The Newport City Council will be meeting virtually once again this Tuesday at 4:30 for our weekly COVID-19 status update from the City Manager. I hope that you will dial in to hear the update, and that you email the Council any questions you have before or after the meeting. The City also continues to update the dedicated COVID-19 page on the City website and sending out the new community newsletter to give you many options to receive information. I would also like to remind you about the Governor's daily briefings at 1:00 aired live on local television and online streams to update the public on the statewide status of COVID-19 and make announcements on executive orders and other matters.
As we enter the final days of April, it is still vitally important to the health of our community that we all remain home and obey the statewide stay-at-home order until it is lifted. I know that the social distancing measures continue to be difficult, but your actions are crucial to help prevent spread of the virus. We need our community to be healthy before we can begin the work to reopen, and your efforts will get us there sooner.
This past Wednesday the Council held a general meeting and had a robust discussion on how the City can begin reopening the community. The Council agreed on the idea of putting together a team that would assess the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and develop recommendations on how to safely reopen our community. This team will need to be engaged with the work happening at the state level so that Newport has a voice in the broader plans that will be developed. The City will be assembling our team in the coming weeks. It is important that we have input from members across our community, especially those most hard hit by the virus. Please reach out to me and the Council if you are interested and willing to help get Newport back on its feet.