas is ready, state and local munication and marketing tips to government officials and business help businesses keep in front of leaders should work together to their customers even if they cannot develop specific health metrics and have regular, face-to-face contact as safety criteria, that when met, will usual. give businesses, their employees “We are working really hard to and citizens confidence in the safe- get information out so they can ty of their workplaces so we can be- start preparing, start looking,” gin to reopen the Kansas economy.” McKenna said. “We are also putting The Relief and Recovery Agenda together to the board, a proposal of reflects related health and econom- putting together a community-wide ic data as well as input from cham- recovery and response team to take ber members and other business care of the community as a whole.” organizations from across the state, representing all industries and Please see Recovery, Page 3 business sectors. By Ryann Brooks
brooks@emporia.com
By Adam Blake
adam@emporia.com
While the debate surrounding the reopening of the United States economy has served to cause political disagreements and even protests in certain areas around the country, local economic groups believe there is still a long way to go before a decision can be made. “We have a lot of different economic engines in this community,” said Kent Heermann, president of the Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas. “We have an economic sector in education with the university, the tech college and our K-12 schools. You have a big agricultural community, a manufacturing community, a retail community, a hospitality community and all of them are impacted in different ways.” So far, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a rather mixed effect on Emporia’s industry-based economy, serving to close the doors of many smaller businesses but providing increased opportunities for production facilities, especially those specializing in food-based products. “Our industries that are engaged in the food processing sector, whether that be meat processing or pet food, are actually doing quite well,” Heermann said. “They are considered essential industry,
Over 2,800 readers responded to the above poll which was posted to The Gazette's Facebook page Monday. As of Friday afternoon, 1040 were in favor of opening the economy with 1768 against.
and many of them are working overtime to keep up demand. You have a huge challenge when it comes to keeping a production facility open during a stay-at-home order. They’ve had to introduce a lot of protocols for the health and well-being of their employees and add to their sanitation protocols, which are already very thorough in these types of facilities.” While Heermann admitted to being unsure whether recently-discovered COVID-19 hotspots at major employers like Tyson would force any sort of temporary plantwide shutdown, he maintains confidence that such industries are taking reports seriously and will come to the right conclusions. “These are businesses that obviously deal with food safety everyday,” Heermann said. “There’s
a term referred to as ‘good manufacturing practices,’ and all these food plants have those in place to ensure the best decisions are being made. Many of the principles apply to how they handle situations like a pandemic. For instance, a lot of them have started to take temperatures of employees as soon as they walk in for their shifts … So, most of these plants are very, very clean and very, very sanitized and even more so in those common space areas like bathrooms and things like that. What happens though, is obviously employees aren’t at their plants all the time and employers can only control what happens in their facilities. So, when they go home, to the store, or other placPlease see Industry, Page 3
COVID-19 NUMBERS CONTINUE TO RISE IN LYON COUNTY By Ryann Brooks brooks@emporia.com
Lyon County Public Health reported 16 new test positives for COVID-19 Friday afternoon, bringing the county’s total to 196 since the first local cases were reported in March. There are currently 159 active cases with two hospitalizations. There are 37 recoveries on record. The state reported 2,777 cases from 76 counties with 111 deaths reported as of 11 a.m. Friday. Some questions have arisen over the discrepancy between Lyon County’s COVID-19 numbers and those reported by the state. According to public health officials, the county’s totals include cases that have not been finalized in the KDHE reporting system and may not match. Lyon County Public Health officials are working with KDHE to reconcile local and state data more consistently. “We brought it to KDHE’s
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