TriCounty Health Department has provided several updates concerning COVID-19 locally. According to their Tuesday announcement, total COVID-19 positive cases to date are 2,387 and of those are 595 total active cases currently in the tri-county area. There have been a total of 16 COVID-19 related deaths and 140 total hospitalizations to date. Also on Tuesday, TriCounty Health shared a message from outgoing Health Officer Jordan Mathis as he expressed his thoughts on personally receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. “Today was a happy day for me professionally and personally,” shared Mathis. “Today I received my first of two vaccine doses to prevent against COVID-19. For me, this represents a light at the end of what has been a long tunnel for all of us. Because in the history of the world safe and effective vaccines are the only thing that has been able to offer true herd immunity to control disease spread across populations…I would encourage everyone in the tri-county area and the state to do their own research and strongly consider protecting themselves and others by getting the vaccine when it becomes available to them,” Mathis concluded. Finally, TriCounty Health reminds the community that the walk-in clinical services are not available on December 30th as well as January 4th, 5th, and 6th. Staff will be busy these days vaccinating healthcare workers.
