The aim of the article is to analyze the behavior of local government institutions during the COVID-19 epidemic. It covers the activities of local and district governments and their organizational units, as well as the sanitary inspection, police, and state fire service. Since no local authority operates in a political and legal vacuum, the authors' attention was also directed to those decisions of the "center" that most determined the behavior of "local Poland". The text is based on several sources: an observation journal recording events in the Orlin commune, which was kept from March 31 to May 31, 2020, local statistics concerning this commune, local media from that period, and legal acts and official documents of the government administration flowing down to the local level. Thanks to the adopted research method - a case study of the Orlin commune - the authors recreate the way in which these institutions organize, integrate, and cooperate during the epidemic, while also pointing out the difficulties and problems that occurred.