Page last updated on January 24, 2022 at 4:31 pm
Hi, it's Mayor John Hamilton, it's Monday, January 24th, 2022. We're into the new year, but same old story, unfortunately. We have a continued raging pandemic with the omicron variant hitting our community, just like the state. If you look at the state map, it's all red. We're all having really high case numbers, the hospitals are overwhelmed, it's as bad as it's ever been and we, even in our employment here in city government, we've had a record week last week in terms of those testing positive.
So it is the time to be extra careful. That means whether or not you're vaccinated, mask up, and don't share air. This is a very infectious variant that we have. Please be really careful. If you're not vaccinated, please reconsider and get vaccinated. This is dangerous. Most of the people in the hospital, most of the people dying on ventilators, are unvaccinated. There are breakthrough infections among vaccinated. They tend not to be too bad unless you have a lot of co-occurring issues that are health challenges on their own. But we really want to help people stay safe, so please consider getting the vaccine for yourself and your family.
We don't have good news this week. The virus is still deeply, deeply active in our community. We hope it will reduce. We know in this new year; we have the chance to keep getting better with vaccines and with care. Our mask mandate still stays in place in Monroe County to keep everybody safe as we can.
Hang in there, help our health care workers and our hospitals who are struggling so much to keep us all safe. They are really hanging by a thread emotionally and directly in their work. So, do what you can, don't share air. If you're sick, don't go to work, get tested. If you have questions, reach out to the health department or our office, but thank you for what you do. Please give extra attention over the next week or two, and we'll keep you posted on what we learn.
Thanks so much.
