In the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Andrew Knapp, the director of Hamilton County Communications, said he was losing sleep over what could go wrong. He didn't know how it would impact his employees and the critical service they provide.
"COVID hits and we start having game plans of, 'OK, as an organization, what is our weak spot?' Knapp said. "The backup is the one thing that stood out." Unlike the City of Cincinnati, which handles its own 911 calls, Knapp said Hamilton County has no backup 911 center of its own, even though Hamilton County provides emergency communications for 48 municipal departments.
Knapp said the pandemic "bumped up the sense of urgency" to fill that void.
On June 19 and July 1, Knapp said several 911 dispatchers handled emergency calls for several hours each day using laptops and other communications equipment in a conference room in Forest Park.