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State Sen. John Yudichak, I-Nanticoke, held a virtual briefing on Wednesday concerning the progress being made by the COVID-19 Regional Enforcement Partnership in the time since it was formed last week.
Yudichak was joined on the call, conducted via Zoom, by Sam Guesto, the Hanover Township manager and a representative of the Lower South Valley Council of Governments (LSVCOG), Dan Guydish of the Mountain Council of Governments (MCOG) and Jim Montone, the chairman of the Hazle Township supervisors.
These four men and their respective organizations are largely responsible for the creation of the Regional Enforcement Partnership, which serves as a way to ensure that companies in the area, including businesses in many local industrial parks, that are operating as “life-sustaining” businesses as mandated by Gov. Tom Wolf are following state and federal guidelines regarding COVID-19.
“The COVID-19 Regional Code Enforcement Partnership immediately put inspectors in the field and made resources available to over a hundred local businesses and thousands of employees in our business parks to ensure safe working conditions and to promote social distancing practices that protect the public health of our communities,” Yudichak said.
He went on to provide some numbers to showcase just how thorough a job the partnership has done in just one week.
Since being formed, the partnership received 293 concerns submitted to the website Luzernecovid.com. Inspection teams formed by members of both the LSVCOG and MCOG visited over a hundred Luzerne County businesses to check up on these concerns, assessing the business’ operations and practices as it pertains to COVID-19. No violations were found.
“The Lower South Valley Council of Governments and the Mountain Council of Governments, with speed and precision, have coordinated a locally driven effort that empowers and encourages companies to execute comprehensive COVID-19 safety plans that will help us mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus in Luzerne County,” Yudichak said.
Yudichak also mentioned during the briefing that the inspection teams hadn’t found any violations of the state and federal COVID-19 guidelines during their inspections.