This week, another semester begins for Hamilton County Schools. I hope every student, teacher, and support staff member has a terrific start to the year.
I know that the Superintendent’s office and the faculty at every school have worked extremely hard to make sure that the transition back to their classrooms is being handled as safely and thoughtfully as possible.
To all of the kids in our community -- work hard and have fun. To our teachers and support staff -- thank you for everything you are doing to help our young people thrive during these difficult times.
Some people have been asking about why we’re choosing to keep our Youth & Family Development Centers closed while HCS campuses reopen. It’s a great question, but the answer is complicated. Since March 13, when I first declared a state of civil emergency in our city, we’ve learned a lot about how to contain the spread of this lethal virus.
Even though there is still quite a bit we don’t understand about it, I think it’s important that residents and businesses be empowered with current and factual data so that we can make the right calls on city facilities and events and you can make the right decisions for your family’s health.
That’s why we’ve recently unveiled a new website -- cha.city/coviddata -- that pulls together and shares a lot of what we know and what we’re learning about COVID-19 in our community.
This site includes resources that show how daily positive cases, active cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and other crucial data sets have changed since mid-March. This data is useful in helping us determine when and how we can eventually reopen our facilities -- including our YFD Centers -- as well as allow larger public gatherings.
At the moment, we’re still seeing around 20 new cases per 100,000 residents per day, which places us in the “Orange” zone according to the Harvard Global Health Initiative. In other words, we are improving thanks to the county’s facemask directive and other efforts, but we need to make some more progress.
You can also find our symptom survey on the website, which helps us learn more about the disease in real time, as well reports from our partnership with Biobot Analytics, which examines sewage from our wastewater treatment facilities to estimate the prevalence of COVID-19 in our community.
Have a look at the site, bookmark it because we update it frequently, and share it with your social networks. The more we all understand this disease, the more effectively we can control its spread and keep ourselves and our neighbors healthy.
Speaking of controlling the spread, I was encouraged by the results of this recent poll, which shows that 70% of Tennesseans support facemask directives, like the one we have here in Hamilton County. Masks, social distancing, and frequent handwashing save lives, pure and simple, and I’ve been so glad to see how people in our community are doing these things to protect themselves and others. #MaskUpCHA!
Thanks to everyone in Hamilton County who voted last week. Our community is stronger when everyone’s voices are heard, and I appreciate the extraordinary efforts made by our local election commission staff and volunteers to ensure that voting happened in a safe and healthy way. There are now fewer than 90 days until the November general elections, and the registration deadline is October 5. Click here to get registered or check your registration.
Thank you and please stay safe this week.
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