By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County Emergency Management Director Adam Weishaar explained that the emergency disaster declaration signed Wednesday is really about resource access and not individual behavior.
"Our biggest concern right now is, obviously our case count is high," Weishaar said. "It's higher than what we've seen for a long time. We've sent in requests in the past few months without a declaration for testing supplies and ventilators, that sort of thing. With how the trends are continuing, we want to be sure that there is basically unlimited access to anything we might need, there's nothing that's going to hinder us from getting those supplies from the state."
The seven-day declaration is a temporary measure.
"The idea behind this was to get one in place," Weishaar said. "That way, we have one now and it won't hinder anything we want to do this week, so it's in place now so we can request anything we want from the state and then next week is going to be to extend it. That way, we can have a more open, public discussion about what this declaration does for us and why we want to extend it."
Weishaar made clear that this doesn't change any restrictions anywhere in the community.
"This is not because of the State Fair," Weishaar said. "It has absolutely no effect on the State Fair. It doesn't do anything for the State Fair. Honestly, the State Fair hasn't asked for masks, they haven't asked for anything. They're pretty self-contained. This is a local, Reno County issue. This isn't a State Fair problem at all."
The Board of County Commissioners next meeting will be Tuesday at 9 a.m. at the Reno County Annex.