The Hubbard County Board rescinded its “declaration of local emergency,” originally issued on March 23 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At Tuesday’s meeting, held via Zoom, county commissioners debated whether to cancel, modify or extend the declaration.

County commissioner Tom Krueger advocated for letting the declaration lapse, since the entire board was “fully functioning” and the county could modify its purchasing requirements under the governor’s emergency declaration.

County Coordinator Eric Nerness explained that the county’s declaration “identified a senior management or situation management team that had the authority to act quickly to make purchases or to make adjustments to operations without the need for the full board. It does provide flexibility in purchasing, in so far as we aren’t so strictly bound by the quote and market bid requirements than we are typically.”

Based on news reports, Nerness said, “We are going to see an increase in the number of cases, beginning probably later this month, earlier in June – with Hubbard and Beltrami counties realizing their peak contagion some time in later July, early August.”

While Minnesota has done well flattening the curve, Nerness said the future is unclear. The declaration could be reissued if sheltering in place is necessary.

The eight-member management team hasn’t had to meet since late March, he noted.

Nerness said, “We may be facing some absenteeism in our county workforce. My sincere hope is that nobody gets afflicted with this, but it’s possible that three or more commissioners cold become ill at the same time, at which time it’s impossible to do a quorum.”

Board chair Char Christenson asked Krueger what his concern would be with leaving the declaration in place until after the peak of infection.

“I strongly believe in representative government, even in an emergency,” Krueger said. “Elected officials should be making decisions.”

The board voted unanimously to rescind the declaration.

COVID-19 update

As of Friday, Hubbard County was one of three counties with no confirmed cases of COVID-19; however, local health officials say it is circulating within the community, but there has been limited testing. They recommend following social-distancing rules.

“With fishing opener this weekend and a lot of campgrounds and resorts planning to open their doors on May 16, I assume we’ll have an influx of people and, of course, that just brings more potential that people carrying the virus come to the area,” said Hubbard County Emergency Manager Brian Halbasch.

Halbasch said the county’s request from the state government for personal protective equipment (PPE) was revised. Within the next week, Halbasch said the county should be receiving 750 masks and 280 gloves, which will be divvied between law enforcement agencies throughout the county.

“If you see any members of your volunteer fire departments or townships, make sure you thank them,” he added, noting that they hosted a homemade facemask drive which collected over 750.