HR Newsletters 2020

NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTORS Preparedness and Response to COVID-19

Dr. Sheriece Robinson

The coronavirus (COVID-19) quickly changed our lives resulting in MCCB taking proactive measures to maintain productivity to work remote. On March 14, 2020, Governor Tate Reeves declared a State of Emergency due to COVID-19 (Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, 2020b). A statewide Shelter-In-Place Order was later signed by Governor Reeves in an effort to slow the spread of the virus and to protect the health of all Mississippians (Mississippi Emergency Manage- ment Agency, 2020a). This order began on April 3, 2020 at 5:00pm and was set to end on April 20, 2020 at 8:00am (Carlisle, 2020). As a result of this fluid situation, Governor Reeves extended the or- der an additional seven days (Carlisle, 2020). In an effort to continue to flatten the curve, Governor Reeves signed an executive order that shifted the state to a Safer-At-Home mandate (Harris, 2020). This new order is expected to expire on May 11, 2020 at 8:00am (Harris 2020). Prior to Governor Reeves issuing the executive orders, MCCB was taking steps to develop an action plan to implement procedures that would provide continued service to our constituents. Before we began working remotely, a telework agreement was provided by Cynthia Jiles to ensure the agency’s priorities, goals, and operations would be sustained. We also had to email Veronica Dunning the appropriate form which identified items and equipment that would be off-site during this global crisis. To protect our health and safety, Sherriel Rush placed gloves and masks outside her office door for us to retrieve. The IT Division enabled a Multi-Factor Authentication in an effort to add perimeters for security to our emails. Dr. Andrea Mayfield also emailed expectations and guidelines for preparing to work remote during the pandemic.

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