City Commission

ROME CITY COMMISSION SPECIAL CALLED MEETING Thursday, September 2, 2021 The Rome City Commission met at 5 p.m. this date in the City Auditorium of City Hall, 601 Broad Street. This was a Special Called joint meeting with the Floyd County Commission. Mayor McDaniel presided with Mayor Pro Tem Stevenson and Commissioners Bojo, Cochran, Davis, Doss, Quick, and Askew present. Commissioner Collins was absent. Present from the County Commission were Chairman Bagby and Commissioners Hancock, Watters, Wallace, and Maxey. Mayor McDaniel opened the meeting with prayer and led in the salute to the flag. COVID Update The purpose of today’s meeting was to hear from our local health community leaders regarding the assessment of the local surge in COVID cases. Representing the Rome medical community were Dr. Julie Barnes, Chief Medical Officer for Redmond Regional Medical Center; Dr. Ken Jones, Chief Medical Officer for Floyd Medical Center; Dr. Ed McBride, Chief Medical Officer for the Harbin Clinic; and Dr. Gary Voccio, Director of the Northwest Georgia Department of Public Health. These health professionals stated that our community is seeing a great surge in the COVID cases due to the Delta variant. This variant has spread through Northwest Georgia and is quickly becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Most new cases, hospitalizations, and people in critical care units on ventilators and those with the need for advanced oxygen support are unvaccinated. Approximately 35% of the citizens of Northwest Georgia are fully vaccinated. Cases and hospitalizations among school age children have increased to levels not yet seen during the COVID crisis. Our hospitals are beyond capacity primarily due to COVID cases, and this impacts the hospitals’ ability to properly care for these individuals and other individuals who may have other serious medical needs. All four health leaders and the Commissioners are encouraging the public to seriously consider becoming vaccinated. There were comments regarding the effect of the health care workers in our community and that the huge number of patients are leading to overworked workers, and morale is low. Following the presentation by each of the four health professionals, several members of the City Commission made comments or asked questions that were COVID related. The free COVID testing site at the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds is now back in operation, and the COVID vaccinations can be obtained free of charge at numerous locations. 1 Adjourn With there being no further business, this Special Called Joint Meeting of the City and County Commissions were adjourned at 5:58 p.m. Joseph F. Smith City Clerk 2