Mayor Jeff Genung believes the COVID-19 modelling will help the municipal in planning current actions and prepared those for the post-pandemic.

He also believes it brings home the point that Albertans need to work together to get through the crisis to lessen the death toll and the financial impact.

"It really is helpful for not just the residents of the province to see the reality of what we're in, but from a municipal perspective, it really gave us something to plan around," says Mayor Genung.

"I've always known the province has been saying it will four to five weeks to the peak, but for them to say the most likely scenario is mid-May gives us a target to work towards."

Responding to the pandemic has been a work in progress for the municipality, and will be for some time.

"What has been most challenging through this entire crisis is the unknown and the constant state of change that we're in."

Managing the financial impact on the municipality is part of it. They are examining the impact on revenues and what projects should proceed, which ones are no longer required, and whether some should be accelerated to create jobs and stimulate the economy.

"That's part of the challenge of working within this. We don't know what the outcome of COVID-19 is going to have on our finances. Nobody knows that. So we have the build a few scenarios.

"It's going to be work in progress,: he continues.  "As things continue to develop we'll continue to adjust and tweak our plans."

Genung has been finding weekly meetings with provincial government and health officials helpful.

Last night's conference called included three cabinet ministers and Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health.

The government confirmed Municipal Sustainability Initiative funding will proceed as scheduled. The government is also examining ways it can further help municipalities.

He says the most important message is the more we do to prevent the spread, the lesser the impact.

"We're all in this together, but we can also all have an impact on how quickly we get through this. If we work together and listen to the guidelines and stay home, be kind and save lives, we'll get through this quicker."

"If people blatantly disregard the public health orders, the curve will be steeper, we'll have more deaths, we'll have a longer ride through this and it will be even more impactful on all of our lives, economically and healthwise."