Cobb leaders issue COVID-19 vaccination and mask plea

Cobb County government produced a video this week featuring various elected and government officials and others urging the public to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and to wear masks in public.

The message—you can see the whole video below—features Cobb Sheriff Craig Owens, Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady, Cobb and Douglas Public Health director Dr. Janet Memark and State Rep. Erick Allen, chairman of the Cobb legislative delegation.

Some of them issued personal messages, including Broady, who said he has lost three family members to COVID-19.

“I want to keep my family safe and everyone around me,” Broady said.

Said Owens: “Take it from someone who had the virus. You do not want the virus.”

More than 1,100 COVID-19 deaths have taken place in Cobb County since the pandemic was declared in March 2020.

The video comes days after Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid issued a 30-day emergency declaration and urged private businesses and other entities to require indoor mask use.

Cupid cannot issue a broader mandate than that because of an executive order by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp banning local mask mandates.

Cobb County Manager Jackie McMorris issued a mask mandate for county buildings that began on Friday.

The Cobb County School District is staying masks-optional despite protests from many parents who held a rally before school board meetings this week.

Cobb’s 14-day average of COVID-19 cases per county is reaching 700, far above the “high community spread” threshold of 100 cases.

Cobb also has a test positivity rate of more than 12 percent, also well above the 5-percent metric public health leaders say is ideal.

They also have been worried about the county’s low vaccination rate.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health (vaccine dashboard here), only 49 percent of the eligible population is “fully vaccinated” and 56 percent have had at least one dose.

While Cobb’s figures are high for the state, Georgia and many other Southern states are lagging in vaccination rates.

The Georgia DPH also shows vaccination rates by Census tracts (map here). There are at least a dozen tracts in East Cobb with the highest numbers of vaccinated people—between 3,100 and 10,000 per tract.

Other pockets with high rates include Powder Springs, West Cobb, Acworth, Kennesaw and Marietta.

A number of the tracts with the lowest rates—between 2,000 and 3,100 people per tract—are in South Cobb and West Cobb. Some East Cobb tracts also have few vaccinations, including two tracts with fewer than 2,000.

Related content

• Cobb issues COVID-19 emergency declaration
• Cobb COVID test positivity rate reaches ‘red’ zone
• Cobb imposes mask mandate at county buildings
• Cobb COVID-19 hospitalization rates soar with Delta variant
• Cobb public health director urges masking, vaccines
• Checking Cobb’s vaccination rates by census tracts
• East Cobb News COVID information and resource page

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