Emmaus borough will be releasing an action plan to combat COVID-19.

At the March 16 borough council meeting, Borough Manager Shane Pepe said the borough will put an action plan into effect and borough hall will be closed to the public starting March 18.

Pepe said they will prepare a robocall to all residents of the borough, send out a news release and post the plan online. The entire plan was to be available for the public to view March 17.

The letterbox will still be open so residents can drop off their bills, plans, etc. if needed. The borough will be adding additional boxes for larger documents.

Pepe said they have put several protocols into effect for the ambulance, police and fire departments to follow when handling possible COVID-19 cases.

“The manpower that enters the building will be reduced,” Pepe said. “If we have someone who has flu-like symptoms, we will send a single paramedic in rather than two or three people like we normally send in, to do the first diagnosis.”

Pepe said they are anticipating an increase in 911 calls with more panic-stricken people, even if they might not need to call 911, so they are taking all the precautions they can.

He said if someone needs to be taken to the hospital, they will be taken out on a plastic gurney that can be easily disinfected and cleaned, rather than use the $55,000 automatic lift gurney. There is also a special ambulance which will be placed aside to only respond to possible COVID-19 cases.

The borough started preparing back in January by ordering masks and other materials they would possibly need.

Pepe said this is “obviously something new to all of us,” but his biggest concern is seeing the staff dealing with the public, in particular the emergency services departments.

“As our EMTs and paramedics are the first ones at the house, our police and fire aren’t far behind,” Pepe said. With how quickly COVID-19 spreads, if they treat someone who’s infected, it’s a major concern.

Part of the action plan is how the borough will proceed if a large portion of any of the emergency services departments have to be under quarantine or become infected and how they will ensure continuity of services moving forward.

“The last thing we want to see moving forward is somebody calling 911 and we can’t respond because two-thirds of the department are out sick,” Pepe said. “So part of this plan is putting continuity services in place with some of our fellow municipalities and adjoined ambulance and fire services.”

Pepe said they are making sure they can utilize the state police in the case they “absolutely had to.”

In regard to borough meetings, they will reassess the situation at the beginning of April. Pepe said the plan as of now is to still have a council meeting on the first Monday of April. If that changes, they will do a news release to inform the public. Pepe said they may virtualize some of the meetings depending on how things progress and how quickly they can get the right equipment for it.

“The usual crowd wasn’t here tonight. We had one individual in the crowd tonight. That speaks to the fear that people have,” Pepe stated.

By law, any borough has to have one council meeting per month, with four members present. Pepe said depending on the situation, whether it’s four people present and three people calling in, “they have no real answers to that yet.”

It was said planning and zoning boards are also required to meet because they are governed by law, unless the state legislature puts out an emergency order that says they don’t have to follow those rules. The same goes for the monthly council meetings.

“We still have to comply by state and federal laws until the state and federal government tell us not to,” Pepe said. “So, we will follow all open records, all public meetings and all requirements by the municipality planning code, as well as any of the laws we have to normally follow moving forward.”

The borough will cancel a majority of the committee and commission meetings moving forward, or they will be virtualizing them.

In terms of communication, Pepe will handle most of the spokesperson items. If he is not available, Deputy Director of Emergency Services Keith Miller will handle those items. Mayor Lee Ann Gilbert will be next in line of communication if both Pepe and Miller aren’t available. After Gilbert, there is a line of people set up to handle communication if the situation arises.

Pepe said at the end of the day, the borough is being as proactive as possible. Pepe said a lot of the protocols they’re putting into place could already be outdated. The number of cases and restrictions pertaining to the virus are changing by the day.

Council voted 6-0 in favor of passing the plan.