Newspaper Page Text
The Braselton News
Page 2A
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Chamber continued from 1A
“What we’re really trying to do is protect each other in
those instances,” said Delzell. “And as much as we want
to see grandma, we also don’t want to accidentally infect
grandma.”
VACCINATION FORTHCOMING
Health leaders also discussed the forthcoming COVID-19
vaccination.
The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency
use authorizations for Pfizer for its COVID-19 vaccination,
which is being distributed this week.
The first group to receive the vaccination will be health
care workers.
“We certainly need to help those healthcare workers,”
said Zachary Taylor, District 2 Public Health Director.
Residents of long-term care facilities will also be one of
the first groups vaccinated. After that, there’s been discus
sion about vaccinating “critical infrastructure” employees,
followed by those over 65 years old and those with medical
conditions.
Younger adults without medical conditions could begin
receiving the vaccination in late spring or early summer.
BRASELTON AREA
Hall and Jackson counties remain two of the hardest hit
counties in the state when looking at new cases per 100,000
residents over the past two weeks. Gwinnett and Barrow
counties are also above the state average, but haven’t yet
reached the level of Hall and Jackson.
In Braselton’s four county area, there have been:
•Barrow: 3,829 cases; 60 confirmed deaths; 601 new
cases in the past two weeks (696 per 100.000 residents)
•Gwinnett: 42,662 cases; 528 confirmed deaths; 37
probable deaths; 5,963 new cases in the past two weeks
(614 per 100.000 residents)
•Hall: 14,414 cases; 200 confirmed deaths; nine proba
ble deaths; 1,913 new cases in the past two weeks (927 per
100,000 residents)
•Jackson: 3.912 cases; 54 confirmed deaths; nine prob
able deaths; 724 new cases in the past two weeks (969 per
100,000 residents)
•State: 479,340 cases; 9,218 confirmed deaths; 886
probable deaths; 57,672 new cases in the past two weeks
(532 per 100.000 residents)
Mayor continued from 1A
drive but I made it and spent
the weekend at home on
opposite sides of our home
from my wife. Garol.”
Orr’s condition got worse
quickly. He experienced a
fever over 100-degrees that
next Monday, which crept
up to 102-degrees the fol
lowing day. Two days lat
er, the thermometer read
104.7-degrees.
“I had the timer set to ev
ery four hours to take more
Tylenol and when my fever
was in the 103-104.7 range,
I just didn’t want to address
it. I didn’t want to take med
icine.” Orr said, noting he
was delirious from the fever.
His wife took him to
Northeast Georgia Medical
Center Braselton and waited
outside while he was taken
into the emergency room.
“They assessed me and
swabbed my nose, and put
an IV in where they added
essential fluids to my body,”
Orr recalled. “My lung scan
showed small blood clots
(embolism) created by the
virus, I was told.”
He was discharged that
afternoon and given four
prescriptions, including an
inhaler. His fever finally
broke on Saturday, Oct. 31
and he’s been in the process
of recovering ever since,
Orr still suffers from
some shortness of breath.
He also has moments
when he can’t taste any
thing and when he tastes
and smells smoke. During
those bouts, he opts for in
tensely-flavored foods, like
dried fruits, or those with a
crunchy texture.
Orr said he is thankful
for the staff at NGMC Bra
selton.
“I feel blessed that we
have such a quality facility
and quality staff in our town
of Braselton.” he said.
When he was admitted to
NGMC Braselton. Orr said
the hospital wasn’t substan
tially crowded. But that’s
changed in recent weeks as
the number of COVID-19
patients has sky-rocketed.
“Right now, they’re inun
dated,” Orr said, adding that
hospital capacity concerns
are another reason to take
COVID seriously.
Orr said he wanted to
share his story to encourage
the community to continue
taking precautions to pre
vent the spread of the virus.
“It’s easier than anybody
can think to catch it.” said
Orr, who noted he still doesn’t
know where he contracted the
vims.
And as many local families
are preparing for the Christmas
holidays, Orr stressed the need
to “not throw caution to the
wind.”
“Please take this threat seri
ously as you travel and entertain
over the holidays,” Orr said. “It
is real and while many have
mild reactions there are just as
many that experience what I
experienced and many worse.
As we move into Christmas
and the winter months, please
take every precaution you can
to avoid being exposed. If you
are exposed, take it seriously.
God bless and have a Merry
Christmas.”
Braselton continued from 1A
OTHER BUSINESS
Also at its meeting, the council approved:
•an alcohol beverage request for Larry Monroe for Cot
ton Calf Kitchen.
•an alcohol beverage request for Daniel Pinto for Dia-
blos.
•an alcohol beverage license for Jill Harr for Johnny’s
Pizza.
•a concept plan for a conservation subdivision on Davis
St. The council previously approved the project, but devel
opers didn’t yet have a concept plan for the conservation
subdivision when the request was approved.
New ambulance operating in West Jackson
An additional Jackson
County Emergency Medi
cal Services ambulance is
operating out of the West
Jackson EMS Station.
This additional EMS
unit will be operating dai
ly from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
to supplement the existing
unit that operates 24-hours-
a-day seven-days-a-week.
This additional unit has
been assigned to the West
Jackson Station due to
the increased volume of
calls for service in that
area.
“The Jackson County
Board of Commissioners
will continue to monitor
the increase in calls for
EMS services throughout
the county as the county
population increases and
will add EMS units to
other areas of the county
as conditions warrant,”
the county said in a news
release. “It is the goal of
the BOC to continue to
provide a high level of
Emergency Medical Ser
vice to all citizens of the
county and to have re
sponse times that meet or
beat industry standards.”
The West Jackson
EMS Station is located An additional Jackson County Emergency Med-
at 11917 Lewis Braselton ical Services ambulance is operating out of the
Boulevard in Braselton. West Jackson EMS Station.
Red Cross offers fire safety tips
The American Red
Cross is offering fire
safety tips as tempera
tures drop and the holi
days approach.
Red Cross leaders urge
those decorating with
holiday candles to use
the flameless kind as De
cember is the peak month
for candle fires.
“The risk is so common
that nearly one-third of
us have left the room or
fallen asleep while burn
ing candles, according to
a 2020 national Ameri
can Red Cross survey,”
Red Cross leaders said.
“If you must use candles,
never leave them unat
tended. keep them away
from anything that could
burn and place them out
of reach from children
and pets.”
The Red Cross re
sponds to more than
60,000 disasters annu
ally and most of these
are home fires. In a typ
ical year, home fires kill
more people in the Unit
ed States than all other
natural disasters com
bined. In Georgia, the
Red Cross responded to
nearly 2,200 home and
apartment fires over the
past four years (2016-
2019) during the holiday
months of November and
December and helped
over 9,500 people recov
er from these disasters
across the state.
The Georgia Red Cross
also urges everyone to
follow these decorating
safety tips to prevent
fires and injuries:
•Check all holiday
light cords to make sure
they aren’t frayed or
broken. Don’t string too
many strands of lights
together — no more than
three per extension cord.
Turn off all holiday lights
when going to bed or
leaving the house.
•Ensure outside dec
orations are for outdoor
use and fasten lights
securely to your home
or trees. If using hooks
or nails outside, make
sure they are insulated
to avoid electrocution or
fire hazard.
•Look for the fire-re
sistant label when buying
an artificial tree. Keep it
away from fireplaces, ra
diators and other sources
of heat. Never use elec
tric lights on metallic
trees.
•If getting a live tree,
make sure it’s fresh and
keep it watered. Bend the
needles up and down to
make sure no needles fall
off.
•Don’t light the fire
place if hanging stock
ings on the mantel.
•Check the labels of
older decorations. Some
older tinsel is lead-based.
If using angel hair, wear
gloves to avoid irritation.
Avoid breathing in artifi
cial snow.
•Have good, stable
placement when using
a ladder and wear shoes
that allow for good trac
tion.
The Red Cross also
encourages residents to
test your smoke alarms
monthly and practice
your home fire escape
plan until everyone can
escape in less than two
minutes.
Visit redcross.org/fire
for more information, in
cluding an escape plan to
practice with your fam
ily. You can also down
load the free Red Cross
Emergency app (search
“American Red Cross” in
app stores).
Hall continued from 1A
last names begin with L-Z
will report to their school
on January 5 and 7. Those
with last names beginning
with A-K will report on
January 6 and 8.
“The school district con
tinues to stress the impor
tance of observing mitiga
tion practices during this
critical time — both on
and off campus for stu
dents, families and team
members,” HCSD leaders
said. “We encourage ev
eryone to socially distance,
wear masks and take other
precautions as we enter the
holiday break.”
Jackson continued from 1A
Superintendent April Howard said
the virus had hit a large number of
teachers, substitutes, bus drivers
and other school personnel making
in-person classes almost impossible.
“There’s been a significant in
crease in the spread rate and the un
fortunate thing is. the spread rate has
hit our adults in our buildings more
than students.” she said.
Howard said one of the problems
is a declining lack of compliance
with the wearing of masks by middle
and high school students. While the
system doesn’t mandate mask-wear
ing at this point, Howard said school
leaders are “gong to have to tight-
en-up on students wearing a mask.”
She said that based on experience
from Halloween and Thanksgiv
ing, school leaders expect the rate
of community spread of the virus to
be exacerbated during the Christmas
break from travel and other kinds of
out-of-school holiday contact.
System leaders will evaluate up
dated Covid data on Dec. 31 to make
a final announcement about the
phase-in, she said.
THE PLAN
The idea behind the alternating
in-person class plan is to lower the
number of students in school build
ings, Howard said.
Social distancing in crowded
school buildings is one issue, she
said. As of last week, the system had
770 students out due to quarantine.
“If we don’t do this (a phase-in),
we will continue to see a large num
ber of students quarantined.” Howard
said.
She said that elementary schools
would return to full in-person classes
since the problems there are less dire
and because lower-grade students
are more compliant with wearing a
mask.
But middle school and high school
students haven’t been as willing to
wear masks on a consistent basis,
she said.
Howard said she recognized that
a mask mandate is a “hot topic,”
but that given the rate of spread, the
community hasn’t mitigated the vi
rus very well.
“If we do not require masks of
at least all staff and students in our
buildings, we’re going to jeopardize
our ability to stay in-person (class
es,)” Howard said.
PARENT PUSHBACK
Several parents commented during
the board’s virtual meeting that they
were concerned about the alternating
schedule, saying that their children
hadn’t done well with remote learn
ing. The impact on students’ GPA av
erages was a major concern.
Howard said she understood the
impact of remote learning on fami
lies, but that with adults getting sick
or under quarantine, it was becom
ing more difficult to staff in-person
learning.
Howard said parents should con
tinue to work with their children’s
teachers to address specific problems
and that school leaders understand
students should not be punished ac
ademically over a situation like the
virus which they can’t control.
She also emphasized the need for
middle and high school students to
be more compliant with wearing a
mask to prevent spreading the virus.
Hoschton continued from 1A
recorded in county deed records.
• the city’s comprehensive plan up
date, which officials said needs more
work before it comes back to the
council. There are several “major”
revisions needed, officials said.
• the preliminary plant for a 300-
unit townhome development off of
Towne Center Parkway. The project
was approved in 2018 and is ready
to begin development. The city’s
planning commission had recom
mended developers prepay for half
of all the necessary sewer taps for
the project, but city officials said
that isn’t necessary. Several other
conditions are in place for the proj
ect. which the council is expected to
vote on Dec. 21.
• several rezoning and zoning
variances. Three of the variances in
volve property the city wants to put
new water towers on. A rezoning for
Eddie Butler along New Street from
R-2 to R-3 to build two single-fam
ily homes will also be on the Dec.
21 agenda.
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