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MARCH 17, 2021
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O
ne year after COVID-19 arrived in Coweta County, local leaders reflected on how they handled the challenges posed by the pandemic. In a roundtable discussion hosted by the Newnan Rotary Club, heads of public safety discussed how the year changed their agencies and the boost they received from a supportive public. Fire Chiefs Pat Wilson (Coweta County Fire Rescue) and Stephen Brown (Newnan Fire) said the greatest challenge, like most agencies, was keeping both the public and their team safe. “We took a look on how to decontaminate,” Wilson said. “Our crews don’t wear certain components inside the building at all. We removed shoes outside so we don’t contaminate the building.” Wanting to get ahead of the panic, Brown and City Manager Cleatus Phillips sat down weeks before COVID-19 forced the community to shut down. Working together, a plan was formed to keep shifts
from interacting with each other in an effort to keep personnel safe and avoid prolonged absences from quarantining. “We stayed in touch with EMA and our city manager to keep plans up to date,” he said. “PPE was scarce, but the public stepped up to provide for us. We have what we need now, but support and prayers are always appreciated.” In the earliest parts of the pandemic, both fire and police said their call volumes dropped. “No one wanted to go to the hospital,” Wilson said. Sheriff Lemn Wood said keeping his employees calm, despite a barrage of scare tactics from the national media, was a crucial step in maintaining a good working environment at the sheriff ’s office. “We got our information from the DPH and watched the stats from the CDC,” Wood said. Like other local agencies, PPE became scarce, but local businesses that were shut down brought
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Fire Chiefs Pat Wilson (Coweta County Fire Rescue) and Stephen Brown (Newnan Fire) said the greatest challenge, like most agencies, was keeping both the public and their team safe.
supplies to the sheriff ’s office, including gloves, masks and hand sanitizer. Keeping the jail COVID-free was also a major undertaking, but Wood said only two inmates
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First responders look back on a year of challenges