by Kassadee Bradshaw | April 16, 2020 3:50 pm
OSWEGO – Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow and Fulton Mayor Deana Michaels held a press conference today at the Oswego East Side Fire Station to update the residents of both cities regarding COVID-19.
Barlow reminded residents the Stop The Spread stay at home order is still in effect. Only essential travel is permitted within the city. This includes going to and from work for essential workers, medical care, essential shopping, etc. Governor Andrew Cuomo has extended NY on PAUSE[1] again until May 15.
“We’re trying to limit face to face interaction,” Barlow said. “Ever since implementing that Stop the Spread stay at home order on April 2, there has been a noticeable difference here in the city of Oswego. You can see it driving down the road; you can see it in the crowds at the stores… It is making a difference.”
He said calls reporting large gatherings has drastically reduced since the stay at home order was implemented. He thanked city residents and small businesses for abiding by the order. He also thanked first responders and medical workers.
Barlow also discussed the county’s Unacast[2] social distancing score. He said the score as of the other day is an “improvement from where we were,” showing that the social distancing directives are working.
“I’d like to think Oswego City is doing our part and we’re staying in the house and abiding by that social distancing stay at home order,” Barlow said. “The fact is we need to continue to do a better job so that that grade comes up… The better we are at social distancing now, and staying at home and not taking those non-essential trips to the grocery store, the shorter, I believe, we’ll have to actually social distance.”
He encourages people to limit their grocery shopping to one person per household and to only go for essential items.
He said he believes committing to social distancing now will help to prevent Oswego’s already short summer to be cut into even more and help when it is time to restart the economy.
He gave the following city updates:
In her Fulton update, Michaels said the safety, health and well-being is the top priority for the city of Fulton. She reassured that social distancing is working and urged residents to continue to comply with city, county and state guidance.
She reminded the public everyone should be wearing face masks in public starting tomorrow.
“We want this to be over as soon as possible, and the way we do that is coming together as a community, coming together as two municipalities sharing the same message,” Michaels said.
Michaels said Fulton police will provide informational flyers if they see people not social distancing.
She gave the following city updates:
The full press conference can be watched here[5].
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