The Sebastian City Council met Tuesday this week instead of Wednesday because the city council members and the city manager are participating in the Florida League of Cities annual conference.
During Tuesday night’s meeting, the discussion of COVID-19 was discussed. The numbers of COVID-19 infections have soared in Indian River County, and we’re getting reports of several people on respirators in the hospital, including children.
There are many people infected with the Delta Variant right now in Sebastian, Florida. We know this by word of mouth and hospitalizations. In fact, a couple of local businesses had to close for several days while their owners recovered.
Sebastian Daily is having difficulty retrieving accurate numbers from the Florida Department of Health about our city. They give us county numbers once a week, but no information about Sebastian as they used to do prior to June 1, 2021.
The Delta Variant accounts for more than 90 percent of people who did not get the COVID-19 vaccine. The City of Sebastian is asking everyone to be safe. There are no mask mandates at this time.
“We all know the COVID-19 virus is still here and happening, so please take precautions. Do whatever you think is prudent to protect yourself,” City Manager Paul Carlisle said.
Councilman Bob McPartlan said he’s been getting a lot of emails about the virus.
“Mr. Carlisle mentioned the virus is still out there. I’m not telling you to wear a mask, not wear a mask, get vaccinated, not get vaccinated, but there are people who are dying. I had a colleague who just died last night, probably only a couple of years than I am. Then I heard earlier from somebody else that a 24-year-old individual died. So it’s out there. I don’t want to tell you what to do one way or another. I’ve been getting a lot of emails about it. I want you to live your life but be careful. That’s all I can say,” McPartlan said.
Mayor Ed Dodd said he quit going on Facebook after someone suggested on there to get rid of him for telling people to get the vaccine.
The number of cases is soaring in Indian River County, and some people fear more infections are on the way since school started. There are no mask mandates with the School District of Indian River County.
Some people have told Sebastian Daily they are unable to get the vaccine due to other health problems. For example, some people can’t wear masks because they have asthma or COPD and can’t risk restricting their breathing with a face cloth.
The recovery rate for COVID-19 is around 99 percent, but many patients in the county have died, which is problematic to many people. As we’ve said, there are children in the hospital fighting the virus.
There is now a Delta Plus variant, similar to Delta, but contains a couple of changes. It is a new mutation now in the United States, but there’s currently no evidence suggesting that Delta Plus will become more of an issue than Delta.
“Right now, there is no reason to believe that Delta Plus is going to pose any more challenge above and beyond Delta — but, obviously, we need more data,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security and an infectious disease expert, said in a statement.
The CDC is recommending that everyone, even people who are vaccinated, to wear a mask when indoors.
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