REHOBOTH BEACH. Del.- This morning the state of emergency started for Delaware, among many things this effects, it advises event organizers to cancel non-essential public gatherings of more than 100 people. As well as prohibits price gouging and excessive price increases on goods and services during the out break of COVID-19. Now cities like Rehoboth Beach are taking their own actions. It suspended commissioner and committee meetings, as well as closed the Convention Center and even postponing the upcoming expo. The city said that these are all steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Sharon Lynn, the City Manager said, "The health and well-being of our citizens, partners, and employees is the top priority." The city says it is suspending all public meetings and permitted events until further notice. The Convention Center will also remain closed through April 30th. Sharon Lynn the City manager says it's about the safety of the public. The city used CodeRED an alert system to notify people about the change."This is one of the best tools a community could have to be able to broadcast important and emergency contacts to residents and business owners," Lynn saidBut the impacts of COVID-19 are impacting local supermarkets too. Shoppers at the ACME in Rehoboth Beach said, it was ridiculous the type of products people are buying because of the COVID-19 outbreak. One shopper told us that he's not worried about the virus, just that he makes it home to his family at night. Luke Jensen, from Lewes said, "You know it's like I understand people don't want to get sick but I could get hit by a car walking across the street today and die. You know so I don't want to live my life in fear, I just want to go in get my groceries and go home and see my wife and my daughter." Viewers sent us pictures from inside the store, showing empty cleaning supply aisles, but water was still in good stock for the time being. Some businesses on Rehoboth Avenue are still ready for opening weekend despite the changes. Nicole Viscount, the Manager at Mug and Spoon said, "We're still planning on being open all weekend, we have everything available, we've got a lot of new exciting things planned for this year, so we're trying to get that rolling." And believe it or not, she's a fan of the extra cleaning needed. "We've upped our cleaning, which I love, I love to clean so I'm not unhappy about this at all. I've been cleaning all day and I'm loving it," Viscount said. But the city is hopeful people still come to enjoy other things still going on. The City says it "has increased its precautionary measures including hand washing, placing hand sanitizer stations near entrances, increasing the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting commonly touched objects, and providing ongoing training to staff for best practices to provide a safe and healthy environment." The city says that one meeting that is still going to take place is the commissioners meeting on March 20th so that they can talk about the budget for the upcoming year. This meeting will not be open to the public but said that you can still live stream it online.
Rehoboth Beach Cancels Public Meetings and Closes Convention Center Temporarily
