County receives materials for COVID-19 response readiness

Franklin County received much needed help in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Iowa National Guard last Thursday delivered shipments of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to be distributed to Franklin General Hospital, Franklin County Public Health, law enforcement entities and more as the county braces for the potential arrival of the virus. The equipment includes masks, gowns, face shields, gloves and other requests ordered by the entities receiving the items.

Jason Harper, Franklin County Emergency Management Coordinator, said that the equipment is beneficial because although no cases had been confirmed in Franklin County as of Tuesday morning, it will be an added step in preparation.

“Under normal circumstances, you don’t have this supply on hand to deal with a pandemic,” he said. “Now we’ll be prepared and have a good supply on hand.”

The shipment was possible through a state mandate, which released the equipment for availability. The requests have to go through local Public Health and then Emergency Management entities first before being filed with FEMA. The state will then determine which communities are most in need due to positive cases and then distribute to those that have not had confirmed cases.

Harper said he was appreciative of the state’s response time, as Franklin County received the shipment in a little more than a week after the request.

“The state has been really good with it,” he said. “We were really lucky to get what we got. They’re overwhelmed right now.”

He said, now, the county will receive regular shipments of supplies to make sure local entities have a constant, reliable supply.

“No one sees something like this coming and a lot of the stuff has a shelf life on it, so you can’t really maintain these items in a stockpile for years,” he said. “Now we should be able to maintain as we good with weekly orders and keep a good inventory on supply.”