18 Oct 2021
Hello, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, October 18th, 2021, just a quick report to the public. This is another week of positive direction generally on all items pandemic related. Very pleased to see continued reductions, both locally statewide, and even generally nationally in the impact of the pandemic by disease, by positivity, by hospitalizations, and deaths. So I'm really glad to report another week of the right direction.
Our local counts were closer to 100 cases per 100,000. We were bumping up to 200 almost, and we want to get it much lower than that to 50 and eventually 10 cases per 100,000 but we're moving in the right direction, hospitalizations the same. So please keep doing what you're doing. That's the continued message. The fall, colder weather do threaten some things. You need to get your flu vaccine, please, if you're able to do that.
Again, the vaccines are keeping everyone safe who is vaccinated. That's by far the most important thing you can do. We will continue to observe the mask mandate here locally and urge everyone to be careful and practice social distance because the Delta is still here, but we're moving in the right direction.
We're still worried about the winter, what that might do. You'll recall last winter we had a huge surge, of course, that was pre vaccines, but we still have many, many people who have not been vaccinated. And that means we're not sure how this will go. So keep being wary, but don't get weary of what we're doing. And again, thank you for everyone, your continued vigilance, your continued efforts. I'll keep giving these weekly reports. We're going in a positive direction. Very pleased with that for our community and everybody staying healthy and our economy recovering.
So that's a quick update this week and I'll be back in touch again. Thanks for all you're doing.
Our local counts were closer to 100 cases per 100,000. We were bumping up to 200 almost, and we want to get it much lower than that to 50 and eventually 10 cases per 100,000 but we're moving in the right direction, hospitalizations the same. So please keep doing what you're doing. That's the continued message. The fall, colder weather do threaten some things. You need to get your flu vaccine, please, if you're able to do that.
Again, the vaccines are keeping everyone safe who is vaccinated. That's by far the most important thing you can do. We will continue to observe the mask mandate here locally and urge everyone to be careful and practice social distance because the Delta is still here, but we're moving in the right direction.
We're still worried about the winter, what that might do. You'll recall last winter we had a huge surge, of course, that was pre vaccines, but we still have many, many people who have not been vaccinated. And that means we're not sure how this will go. So keep being wary, but don't get weary of what we're doing. And again, thank you for everyone, your continued vigilance, your continued efforts. I'll keep giving these weekly reports. We're going in a positive direction. Very pleased with that for our community and everybody staying healthy and our economy recovering.
So that's a quick update this week and I'll be back in touch again. Thanks for all you're doing.
- 1 participant
- 2 minutes
30 Aug 2021
In his weekly video update on the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Hamilton reminds residents that the number of new positive cases in the state has increased over the last two months from around 200-300/day to now 4,000-5,000/day. Protect yourself and our community by masking up and getting your vaccination. Go to ourshot.indiana.gov to find a walk-in appointment.
bloomington.in.gov/covid19
bloomington.in.gov/covid19
- 1 participant
- 3 minutes
27 Aug 2021
COVID-19 Press Conference–LIVE
Joining Mayor Hamilton on the call will be Monroe County Board of Commissioners’ President Julie Thomas, Monroe County Health Department Administrator Penny Caudill, IU Health South Central Region President Brian Shockney, and Indiana University Assistant Vice President for Strategic Partnerships and IUB COVID Response Unit (CRU) Lead Kirk White.
Joining Mayor Hamilton on the call will be Monroe County Board of Commissioners’ President Julie Thomas, Monroe County Health Department Administrator Penny Caudill, IU Health South Central Region President Brian Shockney, and Indiana University Assistant Vice President for Strategic Partnerships and IUB COVID Response Unit (CRU) Lead Kirk White.
- 6 participants
- 44 minutes
21 May 2021
Joining Mayor Hamilton on the call will be Monroe County Board of Commissioners’ President Julie Thomas, IU Health South Central Region President Brian Shockney, Monroe County Health Department Administrator Penny Caudill, Monroe County Emergency Management Director Allison Moore, and Indiana University Assistant Vice President for Strategic Partnerships and IUB COVID Response Unit (CRU) Lead Kirk White.
- 7 participants
- 46 minutes
10 May 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, it's Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, May 10th. Just giving another public update on how we're doing with the pandemic. Thanks for all that you're doing in the community. I have to say it's a confusing and careful time, continuing to watch what's going on. I'll give you a couple of data points today, but basically, we're still uncertain about the direction that our community is headed in our state. We see some concerning trends.
For example, our hospitalizations, if you look across the state in Indiana, have gone up over the last six or seven weeks from a census count of around 600, sometimes even over under 600, per day in the hospital being treated for COVID, to now it's over 900 around the state. That's a significant increase in hospitalizations. We have not seen a similar increase in deaths by the state average, still, really single digits per day, so that's a great relief. But having that increase in people who are hospitalized for COVID is of real concern.
Similarly, the case rate has gone up significantly, how many people are diagnosed with COVID. On the other hand, we know the vaccinations are going up too, but we've slowed down a lot in vaccinations. We reached a peak of over 50,000 vaccine shots being delivered a day some weeks back, and we're now in the mid 30,000s per day. So many fewer people are lining up to get the shots, but we're still way below where we want to get to in terms of the numbers.
So these are concerning trends. If you have not gotten vaccinated, please talk to your healthcare provider, talk to friends, talk to neighbors, family members who have been vaccinated about their experience. We know that vaccines will help us defeat this pandemic. Once you're vaccinated, I'm vaccinated plus two weeks now, you're able to do more things safely, that's a great thing, and I encourage you to do so.
So really this week is a continued kind of nervous watching, frankly, about where we are. Again, it is the vaccines that are going to win this battle. And the slowdown in vaccine rates is a concern because we're not nearly where we need to be, where we want to be. We'll keep watching. We'll keep you updated. Of course, the press conference every Friday afternoon at 1:15 gives timely data for a lot of us about that. But our community's continuing to watch so it is really important to keep doing the things that keep us safe, besides the vaccinations, with masking, distancing, as appropriate under the guidelines that the CDC and the state health department give.
So that's the update for this week. Thanks for keeping good care of yourself and our community and I'll be in touch again soon.
Hello, it's Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, May 10th. Just giving another public update on how we're doing with the pandemic. Thanks for all that you're doing in the community. I have to say it's a confusing and careful time, continuing to watch what's going on. I'll give you a couple of data points today, but basically, we're still uncertain about the direction that our community is headed in our state. We see some concerning trends.
For example, our hospitalizations, if you look across the state in Indiana, have gone up over the last six or seven weeks from a census count of around 600, sometimes even over under 600, per day in the hospital being treated for COVID, to now it's over 900 around the state. That's a significant increase in hospitalizations. We have not seen a similar increase in deaths by the state average, still, really single digits per day, so that's a great relief. But having that increase in people who are hospitalized for COVID is of real concern.
Similarly, the case rate has gone up significantly, how many people are diagnosed with COVID. On the other hand, we know the vaccinations are going up too, but we've slowed down a lot in vaccinations. We reached a peak of over 50,000 vaccine shots being delivered a day some weeks back, and we're now in the mid 30,000s per day. So many fewer people are lining up to get the shots, but we're still way below where we want to get to in terms of the numbers.
So these are concerning trends. If you have not gotten vaccinated, please talk to your healthcare provider, talk to friends, talk to neighbors, family members who have been vaccinated about their experience. We know that vaccines will help us defeat this pandemic. Once you're vaccinated, I'm vaccinated plus two weeks now, you're able to do more things safely, that's a great thing, and I encourage you to do so.
So really this week is a continued kind of nervous watching, frankly, about where we are. Again, it is the vaccines that are going to win this battle. And the slowdown in vaccine rates is a concern because we're not nearly where we need to be, where we want to be. We'll keep watching. We'll keep you updated. Of course, the press conference every Friday afternoon at 1:15 gives timely data for a lot of us about that. But our community's continuing to watch so it is really important to keep doing the things that keep us safe, besides the vaccinations, with masking, distancing, as appropriate under the guidelines that the CDC and the state health department give.
So that's the update for this week. Thanks for keeping good care of yourself and our community and I'll be in touch again soon.
- 1 participant
- 3 minutes
3 May 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, it's Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, May 3rd, 2021. Just giving a COVID update to the community. Thanks to those who pay attention to this. So the short answer is we're still really in an uncertain period. We have seen a flattening of curves in a good way in the hospitalizations and the positivity rate and the case numbers are not increasing the way they were over the last six weeks. We don't know if that's temporary or permanent. It's a good thing that they've kind of hit a plateau and paused, but it's still too high and of great concern.
The key of course is vaccinations. Please, those who get vaccinated, we need you to talk to others. I'm now fully vaccinated for two weeks. Many in our community are, but not nearly enough. So we need to continue to encourage all to get vaccinated. In addition, continuing to comply with the restrictions. If you're in crowded places, if you're unvaccinated, you need to keep masking, keep distancing, protecting yourself, even if you're fully vaccinated, the CDC guidelines are really important to watch, but they do let you meet with other fully vaccinated people, and that's one of the great things about getting fully vaccinated.
So a couple of really important notes of caution or concern. One, Indiana is among the slowest states in terms of looking at our total vaccinations. We're near the bottom of the pile of states in terms of how many of our people, what percent have been fully vaccinated. So that's of serious concern. Second, also at the state level, we see a much slower rate of daily vaccinations. The seven-day average of how many people are getting shots is down significantly in the last couple of weeks as fewer people are showing up every day to get shots, even though we're not halfway to where we need to get for herd immunity.
So these both are concerning signs and indicating that we may have trouble getting to that high level of herd vaccination. We're continuing as an employer in the city to offer a $100 wellness benefit to all of our employees. We've had nearly 300 qualify for that so far. I would encourage all employers, institutions in the city, community to think about how you can encourage your employees or your members to get vaccinated. That is how we're going to get out of this and it's worth it to get that number up to 70%, 80%. That's how we're going to end this pandemic.
So still a concern. We're going to continue to monitor the rules and behavior restrictions that we think are so important. We're retaining them at 15 for social gatherings in the city, but please get vaccinated and talk to those around you about getting vaccinated. If you have the chance to put policies in place to encourage that, I hope you will. That kind of leadership and helping move us forward will make a huge difference. Thanks. I'll talk to you again soon.
Hello, it's Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, May 3rd, 2021. Just giving a COVID update to the community. Thanks to those who pay attention to this. So the short answer is we're still really in an uncertain period. We have seen a flattening of curves in a good way in the hospitalizations and the positivity rate and the case numbers are not increasing the way they were over the last six weeks. We don't know if that's temporary or permanent. It's a good thing that they've kind of hit a plateau and paused, but it's still too high and of great concern.
The key of course is vaccinations. Please, those who get vaccinated, we need you to talk to others. I'm now fully vaccinated for two weeks. Many in our community are, but not nearly enough. So we need to continue to encourage all to get vaccinated. In addition, continuing to comply with the restrictions. If you're in crowded places, if you're unvaccinated, you need to keep masking, keep distancing, protecting yourself, even if you're fully vaccinated, the CDC guidelines are really important to watch, but they do let you meet with other fully vaccinated people, and that's one of the great things about getting fully vaccinated.
So a couple of really important notes of caution or concern. One, Indiana is among the slowest states in terms of looking at our total vaccinations. We're near the bottom of the pile of states in terms of how many of our people, what percent have been fully vaccinated. So that's of serious concern. Second, also at the state level, we see a much slower rate of daily vaccinations. The seven-day average of how many people are getting shots is down significantly in the last couple of weeks as fewer people are showing up every day to get shots, even though we're not halfway to where we need to get for herd immunity.
So these both are concerning signs and indicating that we may have trouble getting to that high level of herd vaccination. We're continuing as an employer in the city to offer a $100 wellness benefit to all of our employees. We've had nearly 300 qualify for that so far. I would encourage all employers, institutions in the city, community to think about how you can encourage your employees or your members to get vaccinated. That is how we're going to get out of this and it's worth it to get that number up to 70%, 80%. That's how we're going to end this pandemic.
So still a concern. We're going to continue to monitor the rules and behavior restrictions that we think are so important. We're retaining them at 15 for social gatherings in the city, but please get vaccinated and talk to those around you about getting vaccinated. If you have the chance to put policies in place to encourage that, I hope you will. That kind of leadership and helping move us forward will make a huge difference. Thanks. I'll talk to you again soon.
- 1 participant
- 3 minutes
26 Apr 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, April 26th, sharing this news with the public. Thanks to those who follow this. Quickly, we continue to be very concerned locally here about the pandemic going in the wrong direction generally over the last four to six weeks on cases, on positivity, on hospitalizations. We're concerned about that. If you watch the national news, you know that the background level of infection is too high. That's true locally as well.
Getting the vaccine is how we're going to get out of this. We are only, not even, halfway toward where we need to get in terms of the number of people getting that vaccine. Please, if you have not been vaccinated, please do so. If you're concerned about it, talk to your healthcare provider, talk to your friends, talk to your neighbors. If you've been vaccinated and know people who are hesitant, please talk to them. I'm fully vaccinated now. It feels good. It's how we're going to get out of this.
We're going to continue to look at how we can incentivize people. We've had 220 city employees apply for the hundred-dollar wellness benefit. I hope more employers might consider encouraging their employees, or institutions, their members, to get vaccinated because that is how we're going to get through this pandemic, and we are not out of it yet. Masking and
distancing are critically important.
Just last week we had a 400-500 person party take place off-campus in a student-oriented apartment building. That's a terrible, bad choice. We're pursuing what discipline we can with IU's help on that. People are not behaving as if this is still a pandemic, but it is. So I don't want to be the harbinger of really negative news, but we could be in this for a long time still if we don't buckle down and get the vaccines done. So we expect the access will be opening up to vaccines. So please, please, please get the shot in the arm, that will help us all be safer. If you have questions, again, talk to your health provider. You're welcome to reach out to our office as well.
Last note this week, I just want to mention, if you're interested, there's a city survey on the street. We do a scientific reach out to 3000 households for a scientific sample, but we're also now open that survey to anybody who wants to respond. We welcome your views. You can check out our website, the city website. You can find the survey there, take it online. I encourage you to do that to let us know what you think about the city.
So I'll keep in touch with you about this. It is a sobering time to remember here in April, 14 months after we started, we're still in this pandemic and we need to take important steps to get out. Thank you for all you're doing, and I'll be happy to talk to you. Call our office if you have questions. Otherwise, I'll talk to you next week.
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, April 26th, sharing this news with the public. Thanks to those who follow this. Quickly, we continue to be very concerned locally here about the pandemic going in the wrong direction generally over the last four to six weeks on cases, on positivity, on hospitalizations. We're concerned about that. If you watch the national news, you know that the background level of infection is too high. That's true locally as well.
Getting the vaccine is how we're going to get out of this. We are only, not even, halfway toward where we need to get in terms of the number of people getting that vaccine. Please, if you have not been vaccinated, please do so. If you're concerned about it, talk to your healthcare provider, talk to your friends, talk to your neighbors. If you've been vaccinated and know people who are hesitant, please talk to them. I'm fully vaccinated now. It feels good. It's how we're going to get out of this.
We're going to continue to look at how we can incentivize people. We've had 220 city employees apply for the hundred-dollar wellness benefit. I hope more employers might consider encouraging their employees, or institutions, their members, to get vaccinated because that is how we're going to get through this pandemic, and we are not out of it yet. Masking and
distancing are critically important.
Just last week we had a 400-500 person party take place off-campus in a student-oriented apartment building. That's a terrible, bad choice. We're pursuing what discipline we can with IU's help on that. People are not behaving as if this is still a pandemic, but it is. So I don't want to be the harbinger of really negative news, but we could be in this for a long time still if we don't buckle down and get the vaccines done. So we expect the access will be opening up to vaccines. So please, please, please get the shot in the arm, that will help us all be safer. If you have questions, again, talk to your health provider. You're welcome to reach out to our office as well.
Last note this week, I just want to mention, if you're interested, there's a city survey on the street. We do a scientific reach out to 3000 households for a scientific sample, but we're also now open that survey to anybody who wants to respond. We welcome your views. You can check out our website, the city website. You can find the survey there, take it online. I encourage you to do that to let us know what you think about the city.
So I'll keep in touch with you about this. It is a sobering time to remember here in April, 14 months after we started, we're still in this pandemic and we need to take important steps to get out. Thank you for all you're doing, and I'll be happy to talk to you. Call our office if you have questions. Otherwise, I'll talk to you next week.
- 1 participant
- 3 minutes
12 Apr 2021
This week's COVID-19 update is provided by Director of Public Engagement Mary Catherine Carmichael.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, and welcome to Mayor John Hamilton's weekly COVID-19 update. Obviously, I am not Mayor John Hamilton. I'm Mary Catherine Carmichael, and I'm the Director of Public Engagement for the City of Bloomington. I'm filling in for Mayor Hamilton this week.
We've got three quick topics to touch on. The first one is the mask mandate. That remains in place. It's a little confusing. Last week, Governor Holcomb announced that the mask mandate was no longer a mandate in the State of Indiana. In other words, it would be optional. And one of the options that Governor Holcomb left open is for local municipalities and other governmental entities to keep the mask mandate in place. That is what your local government here in Monroe County has chosen to do. So in Monroe County, in the City of Bloomington, and on the campus of Indiana University, you are still required to wear a mask when in public unless eating. So please, we ask that you continue to do that.
And that does lead me to another topic, which is we've been contacted by local business owners. Specifically, we've heard from several operators of restaurants and nightspots who are having some difficulty with compliance, with people wearing their masks and the public pushing back when employees ask them to please keep their masks on appropriately. Let's not put those folks who are there to bring us food and beverages, let's not put them in the position of having to serve as the mask police too.
We ask that you please cooperate. And there's signage on the doors of these businesses. They'll tell you what the rules are inside their establishment and we ask that you please follow those rules.
In the City of Bloomington, we have about 850 employees, and so far 77 of those have received positive COVID-19 diagnoses. Most recently we had two employees who identified as having a positive diagnosis. So they are recovering. We're happy to report that all the other employees have also recovered. So just an update on that. If you want more information about how the City of Bloomington is handling the COVID-19 pandemic, more information is always available at bloomington.in.gov. And right on the homepage, you'll see, there'll be a button that says "COVID-19." Press on that and you'll find a lot of additional information available to you.
Finally, I'd like to touch on what is possibly the most important topic of all, and that's vaccinations. As you know, those are now available in the State of Indiana to everyone 16 years and older. Please don't hesitate to take advantage of this opportunity. There are three different vaccinations available. They're all great. They've all been tested by millions of people across the country with great success. So please go to ourshot.in.gov, or just call 211 and you'll get the help you need to get that vaccination process started.
It's the absolute most important thing we can do to slow down the spread of the variants and basically to just bring this to a close as quickly as we possibly can. I know we're all tired of this pandemic and this is what we can do as individuals to make this end as fast as possible.
So thank you for your time. I appreciate it. And Mayor John Hamilton will be back with you next week. Have a great week.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, and welcome to Mayor John Hamilton's weekly COVID-19 update. Obviously, I am not Mayor John Hamilton. I'm Mary Catherine Carmichael, and I'm the Director of Public Engagement for the City of Bloomington. I'm filling in for Mayor Hamilton this week.
We've got three quick topics to touch on. The first one is the mask mandate. That remains in place. It's a little confusing. Last week, Governor Holcomb announced that the mask mandate was no longer a mandate in the State of Indiana. In other words, it would be optional. And one of the options that Governor Holcomb left open is for local municipalities and other governmental entities to keep the mask mandate in place. That is what your local government here in Monroe County has chosen to do. So in Monroe County, in the City of Bloomington, and on the campus of Indiana University, you are still required to wear a mask when in public unless eating. So please, we ask that you continue to do that.
And that does lead me to another topic, which is we've been contacted by local business owners. Specifically, we've heard from several operators of restaurants and nightspots who are having some difficulty with compliance, with people wearing their masks and the public pushing back when employees ask them to please keep their masks on appropriately. Let's not put those folks who are there to bring us food and beverages, let's not put them in the position of having to serve as the mask police too.
We ask that you please cooperate. And there's signage on the doors of these businesses. They'll tell you what the rules are inside their establishment and we ask that you please follow those rules.
In the City of Bloomington, we have about 850 employees, and so far 77 of those have received positive COVID-19 diagnoses. Most recently we had two employees who identified as having a positive diagnosis. So they are recovering. We're happy to report that all the other employees have also recovered. So just an update on that. If you want more information about how the City of Bloomington is handling the COVID-19 pandemic, more information is always available at bloomington.in.gov. And right on the homepage, you'll see, there'll be a button that says "COVID-19." Press on that and you'll find a lot of additional information available to you.
Finally, I'd like to touch on what is possibly the most important topic of all, and that's vaccinations. As you know, those are now available in the State of Indiana to everyone 16 years and older. Please don't hesitate to take advantage of this opportunity. There are three different vaccinations available. They're all great. They've all been tested by millions of people across the country with great success. So please go to ourshot.in.gov, or just call 211 and you'll get the help you need to get that vaccination process started.
It's the absolute most important thing we can do to slow down the spread of the variants and basically to just bring this to a close as quickly as we possibly can. I know we're all tired of this pandemic and this is what we can do as individuals to make this end as fast as possible.
So thank you for your time. I appreciate it. And Mayor John Hamilton will be back with you next week. Have a great week.
- 1 participant
- 4 minutes
29 Mar 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, March 29th, 2021. Just a quick update on the pandemic for the community. Numbers are good, definitely better than they were in the winter. We've improved a lot, but it's important to notice that there are some upticks in some of these basic numbers that we're watching. CDC director, Walensky, a few weeks ago said, "We always have to be humble with this pandemic, with this virus. When we think we have it understood, sometimes it fools us." Just a couple of days ago, she said she's scared about where we are because we're really in a race between vaccinations and infections. Nationally, we're seeing some rise in the basic numbers of infections, positivity rates, hospitalizations, even deaths nationally have gone up again. Not anything like we've seen before, but concerning. We need to be very careful.
We need to continue to mask and physically distance and don't share air if you don't have to. At least not if it's not with people who are all vaccinated, that's critical. When it's your turn, please get a vaccination. I've had my first shot and I have my next one in a week. I'm looking forward to that. That's going to be how we beat the pandemic. So until then stay the course, keep at it, we're doing a lot locally. We just had visits to shelters for people experiencing homelessness, with dozens and dozens, scores of shots delivered late last week, getting to home-bound people, filling up all the slots for vaccinations.
We hope to get more vaccines coming in, in the weeks ahead. It is critically important that we all get vaccinated unless your healthcare provider recommends otherwise, these are safe, effective, critically important vaccines. So thanks for doing your part to get vaccinated. Thanks for protecting each other as we go. I'll keep you posted. There'll be another press conference on Friday, but we must not be thinking we're out of the woods. We have to be humble. We got to pay attention and stay the course. Thanks for what you're doing.
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, March 29th, 2021. Just a quick update on the pandemic for the community. Numbers are good, definitely better than they were in the winter. We've improved a lot, but it's important to notice that there are some upticks in some of these basic numbers that we're watching. CDC director, Walensky, a few weeks ago said, "We always have to be humble with this pandemic, with this virus. When we think we have it understood, sometimes it fools us." Just a couple of days ago, she said she's scared about where we are because we're really in a race between vaccinations and infections. Nationally, we're seeing some rise in the basic numbers of infections, positivity rates, hospitalizations, even deaths nationally have gone up again. Not anything like we've seen before, but concerning. We need to be very careful.
We need to continue to mask and physically distance and don't share air if you don't have to. At least not if it's not with people who are all vaccinated, that's critical. When it's your turn, please get a vaccination. I've had my first shot and I have my next one in a week. I'm looking forward to that. That's going to be how we beat the pandemic. So until then stay the course, keep at it, we're doing a lot locally. We just had visits to shelters for people experiencing homelessness, with dozens and dozens, scores of shots delivered late last week, getting to home-bound people, filling up all the slots for vaccinations.
We hope to get more vaccines coming in, in the weeks ahead. It is critically important that we all get vaccinated unless your healthcare provider recommends otherwise, these are safe, effective, critically important vaccines. So thanks for doing your part to get vaccinated. Thanks for protecting each other as we go. I'll keep you posted. There'll be another press conference on Friday, but we must not be thinking we're out of the woods. We have to be humble. We got to pay attention and stay the course. Thanks for what you're doing.
- 1 participant
- 2 minutes
16 Feb 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello. This is Mayor Hamilton. It's Tuesday, February 16th. Just a quick message to the public updating again about COVID and pandemic and what's happening in the city.
This being February, we continue to see in this month progress, good numbers overall in the community and in the state as our numbers of hospitalizations and daily cases and daily death all are in the right direction; reducing. We are not out of the woods. Vaccinations continue; many hundreds every day. This week has been a little challenging. We have some pretty exceptional weather that is changing some rhythms, but for those of you who are in line for vaccinations, just please stay by the phone or email and check with your provider if you have concerns about whether they're open on a particular day. That will continue.
We are going to continue to monitor and make sure we keep plugging along with the masking, the distancing, all the protocols that help so much. We've seen that benefit in our workforce as February has had fewer positive cases than January did, which was lower than December. So all that's moving in the right direction. But again, we're not out of the woods. We know new variants are likely to be here. Some predict they will be the dominant strain, this more infectious and potentially more deadly strain could become the dominant strain by next month. So keep doing what you're doing. We're going to continue to do what we do here locally to monitor things. IU's doing major testing and getting good results as they see the students coming back.
The old saying, "30 days has September, April, June, and November, and February is endless." We're in the middle of a short month, but it's a slog to get through this. Thanks for hanging in there. We need to keep doing what we're doing and I'll keep you updated. Again, there's a press conference every Friday at 1:15 PM if you want more detail. You can check that out online as well. Thanks for all you're doing and let's stay warm and watch out for your neighbors this week too to see any who might need help.
Hello. This is Mayor Hamilton. It's Tuesday, February 16th. Just a quick message to the public updating again about COVID and pandemic and what's happening in the city.
This being February, we continue to see in this month progress, good numbers overall in the community and in the state as our numbers of hospitalizations and daily cases and daily death all are in the right direction; reducing. We are not out of the woods. Vaccinations continue; many hundreds every day. This week has been a little challenging. We have some pretty exceptional weather that is changing some rhythms, but for those of you who are in line for vaccinations, just please stay by the phone or email and check with your provider if you have concerns about whether they're open on a particular day. That will continue.
We are going to continue to monitor and make sure we keep plugging along with the masking, the distancing, all the protocols that help so much. We've seen that benefit in our workforce as February has had fewer positive cases than January did, which was lower than December. So all that's moving in the right direction. But again, we're not out of the woods. We know new variants are likely to be here. Some predict they will be the dominant strain, this more infectious and potentially more deadly strain could become the dominant strain by next month. So keep doing what you're doing. We're going to continue to do what we do here locally to monitor things. IU's doing major testing and getting good results as they see the students coming back.
The old saying, "30 days has September, April, June, and November, and February is endless." We're in the middle of a short month, but it's a slog to get through this. Thanks for hanging in there. We need to keep doing what we're doing and I'll keep you updated. Again, there's a press conference every Friday at 1:15 PM if you want more detail. You can check that out online as well. Thanks for all you're doing and let's stay warm and watch out for your neighbors this week too to see any who might need help.
- 1 participant
- 2 minutes
1 Feb 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello. This is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, February 1st. Just wanted to give a public update on how things are going, particularly in the pandemic. We continue to see good directional movement in local and state case numbers, deaths, hospitalizations. That's very good, continuing to do what we are all doing to help move those numbers in the right directions. Vaccinations are continuing to be done every day, six days a week, anyway, with IU Health reporting about 15,000 doses administered so far, County Health, about 1,400. We're hoping to continue to see that grow. That's important. That vaccination is how we're going to defeat this pandemic. So, we're very glad to see that going. So, there are good directions.
I do want to note, there is real concern still out there. We cannot let up our vigilance and determination to keep doing the right things, both because we will have thousands of students returning to IU from different places, all around the state, all around the country. And that is a period of risk. Second, because we do know, the experts tell us these variants, these mutations of the COVID-19 disease are real, in fact, they may come to predominate our infections in the weeks ahead, and that could cause challenges, surges. There are some indicating big, big, big concerns coming at us. So, we need to keep our wits about us and our vigilance. I'm not, personally, I don't think it was a good move, at the state level, to relax some of the restrictions in these coming weeks. Things are going well. Let's keep the restrictions. I hope we do that locally. I will advocate for that, to do that, to keep us all safe.
So, good signals, good directions. We're protecting each other. That's the right thing to do. We will continue to urge that. Of course, every Friday, there's a press conference that we do at 1:15, and I really appreciate it. January, we had fewer cases in city employees than we did in December. That's also a good indicator. We'll keep letting you know what's going on. And in the meantime, keep masking, distancing, protecting each other. And when it's your turn to be vaccinated, please do go and get the vaccine. That's how we're going to get out of this. Thanks so much.
Hello. This is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, February 1st. Just wanted to give a public update on how things are going, particularly in the pandemic. We continue to see good directional movement in local and state case numbers, deaths, hospitalizations. That's very good, continuing to do what we are all doing to help move those numbers in the right directions. Vaccinations are continuing to be done every day, six days a week, anyway, with IU Health reporting about 15,000 doses administered so far, County Health, about 1,400. We're hoping to continue to see that grow. That's important. That vaccination is how we're going to defeat this pandemic. So, we're very glad to see that going. So, there are good directions.
I do want to note, there is real concern still out there. We cannot let up our vigilance and determination to keep doing the right things, both because we will have thousands of students returning to IU from different places, all around the state, all around the country. And that is a period of risk. Second, because we do know, the experts tell us these variants, these mutations of the COVID-19 disease are real, in fact, they may come to predominate our infections in the weeks ahead, and that could cause challenges, surges. There are some indicating big, big, big concerns coming at us. So, we need to keep our wits about us and our vigilance. I'm not, personally, I don't think it was a good move, at the state level, to relax some of the restrictions in these coming weeks. Things are going well. Let's keep the restrictions. I hope we do that locally. I will advocate for that, to do that, to keep us all safe.
So, good signals, good directions. We're protecting each other. That's the right thing to do. We will continue to urge that. Of course, every Friday, there's a press conference that we do at 1:15, and I really appreciate it. January, we had fewer cases in city employees than we did in December. That's also a good indicator. We'll keep letting you know what's going on. And in the meantime, keep masking, distancing, protecting each other. And when it's your turn to be vaccinated, please do go and get the vaccine. That's how we're going to get out of this. Thanks so much.
- 1 participant
- 3 minutes
25 Jan 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, January 25th. Just wanted to share this message with the public. Obviously a big week last week in terms of the federal government, a new administration with the Biden administration. And I'm very pleased that they have released a very detailed, extensive report on response and plan, work plan on response to the pandemic with a commitment to at least a hundred million vaccinations in the first 100 days as a goal, and including invoking the National Defense Production Act to help make sure we have all the supplies needed to get those vaccines into arms. All that's good. We look forward to working closely on those matters.
Locally, as of last Friday, there were over 12,000 vaccinations that had been given by IU Health, about 800 or so by the County Health Department. We're continuing to report weekly on the amount of vaccines that's been received and the number of vaccinations that would have been delivered locally. That number will keep going up and we'll be reporting on that, monitoring that very closely because it's the vaccines, those vaccinations into arms that will really help us get control of this pandemic. We are glad to see that many of the major indicators, case numbers, hospitalizations, deaths are generally trending in the right direction locally, as well as in the state. It's not true all around the country.
We don't know if that will continue. There are certain risk factors ahead with the new strains of the virus, with thousands of students coming back in early February, and other matters. So we really need to keep doing what we're doing, which is masking, physically distancing, doing good hygiene, don't share air if you don't have to. We will get through this, but as the president has said, it's likely to get worse before it gets better. I really appreciate all the community's doing on that. We will continue to report every Friday afternoon, the details of where we are on this health crisis and we're going to continue to work in the city government.
If you get a chance to thank a city worker who's out there every day, helping make the city work, I sure appreciate it. I know they appreciate a kind word, a thank you. So keep doing what you're doing. I'll keep reporting on how we're doing and I will say I'm optimistic and hopeful that the new administration with a focus on science and listening to the experts and working with real federal leadership can help move us forward, but hard work ahead. Thanks for all you're doing, and I'll get back in touch with you next week.
Hello, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, January 25th. Just wanted to share this message with the public. Obviously a big week last week in terms of the federal government, a new administration with the Biden administration. And I'm very pleased that they have released a very detailed, extensive report on response and plan, work plan on response to the pandemic with a commitment to at least a hundred million vaccinations in the first 100 days as a goal, and including invoking the National Defense Production Act to help make sure we have all the supplies needed to get those vaccines into arms. All that's good. We look forward to working closely on those matters.
Locally, as of last Friday, there were over 12,000 vaccinations that had been given by IU Health, about 800 or so by the County Health Department. We're continuing to report weekly on the amount of vaccines that's been received and the number of vaccinations that would have been delivered locally. That number will keep going up and we'll be reporting on that, monitoring that very closely because it's the vaccines, those vaccinations into arms that will really help us get control of this pandemic. We are glad to see that many of the major indicators, case numbers, hospitalizations, deaths are generally trending in the right direction locally, as well as in the state. It's not true all around the country.
We don't know if that will continue. There are certain risk factors ahead with the new strains of the virus, with thousands of students coming back in early February, and other matters. So we really need to keep doing what we're doing, which is masking, physically distancing, doing good hygiene, don't share air if you don't have to. We will get through this, but as the president has said, it's likely to get worse before it gets better. I really appreciate all the community's doing on that. We will continue to report every Friday afternoon, the details of where we are on this health crisis and we're going to continue to work in the city government.
If you get a chance to thank a city worker who's out there every day, helping make the city work, I sure appreciate it. I know they appreciate a kind word, a thank you. So keep doing what you're doing. I'll keep reporting on how we're doing and I will say I'm optimistic and hopeful that the new administration with a focus on science and listening to the experts and working with real federal leadership can help move us forward, but hard work ahead. Thanks for all you're doing, and I'll get back in touch with you next week.
- 1 participant
- 3 minutes
18 Jan 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, January 18th, 2021. So first to all in Bloomington, happy Martin Luther King Day. I hope you take some time today to think about that great American hero, his work on behalf of all of us for a better future, working on racial justice, working on civil justice, peace, and equity to all. We usually have a day on, not a day off. That's obviously different this year, but I hope you will spend some time today thinking about and committing to how to make our community more like the beloved community Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. advocated and committed his life to. There is a King service tonight that we usually do at seven o'clock if you want to join that remotely.
Second, an update on COVID, Indiana continues to have a real surge though we are seeing in the data, some improvements in the hospitalizations, in the death rate, in the case rate. We hope that will continue.
It will only continue if we continue to do the things we need to do of masking, physical distancing, continuing good hygiene, and getting your vaccinations. Please do when you're eligible for vaccination, if you're 70 or over in age, or if you're a first responder, direct health care worker, please do get vaccinated. That is how we will beat this pandemic. Monroe County, our Bloomington community, continues to be among the best scoring, if you will, in the state, top three counties in terms of some of those metrics that are used, but we know we have the surge here as well. So, be careful. Don't share air if you don't need to, we're going to continue to work to improve the situation. There are something in the order of seven or 800 vaccinations being delivered a day, shots into the arms, six days a week here in Bloomington.
And we hope that can even increase further, so keep an eye out for that. Please get vaccinated when you can and continue the precautions. Lastly, I thought I might just mention today, some of the work we're doing on homelessness, I know that's been an issue. It is an issue during COVID times to help our residents who don't have homes right now. The shelters have done a great job of making space available, improving the distancing. There's only been a handful of COVID positive cases in emergency shelters through this whole 10 month period, which is a testament to their real professionalism and dedication to this. We do not believe, we in the city, that it is safe to live outdoors in Indiana winters. The CDC guidelines, which we pay a great deal of attention to and support, recommend that if you can, it is better to be in an indoor space with weather like this, we know.
We have emergency shelter beds that are available every night for people who otherwise might be staying outside. It is far safer to be in those shelters. It includes hotel rooms, for those who face COVID, it includes emergency shelter beds, even overnight places. You don't need to sleep if you want to go there. So, we're going to continue to reach out to our residents who are facing these kinds of challenges. I care deeply about it and I know our community does too, to help folks get better options. We had an individual die on December 24th, Christmas Eve, from exposure in Seminary Park area, and we do not want to lose anyone else. So, we're working very hard to make sure we can help people get into safer spaces, as well as continuing to support the building of more housing. Celebrating Martin Luther King's Day, please let's all think about how we can continue to improve our community, continue to protect the health as we've talked about what we need to do, and we'll be working together as a community to get through this. Thanks very much and I'll talk to you again soon.
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, January 18th, 2021. So first to all in Bloomington, happy Martin Luther King Day. I hope you take some time today to think about that great American hero, his work on behalf of all of us for a better future, working on racial justice, working on civil justice, peace, and equity to all. We usually have a day on, not a day off. That's obviously different this year, but I hope you will spend some time today thinking about and committing to how to make our community more like the beloved community Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. advocated and committed his life to. There is a King service tonight that we usually do at seven o'clock if you want to join that remotely.
Second, an update on COVID, Indiana continues to have a real surge though we are seeing in the data, some improvements in the hospitalizations, in the death rate, in the case rate. We hope that will continue.
It will only continue if we continue to do the things we need to do of masking, physical distancing, continuing good hygiene, and getting your vaccinations. Please do when you're eligible for vaccination, if you're 70 or over in age, or if you're a first responder, direct health care worker, please do get vaccinated. That is how we will beat this pandemic. Monroe County, our Bloomington community, continues to be among the best scoring, if you will, in the state, top three counties in terms of some of those metrics that are used, but we know we have the surge here as well. So, be careful. Don't share air if you don't need to, we're going to continue to work to improve the situation. There are something in the order of seven or 800 vaccinations being delivered a day, shots into the arms, six days a week here in Bloomington.
And we hope that can even increase further, so keep an eye out for that. Please get vaccinated when you can and continue the precautions. Lastly, I thought I might just mention today, some of the work we're doing on homelessness, I know that's been an issue. It is an issue during COVID times to help our residents who don't have homes right now. The shelters have done a great job of making space available, improving the distancing. There's only been a handful of COVID positive cases in emergency shelters through this whole 10 month period, which is a testament to their real professionalism and dedication to this. We do not believe, we in the city, that it is safe to live outdoors in Indiana winters. The CDC guidelines, which we pay a great deal of attention to and support, recommend that if you can, it is better to be in an indoor space with weather like this, we know.
We have emergency shelter beds that are available every night for people who otherwise might be staying outside. It is far safer to be in those shelters. It includes hotel rooms, for those who face COVID, it includes emergency shelter beds, even overnight places. You don't need to sleep if you want to go there. So, we're going to continue to reach out to our residents who are facing these kinds of challenges. I care deeply about it and I know our community does too, to help folks get better options. We had an individual die on December 24th, Christmas Eve, from exposure in Seminary Park area, and we do not want to lose anyone else. So, we're working very hard to make sure we can help people get into safer spaces, as well as continuing to support the building of more housing. Celebrating Martin Luther King's Day, please let's all think about how we can continue to improve our community, continue to protect the health as we've talked about what we need to do, and we'll be working together as a community to get through this. Thanks very much and I'll talk to you again soon.
- 1 participant
- 4 minutes
12 Jan 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Tuesday, January 12th, 2021. Thanks for being part of listening to these videos. I just wanted to give an update to the community. Again, I do have to notice six days since the incredible, terrible assault on the US Capitol by people trying to disrupt the democratic process and peaceful transfer of power that we've seen for 240 plus years. It was surreal and terrible. Accountability must be pursued aggressively. And I hope we all can support the importance of making sure our government works, that our government tells the truth, that our government follows the law and not spread misinformation, disinformation. And our hearts go out to those who were injured or lost lives, their families, and reminding us how important it is to share information and a belief in that rule of law. And I just hope we never see that again, but moving on to the local updates on what's going on here and sharing information.
In terms of COVID, we continue to have good and bad stories. The bad stories are we are still in the midst of a very challenging pandemic and while our state is not doing as badly as some other places in the country, and our county is among the very best communities in this state in terms of what we see. We still are suffering. We've had over 100 deaths. We've now crossed that threshold locally. Our hospitals are very busy trying to take care of everybody. It's a very pressing time for all who deal with this pandemic. So, please continue to wear your mask, physically distance, good hygiene that you know how to do and you've been doing, most of us, quite well.
The good news is vaccinations are happening. We've received about 7,500 doses as of last week and more than 5,000 people have been vaccinated in our community. There are three channels of vaccinations happening. IU Health at the hospital is the main high number channel right now. All by appointment, but reach out to them if you're one of the qualifying, either a direct caregiver, a person in a long-term care facility, or now, anyone over 80 years old. Second is the Monroe County Health Department is directly doing vaccinations. It'll be at the convention center, again by appointment only. And third, there are entities like CVS and perhaps others that are directly reaching out to long-term care facilities to provide vaccinations. So every Friday we will continue to give the number update on how many vaccination doses have been received and how many vaccinations have been delivered into arms, both first round and second round.
This is a challenge to try and get everybody vaccinated. This is how we will beat the pandemic and get out of this. So please, when it is your turn, get vaccinated. We have police officers, firefighters, and others now getting vaccinated. And of course, healthcare workers, the elderly. This is how we do this. It's a safe vaccine. It's been approved. If you have individual reasons not to, please talk to your doctor, physician, health advisor, but that's the update for this week.
It's both good and the bad in terms of the pandemic. We will continue to share that information weekly and please do your part. Continue to mass, continue to do those protections, and we'll continue to try and do everything we can to get those doses into the arms of all our people. And we'll get out of this pandemic. Thanks for all that you do and I'll update you again next week.
Hello, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Tuesday, January 12th, 2021. Thanks for being part of listening to these videos. I just wanted to give an update to the community. Again, I do have to notice six days since the incredible, terrible assault on the US Capitol by people trying to disrupt the democratic process and peaceful transfer of power that we've seen for 240 plus years. It was surreal and terrible. Accountability must be pursued aggressively. And I hope we all can support the importance of making sure our government works, that our government tells the truth, that our government follows the law and not spread misinformation, disinformation. And our hearts go out to those who were injured or lost lives, their families, and reminding us how important it is to share information and a belief in that rule of law. And I just hope we never see that again, but moving on to the local updates on what's going on here and sharing information.
In terms of COVID, we continue to have good and bad stories. The bad stories are we are still in the midst of a very challenging pandemic and while our state is not doing as badly as some other places in the country, and our county is among the very best communities in this state in terms of what we see. We still are suffering. We've had over 100 deaths. We've now crossed that threshold locally. Our hospitals are very busy trying to take care of everybody. It's a very pressing time for all who deal with this pandemic. So, please continue to wear your mask, physically distance, good hygiene that you know how to do and you've been doing, most of us, quite well.
The good news is vaccinations are happening. We've received about 7,500 doses as of last week and more than 5,000 people have been vaccinated in our community. There are three channels of vaccinations happening. IU Health at the hospital is the main high number channel right now. All by appointment, but reach out to them if you're one of the qualifying, either a direct caregiver, a person in a long-term care facility, or now, anyone over 80 years old. Second is the Monroe County Health Department is directly doing vaccinations. It'll be at the convention center, again by appointment only. And third, there are entities like CVS and perhaps others that are directly reaching out to long-term care facilities to provide vaccinations. So every Friday we will continue to give the number update on how many vaccination doses have been received and how many vaccinations have been delivered into arms, both first round and second round.
This is a challenge to try and get everybody vaccinated. This is how we will beat the pandemic and get out of this. So please, when it is your turn, get vaccinated. We have police officers, firefighters, and others now getting vaccinated. And of course, healthcare workers, the elderly. This is how we do this. It's a safe vaccine. It's been approved. If you have individual reasons not to, please talk to your doctor, physician, health advisor, but that's the update for this week.
It's both good and the bad in terms of the pandemic. We will continue to share that information weekly and please do your part. Continue to mass, continue to do those protections, and we'll continue to try and do everything we can to get those doses into the arms of all our people. And we'll get out of this pandemic. Thanks for all that you do and I'll update you again next week.
- 1 participant
- 4 minutes
4 Jan 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, January 4th, 2021. Happy new year to you all. First message to the public this new year. Just quickly want to give you some updates at closed the year with thanks to everybody. I'll extend that again for all the great work, collaborative work, over the last nine, 10 months dealing with the pandemic. We are not out of the woods. There are very serious community spreads still going on. We're losing an average of one person to death a day in the County, and we see the incredibly important need to continue to wear masks, physically distance, wash your hands. Don't share air with people that you are not in your household.
I did want to give an update on the vaccines because that's certainly something we're looking forward to this year. Every Friday afternoon, by the way, we will continue the press conferences to update you on that. The most recent information I have is from Wednesday, December 30th, at which point we had received locally over 7,000 doses of vaccine. 3000 of the Pfizer and 4,400 of the Moderna. All the Pfizer vaccines have been given. The IU Health is giving over 500 shots a day at their facility downtown, and people are getting their schedule for that. We've had firefighters getting. Of course, it's focused on frontline workers, healthcare workers right now, and that will continue.
We will update the community regularly on how many vaccine doses we've received, and how many have been given to the public as we do. We'll also keep you informed about who is prioritized in group 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, etc., as we try following the public health guidelines set by the state. To make sure that we get the vaccines to those who need them most, who can do the best to help knock down this pandemic. So watch out for that. Again, know that more than 500 shots a day are happening right in our community, and we'll continue to keep you updated about that. That is ultimately how we're going to knockdown. This pandemic is getting most of us vaccinated.
Please when it's your turn, do get vaccinated. I will get vaccinated when it's my turn. And that's how we're going to knock this down. In the meantime, pay attention to the news, keep watching for what's coming at us. We do very much hope that 2021 will be the year that we can get everyone vaccinated, and stem the tide on this. In the meantime, though, again, be careful. Take care of each other by wearing a mask, physically distancing, washing hands. Don't go to work if you're sick. Don't share air with people not in your household.
So, welcome to 2021. We turned the page to a new year. We still have a lot of the same challenges, and we can talk more about those. If you have questions, reach out. But the vaccine is here. That's two of them are here. That's a very good thing. We're getting hundreds of people vaccinated every day, and that's a very good thing. So keep plugging, hang in there. Keep taking care of yourself and our community the way you do, and I'll be giving you updates regularly.
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, January 4th, 2021. Happy new year to you all. First message to the public this new year. Just quickly want to give you some updates at closed the year with thanks to everybody. I'll extend that again for all the great work, collaborative work, over the last nine, 10 months dealing with the pandemic. We are not out of the woods. There are very serious community spreads still going on. We're losing an average of one person to death a day in the County, and we see the incredibly important need to continue to wear masks, physically distance, wash your hands. Don't share air with people that you are not in your household.
I did want to give an update on the vaccines because that's certainly something we're looking forward to this year. Every Friday afternoon, by the way, we will continue the press conferences to update you on that. The most recent information I have is from Wednesday, December 30th, at which point we had received locally over 7,000 doses of vaccine. 3000 of the Pfizer and 4,400 of the Moderna. All the Pfizer vaccines have been given. The IU Health is giving over 500 shots a day at their facility downtown, and people are getting their schedule for that. We've had firefighters getting. Of course, it's focused on frontline workers, healthcare workers right now, and that will continue.
We will update the community regularly on how many vaccine doses we've received, and how many have been given to the public as we do. We'll also keep you informed about who is prioritized in group 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, etc., as we try following the public health guidelines set by the state. To make sure that we get the vaccines to those who need them most, who can do the best to help knock down this pandemic. So watch out for that. Again, know that more than 500 shots a day are happening right in our community, and we'll continue to keep you updated about that. That is ultimately how we're going to knockdown. This pandemic is getting most of us vaccinated.
Please when it's your turn, do get vaccinated. I will get vaccinated when it's my turn. And that's how we're going to knock this down. In the meantime, pay attention to the news, keep watching for what's coming at us. We do very much hope that 2021 will be the year that we can get everyone vaccinated, and stem the tide on this. In the meantime, though, again, be careful. Take care of each other by wearing a mask, physically distancing, washing hands. Don't go to work if you're sick. Don't share air with people not in your household.
So, welcome to 2021. We turned the page to a new year. We still have a lot of the same challenges, and we can talk more about those. If you have questions, reach out. But the vaccine is here. That's two of them are here. That's a very good thing. We're getting hundreds of people vaccinated every day, and that's a very good thing. So keep plugging, hang in there. Keep taking care of yourself and our community the way you do, and I'll be giving you updates regularly.
- 1 participant
- 4 minutes
28 Dec 2020
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, December 28th, and I wanted to give my last public video message of the year. First, thank you all for those who follow this and are paying attention, and really, the first thing I want to say is what an extraordinary year it's been and appreciation for our community and all the members in it. We have faced unprecedented challenges, unprecedented for most of us with this once in a century pandemic that has challenged us as a community, and I'm very thankful for the way our community has pulled together, worked together, stepped up to get us through this. We're not through it yet, but it's been extraordinary. From frontline healthcare workers who've been on the job every day, 24/7 since March, when this really hit us, to today and beyond. To all the workers, who we so appreciate, I hope, in new and serious ways, the essential work that happens to help all of us get the food we need, get the transportation we need, protect the housing that we need to keep the employment going.
So many people, education, childcare, healthcare, all those things that are so essential, thanks. Our community's really pulled together in powerful ways, the stories are manifold of how that's happened. So the first thing, as we end this year, is just noting how much we should thank each other for how we helped us get through this. It's not automatic, some communities get quite divided and divisive and I really appreciate the way Bloomington has pulled together, all the institutions and people.
I think also it's worth noting here, at the end of the year, that we are still in a very serious pandemic, continuing to lose people to death in this pandemic every day on average here in our community, we're doing better than the state as a whole, the nation as a whole, but still, it's very serious and we're not out of the woods so continuing to remind everyone that these next couple, three months, maybe more, are going to be critical to keep protecting each other with masks, with physical distancing, with good hygiene, with not going to work or school or seeing other people, if you're feeling ill, but always protecting, assuming you might be transmitting a disease, or they might be so trying to take care in all those circumstances, we have a little ways to go. Yes, the vaccinations are here and hundreds, I think probably over 1,000 people now have been vaccinated, which is great and that's going to keep growing in numbers. But we're not there yet, so that's another really important point along with the thanks is stay vigilant.
And then let me also just say this year has probably reminded us how many challenges we have. We can rise to the challenges, we have with this health emergency. We've changed the way we live, we've changed the way we work, we changed the way we socialize, educate, operate altogether, because we've needed to. And it's probably a reminder that we can change and we're going to need to keep evolving. There are really big challenges in our community, still. We have major economic inequality and challenges. People struggling at the edge of existence for income, for housing, for healthcare, making sure we really take that seriously. Similarly, beyond just the health pandemic, we know we have racial issues that are front and center with us as a community and as a country to deal with. Maybe the pandemic teaches us we actually can change quicker than we thought, we can make changes more dramatic than we might think if we need to and make the decision to.
Climate change has not taken a holiday during the pandemic. It has been subsumed in some ways, but it is inexorably pressing down on us as a globe, as a country, as a community, and continuing to take steps together that make a more sustainable community, a more equitable community, racially, economically, environmentally sustainable with a high quality of life, those are challenges still in front of us. 2021, we certainly hope and expect will be a different year. It won't be magically different, it's going to take a little time, but we do hope the vaccinations will get us to a new place.
But those challenges are in front of us as we move forward and I'll be talking about more of those, I'm sure, in the months ahead, as we continue to address what's in front of the city. Lots of other issues we can talk about, I won't take time to do that today, but mostly thank you, everyone, for 2020 and the way you have pulled together, heroes all around us. Thank you for continuing to be careful as we go forward in the months ahead, and I look forward to working with you to get through this and to move into these challenges and continuing to create a great Bloomington community for all those who call it home from all walks of life, to address the challenges in front of us. So hope you have good holidays closing out the year. We'll look forward to 2021 together, and thanks again from Mayor Hamilton for all you've been doing.
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, December 28th, and I wanted to give my last public video message of the year. First, thank you all for those who follow this and are paying attention, and really, the first thing I want to say is what an extraordinary year it's been and appreciation for our community and all the members in it. We have faced unprecedented challenges, unprecedented for most of us with this once in a century pandemic that has challenged us as a community, and I'm very thankful for the way our community has pulled together, worked together, stepped up to get us through this. We're not through it yet, but it's been extraordinary. From frontline healthcare workers who've been on the job every day, 24/7 since March, when this really hit us, to today and beyond. To all the workers, who we so appreciate, I hope, in new and serious ways, the essential work that happens to help all of us get the food we need, get the transportation we need, protect the housing that we need to keep the employment going.
So many people, education, childcare, healthcare, all those things that are so essential, thanks. Our community's really pulled together in powerful ways, the stories are manifold of how that's happened. So the first thing, as we end this year, is just noting how much we should thank each other for how we helped us get through this. It's not automatic, some communities get quite divided and divisive and I really appreciate the way Bloomington has pulled together, all the institutions and people.
I think also it's worth noting here, at the end of the year, that we are still in a very serious pandemic, continuing to lose people to death in this pandemic every day on average here in our community, we're doing better than the state as a whole, the nation as a whole, but still, it's very serious and we're not out of the woods so continuing to remind everyone that these next couple, three months, maybe more, are going to be critical to keep protecting each other with masks, with physical distancing, with good hygiene, with not going to work or school or seeing other people, if you're feeling ill, but always protecting, assuming you might be transmitting a disease, or they might be so trying to take care in all those circumstances, we have a little ways to go. Yes, the vaccinations are here and hundreds, I think probably over 1,000 people now have been vaccinated, which is great and that's going to keep growing in numbers. But we're not there yet, so that's another really important point along with the thanks is stay vigilant.
And then let me also just say this year has probably reminded us how many challenges we have. We can rise to the challenges, we have with this health emergency. We've changed the way we live, we've changed the way we work, we changed the way we socialize, educate, operate altogether, because we've needed to. And it's probably a reminder that we can change and we're going to need to keep evolving. There are really big challenges in our community, still. We have major economic inequality and challenges. People struggling at the edge of existence for income, for housing, for healthcare, making sure we really take that seriously. Similarly, beyond just the health pandemic, we know we have racial issues that are front and center with us as a community and as a country to deal with. Maybe the pandemic teaches us we actually can change quicker than we thought, we can make changes more dramatic than we might think if we need to and make the decision to.
Climate change has not taken a holiday during the pandemic. It has been subsumed in some ways, but it is inexorably pressing down on us as a globe, as a country, as a community, and continuing to take steps together that make a more sustainable community, a more equitable community, racially, economically, environmentally sustainable with a high quality of life, those are challenges still in front of us. 2021, we certainly hope and expect will be a different year. It won't be magically different, it's going to take a little time, but we do hope the vaccinations will get us to a new place.
But those challenges are in front of us as we move forward and I'll be talking about more of those, I'm sure, in the months ahead, as we continue to address what's in front of the city. Lots of other issues we can talk about, I won't take time to do that today, but mostly thank you, everyone, for 2020 and the way you have pulled together, heroes all around us. Thank you for continuing to be careful as we go forward in the months ahead, and I look forward to working with you to get through this and to move into these challenges and continuing to create a great Bloomington community for all those who call it home from all walks of life, to address the challenges in front of us. So hope you have good holidays closing out the year. We'll look forward to 2021 together, and thanks again from Mayor Hamilton for all you've been doing.
- 1 participant
- 6 minutes
21 Dec 2020
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, December 21st and I wanted to give you another weekly update to the public.
First, some good news. As you probably know vaccinations have begun in our community. They began with a pilot effort Friday morning, but today on Monday, I think they're expected to be about 400 people vaccinated locally with the Pfizer vaccine. That's the start of a two-shot regime that each of them will go through. And that's exciting and good things. Of course, we're focused on healthcare workers first at the hospital and other places that are on the direct frontline of caring for COVID patients, particularly and others. It will also then move to other first responders and long-term care residents, and then by January, by next month, we hope more generally beginning to reach the public. But that's really good, important news and we're celebrating that here locally.
One other quick update is the utility department, our water department, has been doing sampling for a multi-month, two or three month period, looking for coronavirus COVID-19 test data that they can find in the wastewater. That pilot scientific effort has concluded and there's a report available if you want to look at that, basically, we did find, and the state help coordinate this, we found you can find infection rising and falling in the wastewater and that's been an interesting way to confirm other data. It also may let us do some things in the future to monitor for outbreaks locations, even after vaccinations are largely underway to watch for that. So, anyway, we're really pleased with the water department being part of that study and the results are available for you in that regard.
Now, bad news, really important as well. The virus continues to spread in our community. We continue to average two deaths a day in our community that may have come down to one we're watching that, that was a new level for us we've never been there during the whole pandemic. People still are transmitting and getting sick, it's really serious. Our hospitals have more people in them for COVID than ever before right now and it's very serious. With holidays here, I will just tell you, Christmas gatherings are a key time in the Hamilton Johnson family, we love it. We can't do it this year, we just can't be getting together. And I hope you will very seriously manage your risks and not be gathering with folks. It's really hard. We hate it. We lost my mother-in-law, Dawn's mom year, who was the centerpiece of those celebrations over the last years, it's going to be hard not to be together at all. It's just what we need to do.
Being very careful these next two or three months before the vaccination really can spread to help us protect each other, it's probably going to get worse before it gets better. So just don't share air with other people who aren't in your household if you can help it. Find other ways to celebrate, protect all of us and each other through this period. I know we're near the end, it's been a long 9, 10-month stretch. It's hard. People are suffering all over our community, but just hang in there, continue to do the right thing, and avoid spreader events this holiday season.
So as we're closing out this year, and I hope to talk to you next week one more time and the end of the year, it's been a challenge, but stay the course. We will continue to do that. We're continuing to try to protect our employees and keep giving you the service that you need and expect.
If you have any questions, get on our website or call our office to be connected. And thanks so much to the community that we are in our state, the top tier of counties in terms of the indicators and that's because of the good, hard work of all of you. So I hope you will all have good holidays this week, whatever you celebrate, however you're able to celebrate, do it safely, count your blessings, and let's keep working together to make sure we have a bright 2021 for our community.
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You can reach the Mayor's Office at mayor@bloomington.in.gov or 812-349-3406.
Learn more about COVID-19 in Bloomington at bloomington.in.gov/covid19
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, December 21st and I wanted to give you another weekly update to the public.
First, some good news. As you probably know vaccinations have begun in our community. They began with a pilot effort Friday morning, but today on Monday, I think they're expected to be about 400 people vaccinated locally with the Pfizer vaccine. That's the start of a two-shot regime that each of them will go through. And that's exciting and good things. Of course, we're focused on healthcare workers first at the hospital and other places that are on the direct frontline of caring for COVID patients, particularly and others. It will also then move to other first responders and long-term care residents, and then by January, by next month, we hope more generally beginning to reach the public. But that's really good, important news and we're celebrating that here locally.
One other quick update is the utility department, our water department, has been doing sampling for a multi-month, two or three month period, looking for coronavirus COVID-19 test data that they can find in the wastewater. That pilot scientific effort has concluded and there's a report available if you want to look at that, basically, we did find, and the state help coordinate this, we found you can find infection rising and falling in the wastewater and that's been an interesting way to confirm other data. It also may let us do some things in the future to monitor for outbreaks locations, even after vaccinations are largely underway to watch for that. So, anyway, we're really pleased with the water department being part of that study and the results are available for you in that regard.
Now, bad news, really important as well. The virus continues to spread in our community. We continue to average two deaths a day in our community that may have come down to one we're watching that, that was a new level for us we've never been there during the whole pandemic. People still are transmitting and getting sick, it's really serious. Our hospitals have more people in them for COVID than ever before right now and it's very serious. With holidays here, I will just tell you, Christmas gatherings are a key time in the Hamilton Johnson family, we love it. We can't do it this year, we just can't be getting together. And I hope you will very seriously manage your risks and not be gathering with folks. It's really hard. We hate it. We lost my mother-in-law, Dawn's mom year, who was the centerpiece of those celebrations over the last years, it's going to be hard not to be together at all. It's just what we need to do.
Being very careful these next two or three months before the vaccination really can spread to help us protect each other, it's probably going to get worse before it gets better. So just don't share air with other people who aren't in your household if you can help it. Find other ways to celebrate, protect all of us and each other through this period. I know we're near the end, it's been a long 9, 10-month stretch. It's hard. People are suffering all over our community, but just hang in there, continue to do the right thing, and avoid spreader events this holiday season.
So as we're closing out this year, and I hope to talk to you next week one more time and the end of the year, it's been a challenge, but stay the course. We will continue to do that. We're continuing to try to protect our employees and keep giving you the service that you need and expect.
If you have any questions, get on our website or call our office to be connected. And thanks so much to the community that we are in our state, the top tier of counties in terms of the indicators and that's because of the good, hard work of all of you. So I hope you will all have good holidays this week, whatever you celebrate, however you're able to celebrate, do it safely, count your blessings, and let's keep working together to make sure we have a bright 2021 for our community.
------------------------------------------
You can reach the Mayor's Office at mayor@bloomington.in.gov or 812-349-3406.
Learn more about COVID-19 in Bloomington at bloomington.in.gov/covid19
- 1 participant
- 5 minutes
14 Dec 2020
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, December 14th. I want to just share this news with the public as I try to do every week. You know the COVID pandemic is in a very severe state. I just can't say it more directly than we need to be exceedingly careful. We're seeing deaths rise, we're seeing case numbers rise, hospitalization usage. All rising very dramatically in the state and in our county as well. We continue to have the tighter restrictions, required mask squaring, gathering limits of only 15 in the city and larger numbers outside the city, but listen, it's just going to take individual behavior beyond that because most of the spread seems to be happening in households, in small social gatherings, even if one or two people outside your household that can spread this disease.
The pandemic is here. While vaccines are beginning, even today in the United States and in Indiana, we expect they are not going to help us significantly for the next couple, three months, so the behavior of each of us is so critical. I just implore you to reduce unneeded interactions with people outside your immediate household, and when you do have those interactions, to be exceedingly careful, recognizing that anybody can be sick at any time, even if they're not symptomatic can spread the disease. We're losing two people a day now on average to death from COVID in our community, in the county. That's a number we haven't seen before. Our hospitals are seeing a lot of very sick people and that's happening because it's spreading among us. We will get through this and it's such good news that the vaccines are arriving, but I just can't implore more how important it is to be very careful, vigilant, energetically being cautious over the next two or three months until the vaccinations really reach a large number of us.
We know the healthcare workers are getting them early, which is great, so they can keep taking care of us, but that's really what I want to say this week. With holidays approaching, please think about how you're going to interact with folks in what I know will be a difficult and different holiday. Please think about doing it remotely. If you do see people, don't spend a lot of time close indoors with folks, but just be careful. We will get through it, but the next few months are incredibly important, so thank you for being very careful taking care of each other in Bloomington.
Hello, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, December 14th. I want to just share this news with the public as I try to do every week. You know the COVID pandemic is in a very severe state. I just can't say it more directly than we need to be exceedingly careful. We're seeing deaths rise, we're seeing case numbers rise, hospitalization usage. All rising very dramatically in the state and in our county as well. We continue to have the tighter restrictions, required mask squaring, gathering limits of only 15 in the city and larger numbers outside the city, but listen, it's just going to take individual behavior beyond that because most of the spread seems to be happening in households, in small social gatherings, even if one or two people outside your household that can spread this disease.
The pandemic is here. While vaccines are beginning, even today in the United States and in Indiana, we expect they are not going to help us significantly for the next couple, three months, so the behavior of each of us is so critical. I just implore you to reduce unneeded interactions with people outside your immediate household, and when you do have those interactions, to be exceedingly careful, recognizing that anybody can be sick at any time, even if they're not symptomatic can spread the disease. We're losing two people a day now on average to death from COVID in our community, in the county. That's a number we haven't seen before. Our hospitals are seeing a lot of very sick people and that's happening because it's spreading among us. We will get through this and it's such good news that the vaccines are arriving, but I just can't implore more how important it is to be very careful, vigilant, energetically being cautious over the next two or three months until the vaccinations really reach a large number of us.
We know the healthcare workers are getting them early, which is great, so they can keep taking care of us, but that's really what I want to say this week. With holidays approaching, please think about how you're going to interact with folks in what I know will be a difficult and different holiday. Please think about doing it remotely. If you do see people, don't spend a lot of time close indoors with folks, but just be careful. We will get through it, but the next few months are incredibly important, so thank you for being very careful taking care of each other in Bloomington.
- 1 participant
- 3 minutes
7 Dec 2020
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi, this is Bloomington Mayor, John Hamilton. It's Monday, December 7th. Wanted to just give the public an update, as I usually do on Mondays, about what's going on in the city with the pandemic-related issues. These are hard times. We continue to see a rise. Of course, I'm sure you read about that nationally, setting records in terms of cases, in terms of deaths daily, in terms of hospitalization rates. We are going the wrong direction, that's true in the state as well, continuing to see unprecedented hospitalizations, deaths, cases, and even locally we are continuing to see a rise in the spread of COVID-19.
We are doing better than the state a bit locally, we are continuing to have tighter restrictions and that's been important, but we are seeing community spread. Our hospitals are as full as they've ever been. We now have an average of one death per day in our county, which has not been true for five months. We had that early in the spring, in May, but haven't had that until just late November. We are now averaging one death per day.
It just reminds us, I'll talk about vaccines in a minute, but for the next two, three, four months, it's going to be critically important to keep wearing the masks. You need to have those on when you're outside your house if you're near anybody else unless you're on your own, separated, and outdoors, you really should have a mask. You need to keep the six feet physical distance between you and others who are not your immediate household co-residents and you need to keep washing your hands. Those are really important. And of course, if you feel sick, please get checked out. Don't go to work. Continuing to do that, it'll be critically important over the next several months. We are not out of the woods, community spread is increasing, we're seeing it in our workplace, we're seeing it in schools, we're seeing it in the data. So please stay focused.
Now the good news is vaccines actually should probably arrive in our community within a week or so, that does depend upon national approvals. Those all look likely. But assuming we get those national FDA approvals, we will begin to have vaccinations happening in our community in mid-December. That will, of course, be in limited numbers, it will be focused on healthcare workers, long-term care residents, and others. It will migrate out to other essential workers, people who need this vaccine the most. It will take several months to reach the wider public, and more general vaccinations, are incredibly important. When you do get the opportunity to take one, please do so unless your own health is contraindicated, but it's incredibly important for all of us. It is a light at the end of the tunnel, it is going to help 2021 really be a different year we hope and trust, but it's going to take months to get there. And these are going to be very difficult months.
We will continue to collaborate locally to look at whether we need to change protocols. We review that constantly, as many other organizations do, with the Health Department, with our fellow governmental entities, IU and others, we will continue to look at what we need to do and do what's needed to protect public health. In the meantime, keep wearing those masks. I'll demonstrate again how important it is. Wear the masks, six-foot distance, hand wash, protect yourselves. Don't go to gatherings of people if you don't need to be there.
Just please try to restrict the chance. This virus is spreading, often by people who don't even know they're sick, with no ill intentions, it's just going to take personal responsibility as well as the kind of restrictions that we're putting in place across our jurisdiction. So hang in there, please keep taking care of each other in our community and I'll keep you updated on things as we go forward. Be careful. Thanks so much.
Hi, this is Bloomington Mayor, John Hamilton. It's Monday, December 7th. Wanted to just give the public an update, as I usually do on Mondays, about what's going on in the city with the pandemic-related issues. These are hard times. We continue to see a rise. Of course, I'm sure you read about that nationally, setting records in terms of cases, in terms of deaths daily, in terms of hospitalization rates. We are going the wrong direction, that's true in the state as well, continuing to see unprecedented hospitalizations, deaths, cases, and even locally we are continuing to see a rise in the spread of COVID-19.
We are doing better than the state a bit locally, we are continuing to have tighter restrictions and that's been important, but we are seeing community spread. Our hospitals are as full as they've ever been. We now have an average of one death per day in our county, which has not been true for five months. We had that early in the spring, in May, but haven't had that until just late November. We are now averaging one death per day.
It just reminds us, I'll talk about vaccines in a minute, but for the next two, three, four months, it's going to be critically important to keep wearing the masks. You need to have those on when you're outside your house if you're near anybody else unless you're on your own, separated, and outdoors, you really should have a mask. You need to keep the six feet physical distance between you and others who are not your immediate household co-residents and you need to keep washing your hands. Those are really important. And of course, if you feel sick, please get checked out. Don't go to work. Continuing to do that, it'll be critically important over the next several months. We are not out of the woods, community spread is increasing, we're seeing it in our workplace, we're seeing it in schools, we're seeing it in the data. So please stay focused.
Now the good news is vaccines actually should probably arrive in our community within a week or so, that does depend upon national approvals. Those all look likely. But assuming we get those national FDA approvals, we will begin to have vaccinations happening in our community in mid-December. That will, of course, be in limited numbers, it will be focused on healthcare workers, long-term care residents, and others. It will migrate out to other essential workers, people who need this vaccine the most. It will take several months to reach the wider public, and more general vaccinations, are incredibly important. When you do get the opportunity to take one, please do so unless your own health is contraindicated, but it's incredibly important for all of us. It is a light at the end of the tunnel, it is going to help 2021 really be a different year we hope and trust, but it's going to take months to get there. And these are going to be very difficult months.
We will continue to collaborate locally to look at whether we need to change protocols. We review that constantly, as many other organizations do, with the Health Department, with our fellow governmental entities, IU and others, we will continue to look at what we need to do and do what's needed to protect public health. In the meantime, keep wearing those masks. I'll demonstrate again how important it is. Wear the masks, six-foot distance, hand wash, protect yourselves. Don't go to gatherings of people if you don't need to be there.
Just please try to restrict the chance. This virus is spreading, often by people who don't even know they're sick, with no ill intentions, it's just going to take personal responsibility as well as the kind of restrictions that we're putting in place across our jurisdiction. So hang in there, please keep taking care of each other in our community and I'll keep you updated on things as we go forward. Be careful. Thanks so much.
- 1 participant
- 4 minutes
3 Dec 2020
Transcript:
Hello, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Thursday, December 3rd and I wanted to share this update with all my fellow Bloomington residents and City of Bloomington employees, fellow employees, update on what's going on in our community, particularly related to the pandemic.
So, we are in the midst, as you know I am sure, of a real rise, a surge, in cases. That's true in the country, it's true in our state and it is also true in our community. We continue to have tighter restrictions here and controls that we've had for several months, and that has helped us, but we are part of this surge. We're seeing significantly increased hospitalizations here locally, significant death rise locally, as well as major increases in both of those, cases, deaths, and hospitalizations in the state and around the country. Our state is among the highest hospitalizations per capita in the country now.
So this is a really serious time. It's a reminder of how important continuing to comply with the mask requirements, the physical distancing, and the other hygiene requirements, not going to work if you're sick. In fact, I want to let you know, we take the mask so seriously, this is a new mask that we're going to be sharing with every city employee. You should be expecting to receive this at your workplace, in the mail, either way, very shortly, just as a reminder of how important masks are. We encourage everybody to wear masks when you're not physically distanced, outdoors, or in your own household to protect each other. These next two or three months are critically important to help protect our healthcare workers, our neighbors, our family members, our friends from the spread of this disease.
Now the good news is we do expect vaccinations to arrive soon. This is pending final approval at the federal level. Assuming that does happen, we may get vaccines, we expect to get them as early as the middle of December and to begin the vaccinations, which will begin the process to hopefully end this pandemic. Those vaccinations will begin with healthcare workers who have been on the front lines and need this protection, as well as long-term care residents, facility residents who are at high risk, they will then move to other folks who are helping serve us, who are in high-risk places, high-risk categories, in workplaces where they need them, including some of our city employees. And it will take weeks and months to do the two-stage vaccinations, separated by three or four weeks that it will require. But that should begin in mid-December, assuming a couple of things happen with those approvals and that will be a very welcome development.
But in the meantime, we are going to face some real challenges. So do wear these masks. They're critically important. They've helped us protect lives and I encourage you to do so. We will get through this together. 2021 should be the year that we're able to turn the tide. I hope in the first half of 2021, but the next couple of months are going to be harder as we see more disease, it's increasing. So continue being vigilant and careful and protecting each other.
We so appreciate all the people who are helping protect us, from direct healthcare workers to sanitation workers and bus drivers and water system operators and police officers, fire department employees, and others. We so appreciate all that you're doing and encourage you to keep doing so.
Be safe, take care of each other, and take care of our community. Thank you so much. I'll be in touch again soon.
Hello, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Thursday, December 3rd and I wanted to share this update with all my fellow Bloomington residents and City of Bloomington employees, fellow employees, update on what's going on in our community, particularly related to the pandemic.
So, we are in the midst, as you know I am sure, of a real rise, a surge, in cases. That's true in the country, it's true in our state and it is also true in our community. We continue to have tighter restrictions here and controls that we've had for several months, and that has helped us, but we are part of this surge. We're seeing significantly increased hospitalizations here locally, significant death rise locally, as well as major increases in both of those, cases, deaths, and hospitalizations in the state and around the country. Our state is among the highest hospitalizations per capita in the country now.
So this is a really serious time. It's a reminder of how important continuing to comply with the mask requirements, the physical distancing, and the other hygiene requirements, not going to work if you're sick. In fact, I want to let you know, we take the mask so seriously, this is a new mask that we're going to be sharing with every city employee. You should be expecting to receive this at your workplace, in the mail, either way, very shortly, just as a reminder of how important masks are. We encourage everybody to wear masks when you're not physically distanced, outdoors, or in your own household to protect each other. These next two or three months are critically important to help protect our healthcare workers, our neighbors, our family members, our friends from the spread of this disease.
Now the good news is we do expect vaccinations to arrive soon. This is pending final approval at the federal level. Assuming that does happen, we may get vaccines, we expect to get them as early as the middle of December and to begin the vaccinations, which will begin the process to hopefully end this pandemic. Those vaccinations will begin with healthcare workers who have been on the front lines and need this protection, as well as long-term care residents, facility residents who are at high risk, they will then move to other folks who are helping serve us, who are in high-risk places, high-risk categories, in workplaces where they need them, including some of our city employees. And it will take weeks and months to do the two-stage vaccinations, separated by three or four weeks that it will require. But that should begin in mid-December, assuming a couple of things happen with those approvals and that will be a very welcome development.
But in the meantime, we are going to face some real challenges. So do wear these masks. They're critically important. They've helped us protect lives and I encourage you to do so. We will get through this together. 2021 should be the year that we're able to turn the tide. I hope in the first half of 2021, but the next couple of months are going to be harder as we see more disease, it's increasing. So continue being vigilant and careful and protecting each other.
We so appreciate all the people who are helping protect us, from direct healthcare workers to sanitation workers and bus drivers and water system operators and police officers, fire department employees, and others. We so appreciate all that you're doing and encourage you to keep doing so.
Be safe, take care of each other, and take care of our community. Thank you so much. I'll be in touch again soon.
- 1 participant
- 4 minutes
25 Nov 2020
Transcript:
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Wednesday, November 25th, the day before Thanksgiving. I just wanted to send this message out to all my fellow city employees. It's really been about eight months, just over eight months, since the COVID pandemic hit us in March of this year. This day before Thanksgiving, I have a lot of things to be thankful for.
One of them is all of you and the great work that you've done over these eight months to help protect our city. You've all figured out how to do your jobs differently. You've used personal protective gear and equipment to help keep yourself, and your colleagues, and our community safe. You've changed schedules. You've changed workplaces sometimes. Everybody's job has changed in some ways. I am so thankful for the way that all of us, all of you, have helped the city get through these last eight-plus months.
I'm thankful that though we have had about 27 employees be diagnosed with COVID, all have recovered. I appreciate that the care that you're taking and we all appreciate the healthcare workers who've helped us with that.
I'm thankful that your dedication shows through every day to our public who appreciate what you do. They don't all say it, and sometimes they say the opposite, but the vast majority of our community is so grateful and thankful for all the work that you're doing. I just want to take today, this day before Thanksgiving, and share that thanks with you directly. We have new employees, we have longtime employees, all working together 24/7 to help protect our community.
On Thanksgiving itself, I hope you will follow the advice of experts and really not have a big gathering this year. We're just doing it in our own household. Even though we love getting together with wider family and friends, it is just not the time to do it. The virus is expanding. It's spreading in our community, in our state, in our country. While a vaccine will be coming in the months ahead, we have some really hard work to do between now and then. I please urge you to protect yourselves, keep yourself safe this Thanksgiving, and all those you love and care about, as well as the wider community.
It won't be a long one today. I just want to express thanks. It's been an unusual eight months. That's an understatement. You all have been great role models to the community to show your commitment to each other and to this community. You've been great role models. I really, sincerely appreciate it. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We don't yet know exactly when we'll get there or how, but we will. It's been a terrific privilege to serve with you. On this day before Thanksgiving, I just want to join and send our thanks from all of the city to each of you. I wish you a very good, happy, and safe Thanksgiving with those you love. We'll turn the page after Thanksgiving and be ready back to keep working on behalf of our community.
Stay safe. Keep taking care of yourself. Keep taking care of each other. Thanks so much for continuing to take care of our community. Happy Thanksgiving.
Hi, this is Mayor John Hamilton. It's Wednesday, November 25th, the day before Thanksgiving. I just wanted to send this message out to all my fellow city employees. It's really been about eight months, just over eight months, since the COVID pandemic hit us in March of this year. This day before Thanksgiving, I have a lot of things to be thankful for.
One of them is all of you and the great work that you've done over these eight months to help protect our city. You've all figured out how to do your jobs differently. You've used personal protective gear and equipment to help keep yourself, and your colleagues, and our community safe. You've changed schedules. You've changed workplaces sometimes. Everybody's job has changed in some ways. I am so thankful for the way that all of us, all of you, have helped the city get through these last eight-plus months.
I'm thankful that though we have had about 27 employees be diagnosed with COVID, all have recovered. I appreciate that the care that you're taking and we all appreciate the healthcare workers who've helped us with that.
I'm thankful that your dedication shows through every day to our public who appreciate what you do. They don't all say it, and sometimes they say the opposite, but the vast majority of our community is so grateful and thankful for all the work that you're doing. I just want to take today, this day before Thanksgiving, and share that thanks with you directly. We have new employees, we have longtime employees, all working together 24/7 to help protect our community.
On Thanksgiving itself, I hope you will follow the advice of experts and really not have a big gathering this year. We're just doing it in our own household. Even though we love getting together with wider family and friends, it is just not the time to do it. The virus is expanding. It's spreading in our community, in our state, in our country. While a vaccine will be coming in the months ahead, we have some really hard work to do between now and then. I please urge you to protect yourselves, keep yourself safe this Thanksgiving, and all those you love and care about, as well as the wider community.
It won't be a long one today. I just want to express thanks. It's been an unusual eight months. That's an understatement. You all have been great role models to the community to show your commitment to each other and to this community. You've been great role models. I really, sincerely appreciate it. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We don't yet know exactly when we'll get there or how, but we will. It's been a terrific privilege to serve with you. On this day before Thanksgiving, I just want to join and send our thanks from all of the city to each of you. I wish you a very good, happy, and safe Thanksgiving with those you love. We'll turn the page after Thanksgiving and be ready back to keep working on behalf of our community.
Stay safe. Keep taking care of yourself. Keep taking care of each other. Thanks so much for continuing to take care of our community. Happy Thanksgiving.
- 1 participant
- 4 minutes
23 Nov 2020
Transcript:
Hello, it's Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, November 23rd. Let me express a happy Thanksgiving week to all in Bloomington and around, and hope you have a good holiday. I want to give an update on COVID, and it is connected to Thanksgiving because the virus continues to expand significantly in our state, in our county, in our community, as well as the country. It is everywhere and it is growing significantly. It's really spreading. This week when we often gather with our families for Thanksgiving, it's a really important week to choose to be safe. And that basically means you should choose to be with your immediate family, those who you live within a household, and not to do extended gatherings. That's really hard. I know we love Thanksgiving, but I know in my household, we're going to be celebrating just in our household so that we can be ready for next year.
Look, the cases are going up dramatically in our state. I've shared the numbers before. They continue to rise in our county. We've had several deaths just last week in our county and the case numbers, daily case numbers are rising significantly. So the virus is here. Look, I've had personal experience with this virus. I've had the person that I love the most in the world get sick in March and April. I had to watch her go to the hospital. Couldn't be with her in the hospital for 11 days. It's excruciating to know what she was going through and it was very tough for her. It has taken people in my family. Thankfully, my wife survived and is back and well, but it's a reminder every day of how serious this disease is.
We know that most of the transmissions are happening in small social gatherings, often with families. We know from the CDC this week, that half of the transmissions happen between people who don't know they're sick, who have no symptoms, and it's transmitted from one to the next. So look, it's the right thing to do just to protect each other and to protect your loved ones. Do not get together, particularly, don't get together indoors. Don't spend a lot of time together. Don't be unmasked if you do get together. But really the thing you should do is not get together in-person for Thanksgiving beyond those of your immediate family.
We have a few months ahead of us of really tough sledding. We will get a vaccine. That seems clear. It will come, but it's going to be a few months, and the disease is really exploding in the meantime. So these next three or four months are really important to keep protecting each other. It is a serious disease if it hits your family. It can kill and it can debilitate and it's very painful. So I just would urge everybody while being thankful this week of what we have and the blessings that we have, to be careful with each other to make sure that there are those blessings that can be shared for longer and among all of us.
It is a great holiday to give thanks, and I urge you to do so, but I urge you to do so with your immediate family this year, as we will be doing. And all good luck to everybody. Thank you for continuing to protect each other with masking, physical distancing, good hygiene, staying away when sick, but remember even when you don't feel sick, you can be transmitting the virus. So thanks to all. Stay safe and have a good Thanksgiving.
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bloomington.in.gov/covid19
Hello, it's Mayor John Hamilton. It's Monday, November 23rd. Let me express a happy Thanksgiving week to all in Bloomington and around, and hope you have a good holiday. I want to give an update on COVID, and it is connected to Thanksgiving because the virus continues to expand significantly in our state, in our county, in our community, as well as the country. It is everywhere and it is growing significantly. It's really spreading. This week when we often gather with our families for Thanksgiving, it's a really important week to choose to be safe. And that basically means you should choose to be with your immediate family, those who you live within a household, and not to do extended gatherings. That's really hard. I know we love Thanksgiving, but I know in my household, we're going to be celebrating just in our household so that we can be ready for next year.
Look, the cases are going up dramatically in our state. I've shared the numbers before. They continue to rise in our county. We've had several deaths just last week in our county and the case numbers, daily case numbers are rising significantly. So the virus is here. Look, I've had personal experience with this virus. I've had the person that I love the most in the world get sick in March and April. I had to watch her go to the hospital. Couldn't be with her in the hospital for 11 days. It's excruciating to know what she was going through and it was very tough for her. It has taken people in my family. Thankfully, my wife survived and is back and well, but it's a reminder every day of how serious this disease is.
We know that most of the transmissions are happening in small social gatherings, often with families. We know from the CDC this week, that half of the transmissions happen between people who don't know they're sick, who have no symptoms, and it's transmitted from one to the next. So look, it's the right thing to do just to protect each other and to protect your loved ones. Do not get together, particularly, don't get together indoors. Don't spend a lot of time together. Don't be unmasked if you do get together. But really the thing you should do is not get together in-person for Thanksgiving beyond those of your immediate family.
We have a few months ahead of us of really tough sledding. We will get a vaccine. That seems clear. It will come, but it's going to be a few months, and the disease is really exploding in the meantime. So these next three or four months are really important to keep protecting each other. It is a serious disease if it hits your family. It can kill and it can debilitate and it's very painful. So I just would urge everybody while being thankful this week of what we have and the blessings that we have, to be careful with each other to make sure that there are those blessings that can be shared for longer and among all of us.
It is a great holiday to give thanks, and I urge you to do so, but I urge you to do so with your immediate family this year, as we will be doing. And all good luck to everybody. Thank you for continuing to protect each other with masking, physical distancing, good hygiene, staying away when sick, but remember even when you don't feel sick, you can be transmitting the virus. So thanks to all. Stay safe and have a good Thanksgiving.
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bloomington.in.gov/covid19
- 1 participant
- 4 minutes
9 Nov 2020
Hello, this is Mayor John Hamilton on Monday, November 9th, just giving a public update is I try to do regularly. A couple of big topics this week will be the elections and COVID.
First on the elections, of course, over the past weekend, all the major news outlets declared the national election for president concluded with the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice president-elect. We, of course, have many people celebrating that. There are other people who are disappointed in that, like every election. And I want to congratulate the president-elect and vice president-elect and look forward to working with them from our town here in Bloomington. And also, encourage everyone to recognize the importance of working together and peaceably letting the election results flow through our system as they will, as they have for over two centuries. We will look forward to working together to address a lot of the challenges that are in front of us. And congratulations again to the president-elect and vice president-elect.
Locally, our elections all went smoothly and we congratulate all those who won. And we thank all those who participated in the election as well. It was a big turnout. 63,000 people voted in the county and thanks to all who voted and help make democracy continue, the progress that we make there.
On COVID, let me just report, we continue to see real deterioration in the state as we do in the country, with records set several times last week in the country, as well as the state. Just to put some figures to remember, over the last four to six weeks in the state of Indiana, the hospitalizations for COVID have more than doubled, the daily deaths from COVID have more than tripled, and the daily case rate, the seven day moving average of how many people are diagnosed, has more than quadrupled, doubling of hospitalizations, tripling of deaths, quadrupling of cases. This is a very, very alarming, steep increase that we don't see flattening out yet. We hope it will.
And locally, while we do, we have not seen this, we are doing better than the state, we still feel this. We do have increases in hospitalizations here, and we have increases in the daily case locally here as well. Not nearly like the state, but we cannot be an island. We have to keep protecting ourselves, our neighbors, our family, through masking, through physical distancing, through all the hygiene that's important. That is so important.
Over the weekend, we saw parties and celebrations, and I understand that, but when they're not masked, when people are not masked, when we're not physically distancing, we are putting our community at risk. We do not want to have to go backward and shut down or tighten up again. But if we need to, we will, because this is a deadly disease. It's increasing dramatically in our state and in our country. And we are not immune from that. Just to really a sober and strong reminder that this disease is among us, it's spreading. It can happen at any time. Please follow the guidelines, avoid large gathering, stay masked, stay distanced. You can be with your household, but be very careful, because it just here. It's increasing dramatically and we need to protect each other.
That's a quick update. Hope all are well. Please continue to take care of each other in the City of Bloomington as you do. And we'll give you more updates along the way.
First on the elections, of course, over the past weekend, all the major news outlets declared the national election for president concluded with the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice president-elect. We, of course, have many people celebrating that. There are other people who are disappointed in that, like every election. And I want to congratulate the president-elect and vice president-elect and look forward to working with them from our town here in Bloomington. And also, encourage everyone to recognize the importance of working together and peaceably letting the election results flow through our system as they will, as they have for over two centuries. We will look forward to working together to address a lot of the challenges that are in front of us. And congratulations again to the president-elect and vice president-elect.
Locally, our elections all went smoothly and we congratulate all those who won. And we thank all those who participated in the election as well. It was a big turnout. 63,000 people voted in the county and thanks to all who voted and help make democracy continue, the progress that we make there.
On COVID, let me just report, we continue to see real deterioration in the state as we do in the country, with records set several times last week in the country, as well as the state. Just to put some figures to remember, over the last four to six weeks in the state of Indiana, the hospitalizations for COVID have more than doubled, the daily deaths from COVID have more than tripled, and the daily case rate, the seven day moving average of how many people are diagnosed, has more than quadrupled, doubling of hospitalizations, tripling of deaths, quadrupling of cases. This is a very, very alarming, steep increase that we don't see flattening out yet. We hope it will.
And locally, while we do, we have not seen this, we are doing better than the state, we still feel this. We do have increases in hospitalizations here, and we have increases in the daily case locally here as well. Not nearly like the state, but we cannot be an island. We have to keep protecting ourselves, our neighbors, our family, through masking, through physical distancing, through all the hygiene that's important. That is so important.
Over the weekend, we saw parties and celebrations, and I understand that, but when they're not masked, when people are not masked, when we're not physically distancing, we are putting our community at risk. We do not want to have to go backward and shut down or tighten up again. But if we need to, we will, because this is a deadly disease. It's increasing dramatically in our state and in our country. And we are not immune from that. Just to really a sober and strong reminder that this disease is among us, it's spreading. It can happen at any time. Please follow the guidelines, avoid large gathering, stay masked, stay distanced. You can be with your household, but be very careful, because it just here. It's increasing dramatically and we need to protect each other.
That's a quick update. Hope all are well. Please continue to take care of each other in the City of Bloomington as you do. And we'll give you more updates along the way.
- 1 participant
- 4 minutes
5 Nov 2020
This is Mayor John Hamilton on Thursday, November 5th, with just a quick COVID update for all. Bloomington continues to be doing better than our state overall. The numbers from the very significant Indiana University testing were again very good this week, showing a low incidence overall. We have seen some uptick locally in the positivity rate in cases per hundred thousand, which definitely confirmed to us we're not out of the woods. The disease, the virus is definitely among us. It's being transmitted among us.
But we're also seeing demonstrations that what you're doing, what we are doing together in terms of masking, in terms of physical distancing, in terms of controlling social gatherings and limiting their size and controlling what happens in restaurants that that is helping because our community is doing much better than the state as a whole. Indiana, as a whole, continues to have a very negative trajectory.
The number of deaths, the seven-day rolling average has nearly tripled in the last 30 or 40 days. The number of positive cases per day has approximately tripled on a seven-day moving average as well, exactly the wrong average in a serious spike statewide. We're not an island. We will not be immune to that. That means we have to be very careful about travel, about gatherings with people. Remember to treat each of us as potentially infectious at any time, and to continue to mask, continue to social distance, continue to monitor symptoms, and get tested if needed.
Thank you for all you're doing. We will be continuing to monitor this very closely. Please continue to observe these basic steps that will protect us from a greater spread of this virus. Thanks again, and stay well.
But we're also seeing demonstrations that what you're doing, what we are doing together in terms of masking, in terms of physical distancing, in terms of controlling social gatherings and limiting their size and controlling what happens in restaurants that that is helping because our community is doing much better than the state as a whole. Indiana, as a whole, continues to have a very negative trajectory.
The number of deaths, the seven-day rolling average has nearly tripled in the last 30 or 40 days. The number of positive cases per day has approximately tripled on a seven-day moving average as well, exactly the wrong average in a serious spike statewide. We're not an island. We will not be immune to that. That means we have to be very careful about travel, about gatherings with people. Remember to treat each of us as potentially infectious at any time, and to continue to mask, continue to social distance, continue to monitor symptoms, and get tested if needed.
Thank you for all you're doing. We will be continuing to monitor this very closely. Please continue to observe these basic steps that will protect us from a greater spread of this virus. Thanks again, and stay well.
- 1 participant
- 2 minutes
27 Oct 2020
Hi, this is mayor John Hamilton. It's Tuesday, October 27th, and just wanted to share this message with the public updating on COVID and how our community is doing. So thank you again. Monroe County is doing relatively well as we continue to monitor the spread of the virus. We do know our hospitals had a bump up in cases and we've seen some increase locally, but the main message I want to give is we're doing better than the state.
And that's, I believe because we are choosing and putting in place some controls that are tighter than the state, both with mandatory mask coordinates that went in early and also our continued controls over large gatherings, whether it's social gatherings or public gatherings. Those have really helped us keep our numbers down and that's been very important. The state numbers are extremely concerning.
The state has seen a very significant rise just to share a couple of data points for you to be aware of. During August and September, the state average around eight or 900 new cases per day, pretty steady during that two month period. Since October, it has more than doubled. It is now over 2000 cases per day. That's a very dramatic rise in the number of individual cases per day.
Similarly, even the death rate, which was hovering around 10 per day, again in August and September has doubled to about 20 per day. Those are really significant and concerning signals for the statewide numbers and experience of COVID. Locally we have not seen that. In fact, we've continued to see much better results, but we are not an island. We do get affected by what's going on around us, both our healthcare system and each of us as individuals.
So please continue to do the right things by wearing masks, maintaining distance from folks. Do not do social gatherings, particularly when they're not masked and distanced. They are places where we see this spread happening. We appreciate the work of our school corporation, Indiana University, and businesses and enterprises that are working so hard to do this.
We are entering the flu season. So you should all get your flu shots unless your doctor advises against that. That's really important too to help us tamp down the overall spread. So the basic message is we've done pretty well the last couple of months, but the state is not doing well and that can definitely affect us. So we have to keep the regime that we have in place I think for several more weeks.
Keep doing those things that have helped keep us safe and our family members and neighbors safe. That's so important. And thank our healthcare workers. Do get out and vote, get a flu shot, and thanks for taking care of our city and each other as you do. And we'll give you another update soon.
And that's, I believe because we are choosing and putting in place some controls that are tighter than the state, both with mandatory mask coordinates that went in early and also our continued controls over large gatherings, whether it's social gatherings or public gatherings. Those have really helped us keep our numbers down and that's been very important. The state numbers are extremely concerning.
The state has seen a very significant rise just to share a couple of data points for you to be aware of. During August and September, the state average around eight or 900 new cases per day, pretty steady during that two month period. Since October, it has more than doubled. It is now over 2000 cases per day. That's a very dramatic rise in the number of individual cases per day.
Similarly, even the death rate, which was hovering around 10 per day, again in August and September has doubled to about 20 per day. Those are really significant and concerning signals for the statewide numbers and experience of COVID. Locally we have not seen that. In fact, we've continued to see much better results, but we are not an island. We do get affected by what's going on around us, both our healthcare system and each of us as individuals.
So please continue to do the right things by wearing masks, maintaining distance from folks. Do not do social gatherings, particularly when they're not masked and distanced. They are places where we see this spread happening. We appreciate the work of our school corporation, Indiana University, and businesses and enterprises that are working so hard to do this.
We are entering the flu season. So you should all get your flu shots unless your doctor advises against that. That's really important too to help us tamp down the overall spread. So the basic message is we've done pretty well the last couple of months, but the state is not doing well and that can definitely affect us. So we have to keep the regime that we have in place I think for several more weeks.
Keep doing those things that have helped keep us safe and our family members and neighbors safe. That's so important. And thank our healthcare workers. Do get out and vote, get a flu shot, and thanks for taking care of our city and each other as you do. And we'll give you another update soon.
- 1 participant
- 3 minutes
17 Aug 2020
In this week's message, Mayor Hamilton invites you to tune in for the opening night of the 2021 City budget hearings, when he'll deliver an introductory overview starting at 6 pm.
You can follow the hearings live starting at 6 every night this week right here on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or on CATS.
The schedule and details are at https://www.facebook.com/events/3512299998831061
You can follow the hearings live starting at 6 every night this week right here on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or on CATS.
The schedule and details are at https://www.facebook.com/events/3512299998831061
- 1 participant
- 2 minutes
14 Aug 2020
Due to technical difficulties, the beginning of the press conference is not included.
- 6 participants
- 36 minutes
10 Aug 2020
As IU students return in phases and the MCCSC academic year gets underway, the next few weeks involve a lot of change. In this week's video message, Mayor Hamilton encourages everyone to stay the course with COVID precautions to keep our community safe.
Mayor Hamilton mentions a new initiative by Utilities to start testing wastewater for COVID-19. Read more at https://www.hoosiertimes.com/herald_times_online/news/covid19/city-utilities-to-start-testing-wastewater-for-covid-19-prevalence/article_caa03b64-d8d0-11ea-8ebe-ef65f89200b9.html
The City will publish more details about the program soon at bloomington.in.gov.
Mayor Hamilton mentions a new initiative by Utilities to start testing wastewater for COVID-19. Read more at https://www.hoosiertimes.com/herald_times_online/news/covid19/city-utilities-to-start-testing-wastewater-for-covid-19-prevalence/article_caa03b64-d8d0-11ea-8ebe-ef65f89200b9.html
The City will publish more details about the program soon at bloomington.in.gov.
- 1 participant
- 3 minutes
3 Aug 2020
As families gear up for online learning, the university student population returns, and we continue to confront the COVID crisis, your City government is working hard to keep us all safe and recover forward. Check in with Mayor Hamilton for this week's video message.
- 1 participant
- 3 minutes
13 Jul 2020
In this week's community message, Mayor Hamilton thanks residents for stepping up in response to the disturbing July 4 incident at Lake Monroe, and discusses some changes that could be coming with regard to gathering and mask-wearing.
- 1 participant
- 5 minutes
8 Jun 2020
In this week's video message, Mayor Hamilton checks in after the largest peaceful protest Bloomington has seen in recent history.
Visit bloomington.in.gov/covid19 to view all of Mayor Hamilton's update videos.
Visit bloomington.in.gov/covid19 to view all of Mayor Hamilton's update videos.
- 1 participant
- 5 minutes
27 May 2020
Members of the Social Services Working Group convened by Mayor John Hamilton at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis in Bloomington presented to the Bloomington Common Council during the Mayor’s report section of the agenda on May 27.
The group shared the actions taken to address gaps that have emerged for vulnerable populations with regard to food, shelter, child care, and health and safety as a result of the crisis. In addition, the presentation proposed long term recommendations for creating a more thoroughly integrated and sustainable safety net for traditionally underserved residents.
The Social Services Working Group includes philanthropic leaders from across the community including Jon Barada, Bloomington Health Foundation; Diane Buzzell, IU Health Foundation; Beverly Calender-Anderson, City of Bloomington Community and Family Resources Department; Efrat Feferman, United Way of Monroe County; Tina Peterson, Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County; and Dan Smith, IU Foundation.
The group shared the actions taken to address gaps that have emerged for vulnerable populations with regard to food, shelter, child care, and health and safety as a result of the crisis. In addition, the presentation proposed long term recommendations for creating a more thoroughly integrated and sustainable safety net for traditionally underserved residents.
The Social Services Working Group includes philanthropic leaders from across the community including Jon Barada, Bloomington Health Foundation; Diane Buzzell, IU Health Foundation; Beverly Calender-Anderson, City of Bloomington Community and Family Resources Department; Efrat Feferman, United Way of Monroe County; Tina Peterson, Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County; and Dan Smith, IU Foundation.
- 8 participants
- 44 minutes
22 May 2020
In today’s video address titled, "Ten Tough Weeks", Mayor Hamilton salutes the community for pulling together during the COVID-19 crisis. Thanks to the tireless efforts of so many workers, volunteers, and families, Bloomington is weathering these rough times. As we move forward, staying safe and coming back stronger is up to all of us. Keep taking care of Bloomington, and each other.
- 1 participant
- 16 minutes
18 May 2020
As we transition to phase 2 of the Governor's Back on Track Indiana plan, we all play a part in keeping Bloomington safe and healthy. Check in with Mayor Hamilton in this week's video to learn more about how you can pledge to do your part.
bloomington.in.gov/covid19
bloomington.in.gov/covid19
- 1 participant
- 8 minutes
11 May 2020
Mayor Hamilton checks in with his weekly video message to thank community members for staying the course in our effort to limit the spread of COVID-19 and to reiterate the City's commitment to public health and safety in considering next steps.
- 1 participant
- 7 minutes
1 May 2020
Mayor Hamilton joined elected officials from Monroe County and Ellettsville to affirm their continued coordination in maintaining current public health guidelines, as per the public health order issued by the Monroe County Public Health Authority on May 1.
The order -- in effect May 1 at 11:59 p.m through May 15 at 11:59 p.m. -- calls for residents to continue staying in their homes except for essential activities and for restaurants to continue operating with carry-out and delivery service only, among other measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The order was issued to protect the health of residents of Monroe County, where public health indicators do not yet demonstrate a decline in the incidence of COVID-19.
The Public Health Order issued by the Monroe County Public Health Authority can be found online at co.monroe.in.us.
The order -- in effect May 1 at 11:59 p.m through May 15 at 11:59 p.m. -- calls for residents to continue staying in their homes except for essential activities and for restaurants to continue operating with carry-out and delivery service only, among other measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The order was issued to protect the health of residents of Monroe County, where public health indicators do not yet demonstrate a decline in the incidence of COVID-19.
The Public Health Order issued by the Monroe County Public Health Authority can be found online at co.monroe.in.us.
- 12 participants
- 29 minutes
27 Apr 2020
Check in with Mayor Hamilton with this week's message to the community.
The Covid-19 Weekly Virtual Press Conference will continue this Friday at 1:15p.m. on the City's Facebook page.
The City's COVID-19 Resource page can be found at bloomington.in.gov/covid19
The Covid-19 Weekly Virtual Press Conference will continue this Friday at 1:15p.m. on the City's Facebook page.
The City's COVID-19 Resource page can be found at bloomington.in.gov/covid19
- 1 participant
- 5 minutes
24 Apr 2020
Mayor John Hamilton joins other community leaders in today's weekly Zoom conference at 1:15p.m. to share the most recent developments in the coordinated effort to mitigate and manage the COVID-19 crisis and present an opportunity for media representatives to ask questions.
In addition to Mayor Hamilton, the press conference will feature Monroe County Commissioner Julie Thomas, IU Health South Central Region President Brian Shockney, Monroe County Health Department Administrator Penny Caudill, Monroe County Emergency Management Director Allison Moore, and Indiana University Associate Vice President for Public Safety and Institutional Assurance Ben Hunter.
In addition to Mayor Hamilton, the press conference will feature Monroe County Commissioner Julie Thomas, IU Health South Central Region President Brian Shockney, Monroe County Health Department Administrator Penny Caudill, Monroe County Emergency Management Director Allison Moore, and Indiana University Associate Vice President for Public Safety and Institutional Assurance Ben Hunter.
- 7 participants
- 47 minutes
23 Apr 2020
Mayor Hamilton provided an update to City Council about the continued importance of social distancing and thanked Bloomington's health workers. The Mayor's update included a message from First Lady Dawn Johnsen.
The Mayor introduced Alex Crowley, Director of Economic & Sustainability Department, and Beverly Calender-Anderson, Director of Community & Family Resources Department.
Alex provided an update from the Economic Stabilization and Recovery Committee including the Rapid Recovery Fund for businesses and organizations.
Beverly updated Council on activity by the Social Services Committee. The update included housing and food resources.
Up-to-date information about COVID-19 and the City of Bloomington can be found at bloomington.in.gov/covid19
The Mayor introduced Alex Crowley, Director of Economic & Sustainability Department, and Beverly Calender-Anderson, Director of Community & Family Resources Department.
Alex provided an update from the Economic Stabilization and Recovery Committee including the Rapid Recovery Fund for businesses and organizations.
Beverly updated Council on activity by the Social Services Committee. The update included housing and food resources.
Up-to-date information about COVID-19 and the City of Bloomington can be found at bloomington.in.gov/covid19
- 4 participants
- 18 minutes
6 Apr 2020
Check-in with Mayor Hamilton with this week's message to the community.
NEW: Tune in to WGCL on Tuesdays at 4:05 p.m. for a weekly update from Mayor Hamilton. You can catch the weekly show at AM 1370, 98.7 FM and online at www.WGCLradio.com
NEW: Tune in to WGCL on Tuesdays at 4:05 p.m. for a weekly update from Mayor Hamilton. You can catch the weekly show at AM 1370, 98.7 FM and online at www.WGCLradio.com
- 1 participant
- 4 minutes
24 Mar 2020
On today's virtual press conference, Mayor Hamilton, Monroe County Commissioner Julie Thomas, IU Health's South Region President Brian Shockney, IU Vice President for Safety and Institutional Assurance Ben Walton, and Monroe County Public Health Department Administrator Penny Caudill shared news about coordinated efforts to mitigate and prepare for the local effects of COVID-19. Today's conference followed Governor Eric Holcomb's Stay-at-Home order.
- 9 participants
- 54 minutes
18 Mar 2020
View the full release online at https://bloomington.in.gov/news/2020/03/18/4410
- 1 participant
- 4 minutes
