Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington was warned by state officials of scammers who are traveling neighborhoods telling citizens that they can test citizens for the coronavirus in exchange for a monetary fee.
Washington alerted the Pine Bluff safety commission of the scam during Tuesday’s meeting, then spoke with Deltaplex News following the meeting in order to make citizens aware of the scam.
“We do a conference call with ADEM every day, and this was one of those things that was mentioned in that call to just make citizens aware of this scam telling people that if they give them a certain amount of money they will test them for the COVID-19 virus,” said Washington. “I think they are taking advantage of senior citizens primarily. We are just asking citizens to be aware of this potential of people knocking on their doors, and not to fall for this scam.”
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Washington stated that she is proud of the efforts from Jefferson Regional during the crisis, and how well they have performed after Governor Asa Hutchinson stated the hospital is operating with high proficiency during the crisis.
“It just speaks to the level of competency and the professionalism of the staff there at Jefferson Regional from the top administrators down to the nurses and the doctors” said Washington. “We are proud to live in a community where we have such competent and such a premier hospital in our community to serve us.”
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Washington also spoke about the current crisis being the third major test of her administration following the tornado and flood of 2019, how the initial COVID-19 case in Pine Bluff is being referred to as “Case Ground Zero”.
“I think they call it case ground zero where it’s the first case. I believe that is what I’ve heard over the news,” said Washington. “I think that it was a shock to us when we first got the news, but we were able to rise to the occasion. A lot of the things I can say from my perspective is that this is not the first crisis that I have faced. We went through a tornado in the middle of last year, and then in June we went through the flood, and now this. So, I think it just makes us a bit stronger to forge all the way through, and I look at it as just a test, and we are going to pass the test.”
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Washington also spoke about the things she learned during the tornado and the flood that have helped her as she and her administration faces the COVID-19 crisis.
“It helps you to think forward, you know, to be more proactive in your thinking and your planning,” said Washington. “And then think about, number one, who are those who can help assist to form the team. So, the only way we can make it through is to have a good, strong, positive team believing we can do this, and we can move forward. A team that’s a good visionary group looking at all of the aspects of the situation, and I think that is what we have here in the county from the hospital, to OEM, to working with the county judge, and the fire and police, and even EASI. I think we have formed a good, solid team in Pine Bluff and Jefferson County to move forward to address this crisis, and I’m sure we’ll get stronger as we address crisis that might come down the road.”
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