Mar 17, 2020 2 min read

Canonsburg Mayor Dave Rhome declared a public health emergency in the borough Monday night due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though there are no known cases in Canonsburg as of Tuesday afternoon, Rhome said he declared the emergency to allow the borough to enforce the limitations of large crowds and to allow them access to outside resources and funding.

“Should this thing continue to move forward in the wrong direction, this allows the municipality to have services and resources that could be available through other means, like the county, the state and at the federal level,” Rhome said Tuesday.

The borough building is closed to the public, though there are drop boxes for residents to pay bills. Rhome said all borough employees are still at work and available via phone and email.

“It’s a common sense approach to what we’re dealing with,” he said. “We’re still doing business daily.”

Since the mayor’s declaration by law cannot exceed seven days, borough council passed a resolution Monday ratifying the declaration and extending the time frame until council rescinds it.

In a Facebook post, Canonsburg police Chief Alex Coghill asked residents to “look out for your neighbor.”

“Many will be struggling to put food on their table as their jobs become affected by the economic fallout,” he wrote in the post. “I saw first-hand the generosity and the spirit of the Canonsburg Community when we lost Officer Bashioum. This new crisis will require us to come together in the same manner.”