As people of Reno County, we are gravely concerned about the skyrocketing number of COVID-19 deaths, hospitalizations, and positive cases. This is no longer a challenge looming on the horizon. It is an urgent community crisis.

In the interest of our community’s welfare—including our children and educators, healthcare workers, vulnerable citizens, business owners/employees on the public front lines each day, and our long-term economy—we must act now to change the trend.

We call upon the Reno County Commission to do the following:

• Fully support the mask mandate already in place in Reno County and encourage businesses and residents to follow mask protocol for the greater good of all our citizens.
• Implement further restrictions on gathering sizes where a distance of six feet cannot be maintained between individuals.

We fully support recommendations of our local and state medical professionals and personally commit to the following guidelines to ensure the safety of our fellow citizens and to stop the spread of COVID-19. We call on all residents and businesses in Reno County to abide by these recommendations and support extending the COVID Cut-off Challenge (covidcut-off.com) through at least January 1:

1. Wearing a mask AND distancing 6 feet at all times in indoor spaces that are not your home, plus maintaining at least 6 feet of distance outdoors
2. Washing and sanitizing hands frequently
3. Working from home, if possible, and holding meetings online rather than in person
4. Avoiding being indoors with non-household members except for school, work that cannot be done from home, and activities deemed essential
5. Any group related events to highly encourage social distancing, wearing a mask, offer online services, provide hand sanitizer, and limit situations that involve singing, refreshments, and social gatherings
6. Supporting local businesses by wearing a mask, social distancing when in person, and if possible, ordering online or by phone with curbside delivery
7. Support local restaurants by social distancing and wearing a mask or order to go
8. Continuing to maintain healthy behaviors by keeping up with routine physician, dental, and eye appointments
9. Maintaining a balanced diet and routine exercise

Finally, we are endlessly grateful for the service and sacrifice of our community’s exhausted healthcare workers and seek to do our part to mitigate the dire circumstances they face in our healthcare facilities.