Page last updated on September 7, 2021 at 1:00 pm
Hello, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, April 19, 2021. Just sharing a message with the public about COVID and related matters. First, thanks to Mary Catherine Carmichael for covering this video last week, and for all who watched that, I appreciate that, while I was away and just want to give a quick update.
We're still not out of the woods. This is still right in front of us. We have real challenges in the COVID world. We're continuing to see moving slightly in the wrong direction, both locally and the state, meaning we have to keep doing what we're doing. It's going to mean vaccines are critically important to keep getting a vaccine when you're able to do so, complete your regime, and also continue to protect each other. Even now we have maybe a quarter of our folks vaccinated, something like that. That means the vast majority are not. It means the virus can transmit quickly and easily among us, if we don't do the right things, continuing to mask, continuing to physically distance, continuing to use good hygiene. That's critically important.
We are going to keep those controls in place locally. I think that's very important, even though the state has made it optional and many communities are not, I think that's the wrong direction and a bad move. We've seen what's happened in Michigan, and a number of states continue to see increasing caseloads. We're not done yet. We're moving in the right direction, but we're going to continue to keep the mask mandate, the limits on gathering sizes, the controls in restaurants and bars, and those kinds of things, just to try to keep us on the right track.
Speaking of vaccines, of course, in the last week we had the pause in the Johnson & Johnson. Now, the vast majority of vaccinations being given in our area are Pfizer and Moderna, but there are a small number of Johnson & Johnson's. They've been used for some homebound programs for people who it's helpful to get a one-shot and done. Look, this is what transparency and following science looks like. It's transparent. Following the science, if there's a very, very, rare side effect had happened, the science, the medical experts said, "Take a quick pause. Let's look at the data, let's see what we can find out." We expect by the end of this week to get counseling and advice about how to proceed. I expect we will proceed again. It can be frustrating. It is no reason to worry about the efficacy of the vaccines. This is what transparency and following the science looks like. It means if there's a little blip if there's a concern, we listened to the scientists and that's what's happening. Hang in there and continue to get your vaccines.
I've had my second completed. So I'm happy about that. We encourage all of you to get your vaccines. That's going to be important. We're going to continue to monitor. We're not out of the woods, and our attention to these kinds of details, and getting this done is what's going to get us moving forward. Please call if you have any questions, reach out to our office, and thanks for all you're doing, and stay safe.
