LOCAL
THE CHAMPION, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19 - 25, 2019 • PAGE 6
CLARKSTON
Single-use plastics. Photo by Jay Phillips
Clarkston considers
single-use plastics ban
Statewide health officials
discuss DeKalb County’s
progress in anti-HIV programs
BY JAY PHILLIPS
Jay@dekalbchamp.com
Clarkston’s city council
plans to move forward with
legislation that will ban
single-use plastics within
the next 18 months.
Atlanta and other cities
around the country have
already made this push, and
Clarkston will now follow
in their footsteps.
“The city council
adopted a resolution that
will regulate and eventually
prohibit single-use plastics
and foams in Clarkston,”
City Manager Robin
Gomez said.
Gomez said Clarkston
plans to model its approach
to eliminating single-use
plastics similarly to cities
such as Orlando, Florida
and Mount Pleasant, South
Carolina.
According to Orlando
Mayor Buddy Dyer, Green
Works Orlando’s mission is
to “transform Orlando into
the most environmentally-
friendly, socially inclusive,
and economically vibrant
City in America.”
Clarkston also
wants to become more
environmentally friendly.
According to Gomez,
Clarkston is proposing
replacing single-use plastics
with material that is easier
to recycle and better for
the environment in place
of the single use plastics,
but the city also plans to
give residents and local
businesses a chance to
adjust to the resolution.
Currently the city
only has a resolution, or
a plan, addressing single
use plastics. An ordinance,
or a more permanent law,
is expected in May or
June of 2020, but it will
give Clarkston residents
and businesses a year to
acclimate before it goes into
effect.
Gomez said the city
plans to help with the
transition by purchasing
things such as recyclable
bags to issue to residents
and businesses before the
plastics ban begins. He said
he doesn’t think banning
plastics will be a big deal in
Clarkston.
“We hope to have the
ban in place sometime in
2021,” Gomez said. “That
gives businesses nearly 18
months to adjust.”
Clarkston also added
funds to its budget for
incentives that will
encourage the city’s
businesses to switch to
recyclable and compostable
service ware.
Clarkston’s goal to ban
single-use plastics is part of
a bigger plan the city has to
reduce waste and litter.
Clarkston’s move
toward becoming more
environmentally friendly
started with the city
eliminating plastic water
bottles and other single use
plastics from within its city
buildings. In addition to the
potential city-wide ban on
plastics, Clarkston’s city
council has approved the
purchase of 10 hybrid Fords
that will serve as police
cruisers.
“Three of them were
delivered [Dec. 11],”
Gomez said. “We hope to be
using them in two to three
weeks, or by the New Year.”
By 2050, Clarkston
seeks to be using nearly
100-percent green energy,
according to Gomez.
BY ASIA ASHLEY
Asia@dekalbchamp.com
Health officials across
the metro Atlanta area
joined Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
(CDC) Director Dr. Robert
Redfield at Decatur’s
Positive Impact Health
Center Dec. 9 to talk about
DeKalb County’s plans
to eliminate HIV in the
country.
Earlier this year,
DeKalb County received
$1.5 million through the
CDC as one of three pilot
sites nationwide to create
a program designed to
eliminate HIV. The program
is part of President Trump’s
“Ending the HIV Epidemic”
initiative that has a goal
to cut transmission of the
disease by 75 percent in the
next five years and by 90
percent in the next 10 years.
“We have the science
to put an end to HIV in
America and we’ve had
it for some time,” said
Redfield. “It’s not just a
hope, it’s something that we
are going to accomplish.”
Redfield said there
are approximately 39,000
new cases of HIV each
year with more than 50
percent of them occurring
in about 48 of 3,000
jurisdictions nationwide.
Those jurisdictions include
DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett
and Cobb counties.
According to the
Georgia Department of
Public Health, more than
58,808 people in Georgia
were living with HIV in
2017, with Fulton and
DeKalb counties having
the highest rates of persons
diagnosed with the disease.
Positive Impact Health
Centers, which also has
locations in Cobb and
Gwinnett counties, provides
HIV specialty care and
support services, behavioral
health including substance
abuse treatment, HIV testing
and prevention services.
Joey Helton, COO
of Positive Impact, said
approximately 3,200
POSITIVE
IMPACT
HEALTH CENTERS
metro Atlanta residents
are in clinical care at one
of the facilities and about
91 percent of them are
virally suppressed, or
have a reduced chance of
transmitting the disease.
The facilities’ PrEP clinic is
trending toward 1,000 active
participants, he added.
“This is huge, we are
above average,” Helton said.
The $1.5 million in
funding was spent on
increasing community
outreach, setting up
mobile testing sites, and
adding positions at various
clinics. The campaign
also promoted the use of
pre-exposure prophylaxis
(PrEP), a pill taken daily
by those at high-risk to
block HIV. Part of the
program initiative makes
PrEP available at no cost
to individuals who lack
prescription drug coverage.
District Health Director
for DeKalb County Sandra
Ford joined other health
representatives in stating
that the stigma associated
with HIV testing is a large
barrier.
“One of the goals of
this program is to reduce
the stigma and to make HIV
testing routine as if you’re
getting a blood pressure
check,” said Ford. “Part of
this whole progress is to
routinize HIV testing so that
everyone is tested.”
Redfield said the success
of the program’s outreach
efforts can be measured in
seeing an increase in the
number of newly diagnosed
cases. He added that he is
hopeful that Congress will
approve funding in the
upcoming budget to study
and implement anti-HIV
programing similar to those
created by DeKalb County
leaders in more jurisdictions
across the state and country.
