Page last updated on March 7, 2022 at 4:13 pm
Hello, it's Mayor John Hamilton. It's March 7th, 2022. Just giving a quick update to the community.
A lot has been happening, as you may know. The state and county emergency has concluded. The mask mandate is over locally. It's gratifying to see that we're now actually below 50 cases per week, per hundred thousand, which was a target we set many months ago, and we got way above that, but we're now down below that if you look at the latest data.
So we're very pleased to see the progress we're making. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to all who've gotten vaccinated and boosted and wearing masks to protect each other, our school system, our institutions, university, and others. Thank you so much.
I wouldn't say we're out of the woods, but we like the trends. Hospitalizations, deaths, cases, et cetera, are all good. The omicron variant seems to be declining, which is terrific news. We're, of course, constantly wary about what might be around the corner. But in the meantime, please, recognize how much we've meant to each other in getting us through this. It's been challenging these past few months, past two years, and we hope the progress continues.
There are good numbers in all the indicators that we're looking at. It means public meetings are going to change. They're going to go back to in-person and a hybrid format. That will affect many of our boards and commissions and council meetings, and others. So watch for that. We will continue to monitor this. I continue to meet weekly with our public health group to check how we're doing, and we do our biweekly news conferences.
As the weather is warming this March, the virus is waning, and we're so pleased to see that. I'm not declaring victory. We're not declaring we're out of the woods, but we sure are in a much better place than we were last month or two months ago, and that's thanks to you and all the excellent work you're doing. So please keep up with that.
We still encourage wearing masks in particular places. The virus is still here. It's not gone. It is still deadly, particularly for those who are un-vaccinated and un-boosted, but we do see real progress that we've achieved already. So thank you for that.
I will keep you posted with these updates, and keep doing what you're doing for the city of Bloomington. You can contact us with any questions. Thank you so much.
