Berwick council declares state of emergency

At its first meeting open to the public by way of Facebook livestreaming, the Berwick Town Council issued an emergency declaration Thursday because of the COVID-19 threat.
Also this week, Patterson Mayor Rodney Grogan posted a public letter urging citizens to obey measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The five-member Berwick council passed the emergency declaration unanimously at Thursday’s special meeting.
Such resolutions are a way local governments can warn residents about the severity of the situation and also put local councils in line for state and federal disaster aid.
“It’s spreading throughout the state,” Mayor Duval Arthur said at Thursday’s meeting. “But if we all use common sense, we can stop this thing in its tracks.”
Five cases of COVID-19 have been reported in St. Mary Parish.
The St. Mary Community Action Agency commodities distribution scheduled for Friday at the Berwick Civic Center was canceled, Arthur said.
He also urged people to pay utility bills online or to use a drop box at the front entrance to the Town Hall.
In Grogan’s letter to Patterson residents, the mayor said he has received many calls about the need to take precautions against coronavirus.
“Please erase your mindset of ‘life as usual,’” Grogan wrote. “Until this pandemic of the coronavirus is controlled, life as we have known it is a thing of the past.”
Grogan said the disease will claim many lives even under the best circumstances. He urged residents to follow the advice of public health professionals: wash your hands frequently and maintain social distancing.
“The longer we don’t comply with the directives, the longer it will take to ‘flatten the curve’ and the virus will continue to devastate our lives as we knew it.”