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STATEMENT, (DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY) submitted by Mayor John Cranley, City Manager Paula Boggs Muething, and Commissioner Melba Moore, In response to the public danger arising from verified cases of contagion of SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 pandemic, and based in part upon the declaration of a statewide emergency in Ohio by Governor DeWine, I declared a public emergency pursuant to Article III of the Cincinnati Charter and Article XVIII of the Administrative Code of the City of Cincinnati in March 2020. The March 2020 Declaration of Emergency was followed by emergency orders addressing public health concerns and related City operational needs that have arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic. After declaring a state of emergency and instituting severe measures to "flatten the curve" - including a broad stay-at-home order - rates of infection dropped. The State of Ohio began to reopen Ohio's economy, sector by sector, in accordance with good hygiene and social distancing measures. In consultation with the City Manager and the Health Commissioner, I replaced the March 2020 declaration with a new Emergency Declaration that was consistent with the State's reopening efforts. The June 2020 order was tailored to the State's reopening phase of the pandemic response. Rates remained steady for much of the summer due to the diligence of our citizens and business in wearing masks and engaging in social distancing; we were optimistic that as a City we might have turned the corner on the pandemic. With the advent of cooler weather, the City of Cincinnati, the State of Ohio, and the country are all experiencing a new, pervasive, and more dangerous wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The State of Ohio is breaking contagion records from the spring and summer on an almost daily basis, and the resulting cases threaten to overwhelm the health care system if not abated. Multiple states have issued new lockdown orders, and Governor DeWine has warned that extreme measures will be required ...
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