CAIRO — The Cairo City Council returned to action Monday night after a month-long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and City Manager Chris Addleton used the opportunity to provide an update as to what the city has been doing to cope with the crisis.

All city employees are subject to daily temperature checks when they report to work, and access to public buildings remains limited. City staff is also alternating work days, a practice Addleton said has been extended through at least Friday, May 15.

The city manager said he and Mayor pro tem Jerry Cox have been taking part in weekly informational conference calls with the Georgia Municipal Association, Georgia Department of Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey and Georgia Emergency Management Agency Director Homer Bryson. Weekly meetings also are held with community stakeholders, including local hospitals, the Grady County Health Department, the Grady County Emergency Management Agency and county officials as part of an effort to better coordinate the distribution of key medical supplies.

State heath officials began COVID-19 specimen collection tests in Grady County earlier this month, and Addleton said DPH wants to expand those efforts. Fifty-six individuals were tested on May 2 and another 95 individuals were tested May 10.

Additional tests were conducted at the Health Department on Tuesday morning, and Health Department director Michelle Thornton said the service will be offered again Friday, May 15 from 8 a.m. to noon. Thornton said the test is not painful.

As businesses across Cairo begin to reopen, Cox is asking everyone in the community to be considerate toward individuals who remain at risk from the novel coronavirus.

“We need to get back to work, but we can certainly do it safely and follow the guidelines for our businesses,” the mayor pro tem said Monday.

For individuals who remain at risk, Cox said the choice of how to return to society is up to them.

“It’s a personal choice to be safe,” he said. “I’m over 65, so I’m going to continue to be cautious in where I go.”

Ninety cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Grady County as of Tuesday evening, according to the Health Department. A total of four deaths have been attributed to the virus.