In stark contrast to the ghost town appearance of a year ago because of lock downs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, life around the county seems to be pretty much back to normal this week. Spring improvement projects are ongoing and additional projects will begin in the near future due to funding from the recently ended Mississippi Legislative session.
In Forest workers were busy last week with a landscaping project in the median of the Highway 35 overpass and in Morton a sign has been erected announcing the coming Wildflower Field on the corner of Highway 80 across from Fisherman’s Corner.
In addition Representative Tom Miles and Senator Tyler McCaughn have both announced funding for projects in Forest, Morton and Sebastopol pending approval from Governor Tate Reeves.
In Forest the Legislature awarded the city $300,000 for paving and sidewalk projects in downtown on the square around the Scott County Courthouse.
Sebastopol will receive $200,000 for renovations of the old Co-Op building into the town’s new multipurpose center. This project began in 2019 and faced some delays during the pandemic. Mayor Greg McGarrity said Tuesday that the project is being done in phases and the latest funding is not designated for any particular phase, but rather the overall project.
“We’re not sure when exactly we will receive that funding,” McGarrity said, “it could be late in the year before it becomes available. We hope to have most of the project accomplished by the first of next year.”
And in Morton an additional $150,000 will be awarded this year to match $150,000 awarded last year for much needed road improvement projects around Morton High School.
Tuesday the The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration recommended that the United States pause the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine — one of the vaccines available locally — over six reported US cases of a “rare and severe” type of blood clot. The six reported cases were among more than 6.8 million doses of the one-dose vaccine administered nationwide. All six cases occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, and symptoms occurred 6 to 13 days after vaccination.
In addition Mississippi State Department of Health called for the temporary pause of the administration and distribution of the J&J vaccine. MSDH also recommend that people who develop severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks of receiving the J&J vaccine to call their physician or clinic.
“The risk is relatively low but people who have already received the J&J should be aware,” State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said in a called press conference Tuesday afternoon.
To date almost 22,000 does of J&J have been administered to Mississippians, 54 percent in females.
In response to the announcement, Lackey Memorial Hospital CEO Sydney Sawyer, RN, said residents should still take whichever vaccine is available at the time. “We have plenty of Moderna,” Sawyer said. “We need to keep vaccinating!”
Also on Tuesday the Mississippi State Department of Health was reporting an additional 317 new positive cases of COVID-19 and 23 additional deaths in the state. That brings the statewide total to 307,836 positive cases since the pandemic began and 7,119 deaths. In Scott County, as of Tuesday, there had been a total of 3,108 positive cases of the virus since the pandemic began and 72 deaths. That is an increase of 22 cases in the last week and zero additional deaths.
Statewide there are some 297,362 residents who are presumed to have recovered from the virus and approximately 20% of the states population has now been vaccinated.
