Jefferson County declares emergency

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 2:30 p.m. to provide more context.

The Jefferson County Commission on Thursday declared a state of emergency/disaster in the face of the growing COVID-19 virus threat.

Though no cases of the virus had been confirmed in the county, the declaration was made “due to the virulent nature of the virus” and “in order to activate applicable provisions of Jefferson County’s emergency and disaster plan in anticipation of [its] spread,” according to the terms of the declaration.