About a year after citizens were alerted to the potential danger to humans of a new respiratory virus first detected in Wuhan, China, city officials and fitness experts agreed that we are still out of danger.
Municipal Council President Maggie Zeidman, Mayor Gail Coniglio and Fire Chief Darrel Donatto organized a network update on the virus, COIVD-19, Zoom on Wednesday. .
Coniglio discussed the city’s first reaction to the virus, which began at a public protection committee panel in March 2020.
“A year ago, the city of Palm Beach had no cases of coronavirus. Today, unfortunately, we have 546 cases and 12 deaths,” Coniglio said.
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It is also a year ago that the people introduced their first warning formula in reaction to the virus-insized pandemic with the curfew status quo, an order to stay home and an order for a mask, Coniglio added. coVID-19 happened on March 23.
Coniglio congratulated Donatto and Zeidman on their reaction to the pandemic.
“This proactive reaction has been a partnership with our city control team. Darrell Donatto and Fire Rescue managed the city’s security reaction to bring them with citizens and lifeguards. Maggie (Zeidman) reacted without delay to this crisis and cared about education and practical actions,” Coniglio said.
In January, the city took a step by administering a total of 2,611 vaccines to citizens over the age of 65.
Zeidman said the people lamented the deaths of citizens “who are no longer with us because of this virus,” adding that nearly a year after the pandemic began, there are 29 million cases of COVID-19 in the country and 527,000 deaths.
Donatto said he hoped vaccination rates in the county would “increase in the future. “
“Dr. Alonso has done a wonderful job in this county. In Palm Beach, the average age is 68 and we can see that jurisprudence is much more serious in this age organization than the younger population,” Donatto said, urging those who are vaccinated to “continue wearing a mask and continue to practice socially. “to distance us. “
When asked about more doses of vaccine for the city, Donatto said he didn’t know when they would be available.
“I know Dr. Alonso would like to get more vaccines, but materials are still a problem,” he said.
The plan now is to vaccinate county Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans who have stayed home. He added that long-term care centers, fitness workers, firefighters, and others considered incredibly vulnerable can now be vaccinated by checking into the county gymnasium. Site.
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Alonso referred to the new rules of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for those who are fully vaccinated. the same family that is in low COVID-19 threat without dressing in a mask or maintaining a physical distance.
Those who are fully vaccinated also want to be tested or quarantined if they are exposed to a known case of the virus and show symptoms, the CDC said.
“Freedoms can replace day to day, but the most important thing for me is that the vaccine will prevent you from getting sick and dying, but you can still contract the virus,” said Alonso. “We still have to be careful. Until we achieve herd immunity, we will have to continue to adhere to the precautions we are taking lately. “
Alonso said the new variants of the virus, a South African mutation detected in Broward County, are of concern.
“We don’t need those variants of the main virus,” he said. That’s why other people who share bars and restaurants deserve to be very attentive, wear a mask and practice social distance more than 6 feet away when possible. “
Alonso said that even with 68% of the population 65 years of age or older now vaccinated, the county had a challenge regarding “undeserved communities” and the vaccine.
“The first thing I asked of network leaders is to be an example. Get up and get vaccinated,” Alonso said, we wear our white robes and pretend to be everyone because other people have very valid reasons not to trust members of the medical network for what we’ve done in the past.
She said other projects include inviting minority communities to Zoom meetings in multiple languages and spreading the message through faith-based teams with congregations with large numbers of minority teams.
With regard to the new variants, Dodson stated that the virus would continue “relentlessly” if given the opportunity and “continue to mutate in worse ways. “
“The longer we give the virus, the more powerful it will become. We know that a third of other people said they didn’t need to be vaccinated, which is a concern,” Dodson said.
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It’s hard to know how long COVID-19 vaccines will protect others because there’s not enough data yet, Dodson said, adding that even with at least 3 months of protection, it’s imaginable to reinfecte with another strain.
The lesson learned from the pandemic, he said, is a desire to increase CDC investment and have a federal pandemic reaction unit.
“The global is a small position and all humans are vulnerable to these diseases. No one is until we’re allArray,” Dodson said. ” People don’t want to forget to be big with our neighbors and the rest of the world. “