 Child Suffer's gunshot wound, construction leads to lane closures in Sheboygan, severe blood shortage looms amid COVID-19 pandemic. These and other local stories are coming up on this edition of Community News Review. This is Community News Review, a service WSES-TV news content provided by WHBL. I'm Maddie Fister and this is Community News Review for Tuesday, March 17, 2020. A child is at Children's Hospital after suffering a gunshot wound on Sheboygan's south side on Monday. Sheboygan police were called to the home on South 17th Street and found a child had grabbed a hold of a loaded handgun in the home. The gun had gone off and the child suffered an injury to their hand. The child was taken to Children's Hospital in Milwaukee and a man and woman were home at the time and they were cooperating with police and child protective services. The Sheboygan police department is reminding people who have weapons in their homes that they should always keep them unloaded, secure and out of the reach of children. They recommend using a trigger lock or a gun safe. A new guidance is issued and with the numbers changing nearly by the hour, schools throughout Sheboygan County have accelerated their closing dates and most have closed effective at the end of the day yesterday. On its website on Monday, the Sheboygan area school district said that they are following updated guidelines in closing schools immediately. Schools will be open from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. today for parents to collect any final student materials, personal items or medical supplies. Once schools close Tuesday at 4 o'clock, questions or concerns will be limited to online submission on the school system's online question form. The Sheboygan Falls school district's website also noted that the schools will now be closed on Tuesday the 17th and that the virtual learning begins on Wednesday, however, students still get spring break March 23rd to 28th and will not have to go online for school. Plymouth schools had already decided not to open on Monday in alignment with one of the district's parochial schools and parents in the hub city are asked to pick up students' personal and educational items on Wednesday between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Other school, Sheboygan County school districts also entered shutdown mode at brick and mortar institutions and are moving to remote learning options. The cancellation of nearly 2,700 Red Cross blood drives nationwide due to concerns about the coronavirus outbreak has led to a severe blood shortage. That is 86,000 fewer donations. More than 80% of blood in the Red Cross collects comes from sponsoring organizations that are now closed and so the Red Cross will be adding appointment slots at donation centers and expanding capacity at many community blood drives over the next few weeks. To address concerns about COVID-19, new measures have been in place including temperature checks of staff and donors before entering the drive, more hand sanitizer stations, spacing beds for social distancing and enhancing disinfecting of surfaces and equipment. For the record, no instance of transmission of any respiratory virus by blood donation or transfusion has ever been recorded. If you would like to sign up for an appointment or locate a blood drive, visit RedCrossBlood.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS. Street improvements and infrastructure projects will mean road closures in Sheboygan, some affecting travel until this coming fall according to project manager Kevin Jump. First one lane closure in each direction of North Taylor Drive between Superior and Salmon Avenues will be in place for two weeks effective immediately. Conductors will be accessible during the closures. The improvements will include a new southbound turn lane to St. Nicholas Hospital. The second is a more involved operation as part of the rehabilitation of the former Coakley Building into the Badger State Loft's residential apartments. Roadways and utilities surrounding the property require improvements including storm and sanitary sewers, water mains, sidewalk and concrete pavement. Streets affected include Illinois Avenue between South 12th Street and South 10th Street, Maryland Avenue from South 11th to South, Commerce Street and South 11th from Indiana to Maryland Avenues. Initially, South 10th and Commerce Streets will remain open to traffic but closed at times to accommodate construction that work is anticipated to be done this fall. The State Department of Transportation has two major Sheboygan County Highway projects on its to-do list this year. The ongoing project to expand Highway 23 to four lanes from Town of Plymouth to Fond de Lac will continue towards its projected completion in 2022. The highway will generally remain open to one lane in each direction except for a single nighttime closure for constructing a culvert near Division Road. The other project will reconstruct the roundabout at the Highway 28 and EE intersection near Sheboygan Falls. That one beginning in July includes a new polymer deck overlay on the Highway 28 bridge over the Onion Avenue. Highway 28 traffic will be open in both directions this year but a 10-day closure of the south leg of EE will be needed for storm sewer construction. A full closure will be needed next year before completion in July of 2021. And finally, a Plymouth woman is one of six finalists named Saturday by the Wisconsin Department of Agricultural Trade and Consumer Protection for the 73rd Alice in Dairyland. Erica Helmerk was complete in the finals scheduled for May 14th to 16th at various locations throughout Woolworth County. Alice is a full-time communications professional serving for one year as Wisconsin's Agricultural Ambassador. On June 1st, the winners will begin traveling thousands of miles across the state presenting to students, completing media interviews, and attending community events to promote the state's agriculture industry on June 1st. Not a beauty contest, the selection process focuses on communications and public relations skills. Erica Helmerk represents the 7th generation to work and live on her family's registered Holstein Farm, currently serves customers at Genetic Visions ST, and coaches the Sheboygan County 4-H Dairy Judging Team. And that is our report for today. Join me again on Thursday for more local news and information on Community News Review. Have a happy and safe St. Patrick's Day.