Commission approves COVID-19 vaccine incentive for county employees

The Coffee County Commission unanimously approved a resolution on Aug. 23 to provide a $400 incentive for county employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

The resolution will allow for the county to use funds from the Alabama Rescue Plan Act to give all employees that can show proof of receiving the vaccine in the next 90 days a $400 bonus. It doesn’t matter if the employee has already received the vaccine or receives it in the next 90 days, as long as the proof of receiving the vaccine is shown in the next 90 days.

County Administrator Rod Morgan emphasized that this was not a mandate for employees and Commissioner Jim Thompson echoed that statement.

“I want to stress that this is not forcing anyone to get vaccinated,” Thompson said. “This is something we came up with as a commission to maybe give them a nudge to get vaccinated.

“It’s a choice they have to make. I’m probably the last one on this commission (to get vaccinated) but I’m getting there. It took me about a year and a half to get there and figure it out with the help of James Brown and Grant (Lyons). We are not forcing anyone to do anything, though.”

Coffee County E911 Chairman Dean Blair commended the commission for making this decision.

“I commend the commission for encouraging the vaccine,” Blair said. “I agree with Commissioner Thompson that this should not be a forced thing but I would encourage everyone to talk to their family physician and get his opinion and thoughts on it.

“I think if we all work together we can get this thing back under control hopefully.”

Commissioner Jimmy Jones said that he spoke with administrators at Medical Center Enterprise who informed him that the hospital had 39 COVID-19 patients as of Aug. 20 and had run out of ICU beds.

“The third floor is full and they’re trying to make room for others on the fourth floor,” Jones said. “We only have seven ICU rooms at MCE, they have 12 beds that are full with COVID patients. They’re trying to put them in the day surgery room and post-operation room now. Let us think about these people that are working at the hospital. They have families and they are tired, so let’s get our people to get their shots and get vaccinated.”

Jones also said that he wanted to encourage people that are having COVID-19 symptoms to request to receive the monoclonal antibody “infusion,” which has shown to reduce the risk of COVID-19 patients to suffer from severe symptoms.

“If you have a family member or know someone that has (mild) symptoms, tell them to go to the (hospital or doctor) and ask for the ‘infusion.’

“They call that a ‘miracle drug’ at Medical Center Enterprise. If you know anyone that has symptoms tell them to seek that ‘infusion’ as soon as possible. This could help keep the hospital rates down, and let’s keep thinking about how hard these people are working to save lives.”

Coffee County EMA Deputy Director Grant Lyons said that while cases and hospitalizations currently remain up, the county is also seeing a rise in people that are becoming vaccinated.

“Our vaccination rate is sitting around around 32 percent – up about 2 percent from the last update we gave – and that’s a good thing,” Lyons said. “That means that more – even if it is just 2 percent more – are getting the vaccine. If we can keep spreading the message and letting people know to get the vaccine, we can hopefully start to curve this thing again.”

Lyons said he hopes the recent FDA approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine would help encourage even more to become vaccinated.

“It is important because that is the first one that the FDA has fully approved and maybe that will take away some of the hesitation from some people that were waiting for that,” Lyons said.

In other business, the commission approved the purchase of five new budgeted dump trucks at the cost of $154,200 each. Also, the commission approved the purchase of two bat-wing mowers at the cost of $10,500 each and approved the selling of a surplus 1999 GMC 3500 flatbed truck that is currently not being used by county workers.

Coffee County Environmental Services Director Mike Thornton said that the county’s garbage services will run as normal during Labor Day week.

The annual Coffee County Steer and Heifer Show will be held at the Coffee County Farm Center on Sept. 18.

The next Coffee County Commission meeting will be held on Sept. 13 at 9 a.m. at the complex in New Brockton.