PARKERSBURG — More activities are grinding to a halt as cities and businesses in the Mid-Ohio Valley continue the global effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Hino Motors Manufacturing USA shut down production, effective Monday, at its Parkersburg facility, with hopes to resume April 6, said Davey Jung, executive vice president.

“Unfortunately the situation is quite fluid, so we will continue to monitor and assess the situation and make any adjustment to our schedule accordingly,” he said.

Peoples Bank is serving customers primarily through drive-throughs, with some in-person services by appointment, said Ashley Brown, vice president regional manager. Employees are working on rotating schedules to serve customers while minimizing contact.

“We are paying all full-time employees, regardless of the number of hours they’re working,” Brown said.

Even before Gov. Jim Justice issued his “Stay-at-Home” order Monday afternoon, Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce announced city buildings would be closed to the public and all employees age 65 and older, or with specific underlying health conditions, had been sent home either to work from there or on paid leave. Memorial Bridge toll collectors were placed on paid leave, and the bridge is open at no charge until further notice.

Joyce said multiple factors led to his decisions, including a confirmed COVID-19 case in Washington County and multiple employers and organizations implementing similar steps.

“The city is taking every precautionary measure to keep our employees safe with our primary focus being the continuity of essential services,” he said via email “Those services deemed essential are Fire Department operations, police and sanitation.”

After Justice’s declaration, Joyce expanded upon the initial steps, saying all non-essential personnel will be placed on paid leave starting Wednesday. The governor’s order takes effect at 8 p.m. today.

In addition, Municipal Court proceedings are postponed until further notice. City parks remain open, but the bathrooms are closed. People should maintain the recommended social distancing of at least 6 feet between them in the parks, Joyce said.

City Council President Mike Reynolds said he decided to cancel tonight’s council meeting, which had been planned to be livestreamed on YouTube. The agenda was light, he said, and it made sense not to put anyone at risk by holding it.

The governor’s order didn’t change much for the cities of Vienna, Ravenswood and St. Marys, officials said.

“Our office is closed to the public, but we are business as normal,” St. Marys City Manager Mark Dearman said. “We’re just maintaining our regular work staff, practicing, of course, social distancing.”

Vienna Mayor Randy Rapp said the city building was closed last week, along with the Vienna Utility Board building. Numbers to contact for services are posted at both locations and online

“We are not taking any face-to-face payments at this time,” he said. “We’re running on skeleton crews, except for essential services.”

Vienna Recreation is still accepting online applications for spring sports.

“They’ll make a decision later on what time the leagues will start, if we’re allowed to,” Rapp said.

The drive-through windows at the new Ravenswood City Building – a former BB&T facility – have been useful over the last week-and-a-half, Mayor Josh Miller said. The entire city hall was shut down a week ago, with employees being scheduled to work in cycles to cut down on contact, he said. For those who need to stay home with children, arrangements are being made.

“We’re being very flexible with our employees, and we’re only sticking to the basics,” Miller said.

No utility services will be terminated as pandemic precautions batter the economy, he said.

Miller urged citizens to “stay at home as much as you can” to cut the risk of spreading the virus. One person has tested positive in Jackson County.

The city building in Spencer went “on lockdown” Monday, before Justice spoke, Mayor Terry Williams said. All events at city-owned buildings have been canceled for the next three weeks – with the exception of an American Red Cross blood drive slated for 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday at the Heritage Park Community Building.

“We’ll allow that to happen because there’s a blood shortage,” Williams said.

Municipal staff will report to the building today, and Williams expects to put them on rotational shifts then.

“We’ve got to be serious and take every step we can to protect people,” Williams said. “We’ve even closed our parks and basketball courts. We don’t want kids congregating with school out.”

West Virginia University at Parkersburg announced Monday afternoon that its main campus in Parkersburg and its Jackson County Center in Ripley would be closed at the end of business Monday and will remain locked until further notice. All instruction and business functions of the college were moving immediately online with the hope to resume face-to-face operations as soon as possible, according to the school’s Facebook page.

Hands-on learning, such as labs, will be shifted to the end of courses. If the school is unable to resume face-to-face operations nearing the semester’s end, the situation will be assessed for further options.