WILKES-BARRE — Mayor George Brown declared a state of emergency in the city this morning in response to the new coronavirus pandemic.

"This will allow me to access physical and financial needs with the state and federal officials and allow me to immediately respond to the ever-changing situation," Brown said at an 11 a.m. news conference outside City Hall.

Read the proclamation here

Brown said the city fire departments, the department of public works and City Hall will be closed to the public until further notice, although city services will continue and City Hall would be fully staffed.

He said the Citymark Federal Credit Union, which is located inside City Hall, will remain open to the public, with access through the North Franklin Street entrance. But the public will not be allowed to enter into any other part of City Hall.

"Very important, folks, all services will continue to be provided to our citizens, and I mean garbage and recycling will continue, health department will continue, permits, taxes," Brown said.

Payments for permits, taxes and parking tickets can be dropped off in a locked box on the exterior wall of City Hall on North Washington Street, and they will be processed, Brown said.

He added that permits can be obtained on the city website at www.wilkes-barre.city or by calling 570-208-1629.

Brown also suspended use of the city golf courses, the organized use of city fields and parks, zoning and planning meetings and city committee meetings.

"I want to ask our residents to remain calm," Brown said. "Our fire department, our police department, our (department of public works) are staffed fully and we're going to meet all the needs of the residents of the city of Wilkes-Barre."

"I want you to please understand that my main concern is the safety of our residents and employees and that's why I'm enacting this," he said.

In his proclamation, Brown noted that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have declared the new coronavirus, or COVID-19, a "public health emergency of international concern."

Noting that Gov. Tom Wolf and Luzerne County Manager David Pedri both declared states of emergency, Brown said "emergency management measures are required to reduce the severity of this state of emergency and protect the health, safety and welfare" of city residents.

Brown said his emergency proclamation is in effect for up to five days. He said city council has the power to extend the proclamation upon his recommendation.

"If the mayor needs an extension, we're certainly going to be receptive to that," council Chairman Bill Barrett said after the news conference.

Barrett said council had no meetings scheduled for this week, and he would likely cancel a work session and regular meeting scheduled for March 24 and 26, respectively.

"If the need arises where we need to handle something that's time-sensitive, we'll call a special meeting to deal with that," Barrett said.

Barrett said he didn't expect council would be dealing with anything that wasn't time-sensitive or "of an emergency nature."

"If there's a financial matter that needs to be supported by a resolution, we'll just call a special session, we'll deal with strictly that, we'll allow public input on that particular item and that item alone and move on from that. But right now, it looks like we're going to go into April without having any regularly scheduled meetings," Barrett said.

Brown said events such as the distribution of school lunches at city parks that were not organized by the city would not be affected by his proclamation.

"Other organizations that have something that's not controlled by the city, I'm not going to be addressing that right now," he said.

Brown said his administration is not addressing at this time whether bars and restaurants should stop serving food for on-site consumption.

"That's actually their choice. If they decide to stay open, I'm not stopping them from doing that at this time," Brown said. "I can't say we won't in the future."

Governors in some states, including Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois have banned in-restaurant dining and ordered bars to close.

"My main concern today is the safety of our residents, the safety of my employees that work here in city hall and the other stations that we're shutting down," Brown said.

Fire Chief Jay Delaney, who also serves as emergency management coordinator, said anyone who thinks they might have been exposed to coronavirus should call their physician to determine if they should be tested for the virus.

Delaney said someone who is sick and experiencing symptoms of the virus, such as trouble breathing, should call 911. Symptoms of the virus include fever, cough and shortness of breath.

Brown said he's not aware of any cases of coronavirus cases reported in the city.