AMHERST (WBEN) - "As dire as circumstances would seem, the reality is we're going into the holiday season with the opportunity to improve to get ourselves back out of this," said Amherst Town Supervisor Brian Kulpa just hours after Governor Cuomo announced that much of Erie County is now in an "Orange Zone."
"We all need to start to be safe, think safe, to do a better job every moment that we can to really start thinking about, not only our safety, but the safety of others," Kulpa continued.
Kulpa announced that the town has gone to a 50% remote operation, as employees will either work remotely from home or from other facilities that the town owns. All of the town services such as permitting or the clerk's office will remain operational. As of Wednesday afternoon, there are about 100 known cases at UB.
"Yes, there are some personal care businesses, gyms and those types of facilities, that won't be able to operate, but retail is still operational, and food service is still operational by takeout," said Kulpa. "We implore people to really, really think about shopping locally, and ordering takeout, supporting our local restaurants and supporting our local businesses because just as they had a tough time in April and May, a lot of those businesses continued to have a tough time throughout this year, and no doubt will be having a tough time."
"It's never a good thing when your town is listed as one of the towns with a higher COVID rate - 6.84%," added Emminger. "We have some work to do...all of us have some work to do, but the sky isn't falling."
Emminger noted that Tonawanda will have to close some of their recreational facilities including the golf dome, ice rinks and senior center. However, town offices are going to remain open, and like Amherst, about 50% of town employees will be working remotely starting Friday.
"I think the news, while not unexpected today, and it is a little discouraging - I'm not going to sit here and paint a rosy picture...but the light is at the end of the tunnel," said Emminger.