Recent editorials from Georgia newspapers:
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Dec. 23
The Daily Citizen-News on frontline workers in two Georgia counties receiving Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine:
“Painless and simple.”
That’s how Patrick O’Ferrall, a certified registered nurse anesthetist at Hamilton Medical Center, described his reaction after receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Monday morning at the hospital.
Across the country, as the first rounds of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine were being administered, thousands of people had the same response. While there have been a few cases of people having a negative reaction to the vaccine, it has been overwhelmingly positive.
Frontline workers in Dalton and Whitfield County began receiving the vaccination on Friday. Officials with Hamilton Medical Center received nearly 1,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine that day and hope to administer several hundred shots a day to their frontline workers, many of whom help with patients infected with the novel coronavirus.
The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses roughly 21 days apart for optimal effectiveness, so all those who received it Friday and this week will need the second shot in about three weeks.
We are so very thrilled that the vaccine has finally arrived, and arrived locally as our area has been hit especially hard by the coronavirus.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Whitfield County had 9,993 cases of COVID-19, more than all but nine of Georgia’s 159 counties, and Whitfield County’s rate of 9,547 cases per 100,000 was third highest in the state, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. In Whitfield County, 109 deaths have been attributed to COVID-19.
Over the past two weeks, Whitfield County residents have tested for COVID-19 at a rate of 18.4%, much higher than the state’s positivity rate of 13.4% during that same time.
Because initial COVID-19 vaccine supplies are limited, the Georgia Department of Public Health at the state and local level is following the recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices by prioritizing the vaccine for health care personnel and residents of long-term care facilities, according to the North Georgia Health District. Additional COVID-19 vaccine information in Georgia is available at https://dph.georgia.gov/covid-vaccine.
While the first rounds of the vaccine are largely going to frontline workers and elderly residents of nursing homes, it will be only a matter of time before the vaccine is available to the rest of us.
The vaccine has been proven to be safe and effective. Along with wearing masks, social distancing and other measures, the COVID-19 vaccine will be key to our lives returning to normal.
Online: https://www.dailycitizen.news/
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Dec. 20
The Valdosta Daily Times on taking a COVID-19 vaccine:
When it’s your turn, take the vaccine.
It is safe.
It is remarkably effective.
It is the answer to defeating the COVID-19 pandemic and getting our lives back to normal.
We commend Gov. Brian Kemp, department of health head Kathleen Toomey and other state leaders for agreeing to be vaccinated in public to help build confidence.
The Pfizer vaccine is being rolled out across the nation, including throughout Georgia, and more is on the way.
It is true that most of the general public will not have access for months but health care workers, first responders and some elderly and fragile populations will have early access.
We think State Sen. Ben Watson set a great example and showed real leadership when he participated in the Moderna clinical trials. The Savannah lawmaker is a primary doctor and chairs the Health and Human Services committee. Watson said he decided to take part in the clinical trials both to set an example for his patients and protect them when they are seeking medical care.
He struck the right tone when he said, “We as health care workers have a responsibility to our patients. They do not expect to get sick from us. So it’s not all about me. Because in health care, when you’re working in a hospital or you’re seeing people in the clinic, they don’t want to catch COVID from you.”
In reality, none of us want to catch COVID from anyone else.
We think the gestures of leading by example are exactly the right thing to do in order to build confidence in the vaccine.
Before being vaccinated herself, Toomey said, “I can say with great enthusiasm, I can’t wait to be vaccinated. I’m so looking forward to that opportunity and I hope that we can convey that same desire to people throughout Georgia, because until we can vaccinate as many Georgians as possible, we will not have the level of immunity within the state as a whole, to prevent the continued spread.”
The effort to lead by example is not partisan and COVID-19 isn’t either.
Both Republican and Democrat lawmakers are working to build public trust in the vaccine.
Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President Mike Pence all volunteered to take the vaccine on camera to use their high-profile positions to gain confidence of the general public.
Dr. Ben Loman, one of the state’s infectious disease epidemiologist said a few days ago, “These vaccines have gone through the same safety and efficacy testing that any vaccine would go through. They first start in these small trials to show that they’re first safe and get larger and larger trials to show people have an immune response and finally these very large scale ones that we’ve been hearing over the last month showing how really remarkably effective these vaccines are. Although the timeline has been short, it’s not because any steps have been skipped. I think it’s really important for people to know that.”
The vaccines were developed with a speed that had nothing to do with cutting corners, or rushing the process. It had everything to do with new technologies and amazing advances in medicine and science.
When it’s your turn, please take the vaccine.
It is how we all get through this crisis and put an end to this year-long disruption of our lives.
Online: https://www.valdostadailytimes.com/
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Dec. 19
The Brunswick News on practicing coronavirus safety measures during the holidays:
Consider two tips that could save lives and prevent personal stress this holiday season: Get tested for COVID-19 if plans include being around large groups and if traveling abroad, adhere to the host nation’s rules.
There is precedent for these recommendations. A man and woman playing Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus at a traditional holiday function in a small town not too far from here unknowingly exposed children and others to the virus. And a young woman from the Atlanta area will spend Christmas in jail in the Cayman Islands for failing to follow rules structured to protect the island’s general population from potential carriers of the sometimes deadly virus.
The potential exposure in Ludowici, about 50 miles north of here, comes at a time coronavirus cases in the state are on the rise. Earlier this week, Georgia’s seven-day average of confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19 surpassed the summer peak with an average of 6,000 new cases a day. Spread of the virus prompted the cancellation of the last week of class in 14 public school districts, put 3,000 people in hospitals and played some small or large role in 10,000 deaths in the state.
And this at a time when health officials are notifying Georgia that it will not receive all the vaccine it was initially expected to get.
Gov. Brian Kemp, aware of the issues, uttered these cautionary words when in Savannah this week to observe the administering of the city’s first vaccinations: “With cases and hospitalizations now on the rise as we find ourselves going into the holidays, life is anything but back to normal.” Amen to that.
The pair who dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus at the tree-lighting ceremony did not know they were positive for the virus. Neither displayed any of the symptoms, according to news reports. Now, though, children who surrounded them and posed for photographs beside them must take appropriate steps to safeguard others in their families.
There’s no rule requiring anyone to be tested before mixing with large groups, but as this particular incident shows, it could prove to be a prudent decision.
In the Cayman Island case, the college-age woman was aware of the two-week quarantine requirement for all visitors to the British Caribbean territory and its 62,000 citizens. After violating the rule, she was sentenced to four months in jail, along with her boyfriend, a Cayman citizen. Their attorney, who says the two have never been in trouble before, will argue for a lesser sentence.
It is highly unlikely that Cayman Island officials gave much thought to the desires or comforts of visitors or their past history when placing restrictions on island guests. It’s a safe bet they were more concerned about the future and health of their citizens.
The lesson to be learned here: respect the laws of other jurisdictions or stay home.
Online: https://thebrunswicknews.com/
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