Virus ‘an experience’ for emergency manager

    As Chase County’s emergency manager, Duane Dreiling is used to dealing with flooding and windstorms. But now, he’s dealing with a disaster he can’t even see.
    The big difference from those other disasters is that the coronavirus pandemic has had a bit of a learning curve.
    That has meant “more training, and making sure everybody’s working together, on the right page,” he said.
    “We actually trained for stuff like this briefly years ago. It’s kind of one of those things we hope never happens, but it did. It’s a whole new training for everybody. It’s been quite an experience,” he said.
    Dreiling, 47, has been emergency manager since 2014, when he took over for Paul Kunnemann.
    Working with local fire departments, ambulance services, law enforcement and other agencies, “We help make sure everything is where it needs to be” in the county, Dreiling said. “Just make sure if something does happen, we’re ready, (making) sure they’ve got the tools they need.”
    He also works with public health departments, Homeland Security and state Emergency Management.
    That past training covered things like mass vaccinations and logistics to make sure everything was where it needed to be.
    “It kind of fit in with what’s going on now, making sure everybody has the proper protective equipment. We’re making sure all the health care facilities have all the stuff they need to perform the duties they need to do,” he said.
    Work on the current emergency began around March, when Dreiling became part of weekly conference calls with state public health officials.
    In normal times, Dreiling, who owns Dreiling Agriculture and also sprays for noxious weeds, usually puts in about 20 hours a week as emergency manager. His hours are longer now, but he’s not sure by how much.
    “It’s quite a bit more,” he said. “I don’t really keep track. I’m on the phone a lot, talking to commissioners a lot. It’s really hard to pinpoint what I actually do, time-wise.”
    In fact, he said, probably the hardest part of the job is scheduling myriad conference calls.
    “They all overlap,” he said.
    So far, with relatively few cases in Chase County, the response from local officials has been good, he said.
    “Everybody was on edge until we had a couple cases. After that, everybody was ‘OK, we’re doing good.’”
    He’s also happy with the state response.
    “I think they’ve been doing real well. I feel they shut down like they should’ve,” and reopening and testing also have been conducted efficiently, he said.
    He declined to comment on the federal government’s response, but “honestly, I think they’re allowing the governors to do what they need to do for each individual state. You’ve got to put your trust in somebody.”
    Dreiling said he has no idea how much longer the county will be dealing with the pandemic.
    “Honestly, I think we’ll continue dealing with it. Let’s just do what we can to help prevent it,” he said.
    But he likes the work, as much as he can when dealing with a pandemic.
    “I enjoy what I do and being able to help the community. It’s bigger than a lot of things I ever thought we’d see,” he said of the pandemic.