While law enforcement agencies in Owensboro and Daviess County saw fewer calls for police assistance in March, medical calls were up.
City-county 911 Director Paul Nave reported that while emergency calls for police are comparable to last year, medical runs have increased by eight percent.
“Specifically, I feel that is attributed to the pandemic that we’re facing,” Nave said. “I think people are just cautious and calling 911 for maybe something they probably would not have called in the past.”
For March, the Owensboro Police Department had 155 fewer calls than in March 2019. The Daviess County Sheriff’s Office had 34 fewer calls this March. Nave said these numbers can all be attributed to the quarantine order by the governor.
“I think overall our arrests are down,” said Andrew Boggess, OPD’s public information officer. “I think that’s probably for a variety of reasons. A significant reason is there are fewer people out. A large percentage of the population are following the governor’s recommendations to stay at home.”
Boggess said accidents and police reports have both gone down and there’s less activity overall.
Daviess County Jailer Art Maglinger said there were fewer people booked at the detention center.
“This is one of the rare times that things have slowed down because of the pandemic,” Maglinger said. “There’s not much activity on at the jail. In the last couple of weeks, things have slowed down where people can breathe again.”
The jail population is down to about 650, which Maglinger said seldomly gets that low, and there’s a noticeable difference in daily intake.
Nave said while people should call 911 for an emergency, he encourages them to call the Owensboro Health Regional Hospital COVID-19 hotline at 877-888-6647.
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The Owensboro Health coronavirus hotline is available 24/7 by calling 877-888-6647. Call the hotline before seeking in-person care. More information from OH can be found here.
For the latest information and data on COVID-19 in Kentucky visit kycovid19.ky.gov or dial the Kentucky state hotline at 800-722-5725.
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