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COVID-19 Infection Rate Soars in Upson Vaccination Process Under Way By Bridge Turner Managing Editor Reports show the rate of newly confirmed COVID-19 infection has more than doubled during the past week in Upson County. The Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Co- ronavirus Resource Center lists Upson with 2,335 positive cases as of noon Tuesday (Jan. 5), an in crease of 333 cases from Tuesday (Dec. 29) one week earlier. The previous seven-day (Dec. 22-29) in crease was 161 new cases - 172 fewer than the current spike. Experts believe the up tick is related to holiday travel and gatherings. “The spread of COVID- 19 in our seven-county service area has dramati cally increased,” Upson Regional Medical Center CEO Jeff Tarrant stated in a recent hospital status re port. “This is a very con cerning time for our - Spires Clothing Will Hang Around Forever While traveling along Barnesville Street in Thomaston, many have noticed a pair of size 64 overalls hanging by the entrance of Spires Clothing, which servedfolks throughout Georgia from 1956 to 2017. Completing 30-plus years of successful advertising in the window, owner James Spires donated the historic overalls to the Thomaston-Upson Archives last month. Learn more about Spires Clothing on Page 2B. Middle Georgia com munities. Our positivity rate on COVID-19 testing over the past week has in creased to over 30 per cent.” Based on timeline esti mates, Tarrant said the current spike likely is asso ciated with activity during Thanksgiving, which means results of Christ mas and New Year’s activ ity may not peak until late January or early February. URMC is vaccinating under CDC Phase lA guidelines as a “closed COVID-19 Rates, 4A URMC Implements ‘No Visitors’ Policy Because of a recent spike in COVID-19 cases locally, Upson Regional Medical Center has up dated its policy to “no vis itors,” according to an online statement from CEO Jeff Tarrant. Updates include the following: Anyone wanting to enter the hospital must check in with a greeter at one of the public en trances with the exception of employees, contractors, and other staff who may utilize one of the tempera ture-monitored, name badge-controlled en trances. Screening is being per formed on all who are en tering clinics and offices for exposure history, symptoms, and tempera tures. The Upson County Health Department con tinues to offer drive through COVID-19 testing on the campus every Wed nesday morning and occa sional Saturdays. Volumes are still high for testing and currently it takes three to five days for health department results to be returned. Several clinic locations offer COVID-19 testing, generally with same day results. Locations include Upson Family Medical Center Northside, Upson Family Medical Center Southside, Upson Family Physicians Thomaston, Upson Family Physicians Barnesville, Upson Family Physicians Zebulon, and Upson OB/GYN. Appoint ments are necessary for each location except URMC: No Visitors, 4A UL Student Return Date Postponed Due to the substantial in crease in positive COVID-19 cases within Upson County, the Thomaston-Upson School System reopened the window for second semester remote learning Sun., Jan. 3 through Tues., Jan. 5, according to a press release from TU Direc tor of Community Relations and Fine Arts Karen Trues- dale. In order to make changes available to students and par ents/guardians, TU schools postponed the return-to- school date from Jan. 6 to Monday, Jan. 11. The deadline to move from face-to-face instruction to remote learning ended Jan. 5 at 11:59 p.m. to provide ad ministration time to integrate new virtual students in re mote learning, according to Superintendent Dr. Larry De- rico. “We want to provide par ents with a choice,” Derico said. “As long as we are pro viding a safe place for stu dents to learn, we will.” 8 10499 02461 2 First Baby of 2021 Taylor Nicole Sattazahn was the first baby bom at Upson Regional Medical Center in 2021. Taylor Nicole is shown with her proud mother, Kristina Sattazahn. Tag Renewal Unavailable Jan. 13-19 Because of an upgrade to Georgia’s motor vehicle program system, the local tax office will be unable to process tag and title trans actions from 7 p.m. Tues day, Jan. 12 to 8 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19,accord ing to Upson County Tax Commissioner Andy Chas tain. Anyone with a renewal which falls between the designated dates is re quired to complete the transaction by Jan. 12. The tax commissioner’s office will remain open for prop erty tax matters. The outage, which in volves conversion to the DRIVES system, will in clude all motor vehicle of fices throughout the state of Georgia, E-services, and kiosks. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our citizens,” Chastain said. Dr. Busbee Receives Coronavirus Vaccine Dr. Jonathan Busbee recently received his dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and, on a social media post, encouraged others to strongly consider tak ing the vaccine. “Ifear getting really ill from a contagious, potentially deadly virus more than I fear this vaccine,” said Busbee. “The ivay ive live will return to normal sooner ivhen ive achieve a ‘herd immunity, ’ which is why I encourage every one to strongly consider taking the vaccine, too.” County Utility Office Closed Until Monday The Upson County Util ities Office will remain closed to the public until Monday, Jan. 11 due to COVID-19 exposure, accord ing to a statement from gov ernment officials. Payments will be ac cepted as follows: •Drop box located at 605 West Gordon Street •Phone payment by cal ling 706-647-3513 •Mail payment to P.O. Box 889, Thomaston •Online payment at www.upsoncountyga.org The utilities department may be reached at 706-647- 3513 to set up an appoint ment for new service, to make changes to existing service, or to cancel service. (0 Griffin Ob-Gyn NOW SEEING PATIENTS IN THOMASTON CALL TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TODAY: 403 WEST MAIN STREET TUESDAY-THURSDAY 8:30-4:30 (770)227.5505 (706)646.2888 Leigh Ann Story, CNM; Bryan Krepps. HO; Jim Dunaway, MD; Lou Hameli, MO; Holly Harrison, PA-C; Nadine Nolting, CNH; Enid Lofters-Jones, MD; Hegan Potter. HD; Katya Brickman. CNM; Ashley Johnson, PA