Every single mayor in South Mississippi has a message: Get the COVID vaccine now
“Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.”
Like Jaws, the Delta variant of COVID-19 has proven to deliver an extremely wicked sequel, further undermining the best efforts of health care workers, and threatening an even larger segment of our population – putting our youth at risk.
This boomerang effect has created a reminder of how much the public has underestimated the extensive devastation of a resurgent pandemic. This is not the kind of teaching moment anybody wants, and too many of us are still not listening. If anything, the last few months have underscored how resistant we are to suggestions, not of our own making.
More troubling is how conditioned people have become to baiting and swallowing any hook thrown into the turbulent waters of social media. The resulting noise has masked the grim reality – our health care system is in deep crisis, with hospitals so overrun they function more as triage units. Sadly, nobody fully appreciated how invasive this new pathogen could be, and many have had to learn the hard way, through the loss of loved ones. In this case, it is from a viral mutation that is 1,000 times more contagious than the original strain.
With this saturation, routine is anything, but routine.
The daily feed of statistics reflects staggering patient numbers – most of whom have jobs. When they are ill (or worse), services are bound to suffer. Just as businesses and medical facilities are impacted, so are city workers, yet public expectations for response and delivery have not changed. This is not a realistic prospect.
While we manage to do more with less, every department in every city has had this contagion impact their work force, with some employees dying from COVID-19 infection. The resulting cascade has crippled the ability of most to respond in an effective fashion. As long as the virus persists, we will continue to mask-up, social distance, encourage vaccinations, and adapt operations in an effort to respond when and where possible.
Regarding policy, when the lack of healthy conditions starts to negatively impact areas of public sanitation and services (missed garbage routes and diminished response times for service requests and emergencies); public health (overworked doctors and nurses, and overrun hospitals with zero bed capacity); retail, manufacturing, office, and restaurants (multiple closings for cleaning, supply chain interruptions, restocking, and staff shortages); and once again, disruptions of schools (pre-school through college), additional protections are likely to be put in place.
The good news, is we can beat this thing.
The time to act is now. Do it, yourself. Get vaccinated. If you have any concerns, check with your doctor, first. Don’t wait until things get so bad that the government, once again, has to step in because of the threat. Together, we can do more than getting back to normal. We can get back to better.
Mike Favre, Bay St. Louis
Nancy Depreo, Diamondhead
Rusty Quave, D’Iberville
Casey Vaughan, Gautier
Billy Hewes, Gulfport
George Bass, Long Beach
Billy Knight, Moss Point
Kenny Holloway, Ocean Springs
Jay Willis, Pascagoula
Jimmy Rafferty, Pass Christian
Jim Luke, Picayune
Louise Smith, Poplarville
Mike Smith, Waveland
Darrell Berry, Wiggins