Mayor's Minute: June 2020
As I write this on April 27, COVID-19 continues to affect virtually every area of our lives. At the city level, we’ve been busy working on what “getting back to work” will look like for all the businesses located here.
Certainly, furloughed workers are anxious to get back to work, and the folks I’ve spoken with who are working from home are also anxious to return to the workplace.
Restarting our economy at both the local and national level is critical to restoring economic health, but so is the importance of keeping our citizens and employees safe. I suspect we may see a slowdown of the spread of the virus over the summer months only to see it re-accelerate as we move into winter. We must avoid being lulled into complacency.
Some things won’t change until we have a vaccine against COVID-19:
- Washing hands often;
- Social distancing;
- Avoiding one-to-one contact with non-family members as much as practical;
- Sanitizing often-shared surfaces.
Hopefully, many of these will become normal habits of daily living. In addition, it’s important to wear a face covering when in public, particularly in grocery stores and retail stores where it can be a challenge to always maintain proper social distancing. To do so shows respect for others, because the research indicates that wearing a face covering is primarily to protect those around you.
So I ask everyone to remain diligent in following the guidelines set by Gov. Ivey, our state and county healthcare leaders and our city officials. Each of us can make at least a little difference but working together, we can make a big difference in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and, perhaps, save the life of one of our residents.