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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. $ 5 00 0FF Ticket Ot s 2(f° Or More. Valid with coupon Mon.-Thurs. only. La Hacienda Commerce La Hacienda Braselton 173 Steven B. Tanger Blvd. 5391 Highway 53 706-335-7458 706-654-0070 SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY Applications & Appeals We Do All The Hard Work! 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