County Mayor Jim Coppinger said vaccinations are the only way life can get back to “normal” during his weekly COVID-19 update press conference.
“With the vaccinations going on, we’re starting to see a significant improvement in our community. We want to get back to being normal,” Mayor Coppinger said. “We’re hoping we can get to 80 percent of our residents in Hamilton County to be vaccinated. If you know people who are not wanting to be vaccinated, please talk to them and get them to be vaccinated, because this is going to help us get back to normal in our county.“
He reiterated that people who are 65 years and older are now eligible for the vaccine, and said people in the 1B classification are also eligible. Health department administrator Becky Barnes gave examples of who are in this group.
“This includes all public and private schools. This does not include parents who homeschool,” Ms. Barnes said. “It also includes school staff, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, school secretaries, and school administrators. It does not include staff or teachers in higher education at this time.”
Director of administrator services Sabrina Novak also had an opportunity to speak about the third vaccination site at Enterprise South, which opens Friday. She said that even though the county has planned for this for a while, people can expect hiccups to occur.
“We’re starting with the smallest loop to refine our processes and see how things go. Every site is unique, and you may think it’s perfect but there’s something you’ll need to work out,” Ms. Novak said. “The lovely thing about the location is that we have the possibility to expand it to a larger loop (if they get more vaccines). We have that possibility. We greatly appreciate the public’s patience with us.”
Both Ms. Barnes and Mayor Coppinger stressed the importance of continuing to wear masks and social distance while avoiding large gatherings when possible. Mayor Coppinger said the numbers are trending in the right direction, but that is only happening because rules are being followed.
“Our hospitalizations have gone down, as well as those in intensive care,” Mayor Coppinger said. “Our positivity rates are going in the right direction too. We want to make sure we’ve continued to do what we’ve asked all along, which is to wear your mask, avoid large gatherings, social distance, and to use good personal hygiene.
“About our mask mandate, there seems to be confusion from time to time. This has allowed us to keep our economy going and keep sporting events going. And to have a lot of normalcy in our lives. It’s critical to mask up and to keep up the social distancing and good hygiene.”
Ms. Barnes said about 10 percent of the county has received the first dose of the vaccine, and around four percent have received a second dosage. This is mostly in-line with the rest of the country, which is at 12 percent and 4.7 percent respectively.
“All of our indicators are moving in the right direction. Our numbers are down, but we are not out of it,” Ms. Barnes said, saying that she can’t be sure if there will be another spike in the future. “The very honest answer is that no one knows for sure one way or another. The best way to continue the downward trend is to get our population vaccinated as quickly as possible. And we have to continue all the measures we’ve been doing.”