News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The cancellation of Overton County Holiday events is on the table unless vaccination numbers increase
County Executive Ben Danner and Livingston Mayor Curtis Hayes said they have to weigh their options with the county only 27 percent vaccinated. Danner said if more people do not get vaccinated, the numbers show how dangerous this could be.
“We don’t want to have an event that gets thousands of people together,” Danner said. “If you do the numbers, that’s thousands of people who haven’t been vaccinated. That could give that to other people and we don’t want to be the cause of anyone dying from anything, especially COVID.”
The two events that are up in the air are Fall-O-Ween and the Christmas Parade. Danner and Hayes said the concern comes from people taking less precautions than they did a year ago, while COVID numbers are worse than they were at that time.
Hayes said that nothing is set in stone to cancel, but a change in vaccine rates need to happen to avoid hard decisions in the near future.
“With only 27 percent of Overton Countians having their shot, it makes it a little bit more difficult on us to make these type of decisions,” Hayes said. “So I want to join everyone, at least on this side of the panel, to get your vaccinations. As far as the city of Livingston is concerned, we’ve not made any decisions yet on Fall-O-Ween. We have not made any decisions yet on the Christmas Parade, which believe it or not, is not that far away.”
Hayes went on to ask for community support to keep traditions going.
“It would certainly be rewarding for us and make things a lot easier if we can get those (vaccine) numbers up as much as we possibly can,” Hayes said. “Knowing that there is going to be crowds at these events and unfortunately, some folks are coming out even though they have contracted COVID-19.”
Overton County Health Department Director Andy Langford said since the last press conference, active case numbers have gone from 411 active cases to 272. However, Langford said during that same time period, the total death count has gone from 64 deaths to 76.
