Author: Mike Slaton

According to Mayor Fischer, TARC is limiting ridership to “essential services only.”

Essential trips include:

• Obtaining necessary supplies and services for family or household members and pets, such as groceries, food and supplies for household consumption and use, supplies and equipment needed to work from home, and products necessary to maintain safety, sanitation and essential maintenance of the home; or
• Engaging in activities essential for the health and safety of family, household members and pets, including things such as seeking medical or behavioral health or emergency services and obtaining medical supplies; or
• Caring for a family member, friend, or pet in another household or residence, and to transport a family member, friend or their pet for essential health and safety activities, and to obtain necessary supplies; and
• Employment in essential business services, meaning an essential employee performing work for an essential business as identified by the Governor as “necessary to sustain life.”

Additionally, TARC is asking riders who need to make essential trips to avoid riding the bus during peak travel times of 6-9 a.m. and 2-6 p.m. to give more social distancing space to essential workers heading to and from their jobs.

“TARC continues to monitor the developments of COVID-19 daily,” said Laura Douglas, TARC Co-Executive Director. “We are asking our passengers to limit their trips with TARC to ‘essential trips only’ in an effort to help practice the important measures of social distancing. We provide a crucial service to the community and we take that responsibility seriously; we want to continue to serve that role as effectively as possible with the health and safety of both our passengers and our team members top-of-mind.”

Please visit www.ridetarc.org and click on the COVID-19 button for details and updates on how TARC is responding.

The city’s “Metro March for Meals” effort ended on April 3. The meals pick-up program for seniors 60 year and older began in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Louisville.

Louisville Metro Senior Nutrition, part of the Office of Resilience and Community Services, is focusing its limited funding by returning to its original intent of serving those already deemed eligible through the Meals on Wheels and Senior Congregate Meals programs, as well as an additional 255 people who are currently on the waiting lists for home-delivered programs.

Going forward, there will be no distribution of meals at the seven sites that had been operating through the Metro March for Meals program since March 17, 2020.  More than 83,000 frozen meals were handed out over that three-week period.

Beginning Monday, April 6:

• The nearly 400 homebound senior clients served by Senior Nutrition’s Meals on Wheels program will continue to receive their meal delivery once per week with a five-frozen meal pack until daily, hot meal delivery can resume. In addition, 255 pre-certified individuals will be added to home-delivery routes over the course of April.
• Though the nearly 20 Senior Congregate Nutrition Sites across Jefferson County remain temporarily closed, the Senior Nutrition staff will continue working with congregate participants to ensure their nutritional needs are being met  during this critical period.

The city continues to explore options for other resources to serve even more vulnerable residents of our community.