Mayor David Pennington declared a state of emergency in Dalton at Monday night’s meeting of the mayor and Council in response to the rising number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Whitfield County. The state of emergency allows city agencies including the Dalton Fire Department and Dalton Police Department to provide personnel to Hamilton Medical Center to supplement their staffing needs. The city clarified that all city employees are eligible to assist at Hamilton Medical Center, not just the first responder agencies.
The latest information shared by Hamilton Medical Center indicates there were 63 patients hospitalized with COVID on Monday afternoon. Of those 63, 12 are in the ICU and eight are currently on ventilators.
City administrator Andrew Parker on Monday night also cited information from the Georgia Department of Health that indicated there have been at least 700 new COVID infections confirmed in Whitfield County in the past two weeks.
Mayor Pennington’s declaration calls for the activation of the city’s local emergency operations plan to detail city personnel to the hospital to supplement their staff. A memorandum of understanding with Hamilton Medical Center that Mayor Pennington read aloud at Monday night’s meeting states that the city of Dalton will be able to provide personnel with paramedic and Emergency Medical Technician training to the hospital as well as personnel able to assist in stocking and handling supplies and providing general assistance to the regular hospital staff. The MOU also states that at no time shall any city employee perform any function at the hospital unless under director supervision and direction of Hamilton Medical Center nurses, physicians, technicians, or designated staff.
The Dalton City Council voted 3-0 Monday night to reinstate a mask mandate within City-owned buildings such as City Hall. The rule requires staff and visitors to wear masks when in public areas of City-owned buildings or when in private areas of City-owned buildings where proper social distancing cannot be accomplished.
The City Council first instituted such a rule last summer in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rule was relaxed earlier in 2021 when data from the state’s Department of Health indicated that the pandemic was subsiding, but with a recent rise in both new cases and hospitalizations in Dalton and Whitfield County, the council voted to reinstate the rule, effective immediately.