Saturday evening turned out to be a great time with a unique Christmas experience in Weiser. As most of you are aware, there was a car cruise up and down State Street, a live Nativity Scene (more like the entire Christmas story) at the Nazarene Church, Santa handing out treats at the High School, cruising up and down the residential areas to look at Christmas lights, and capped off with a great fireworks display in Memorial Park. The evening’s events were a festive and lively start to the Holiday Season.
While these events were not Weiser’s usual way of kicking off the season, i.e., the Festival of Trees, parade, and fireworks at the train depot, Saturday’s festivities were great alternatives to Weiser’s traditional way of celebrating.
To everyone who had a hand putting Saturday evening together, I want to give you a huge and grateful THANK YOU! A special Thanks goes to Tabitha Leije for the ideas and willingness to organize, Joe Malay for his connections in getting Santa to visit, the Signal American for their efforts in publishing and organizing, and Bill Taylor and the fire crew for the fireworks. The evening was a great success!
On a more serious note, the Covid-19 situation is nearing the crisis stage with the hospitals statewide. Last week, Governor Little issued a statement saying hospitals were approaching the need to activate “Crisis Standards of Care.”
The Governor went on to say, “If the State of Idaho must activate the Crisis Standards of Care, you or someone you love may be turned away from the hospital or given a lower standard of care because we simply may not have enough beds, critical care doctors, nurses, and technicians to handle the number of COVID-19 patients in need of care. Hospitals are telling us the need to activate Crisis Standards of Care will arrive in Idaho if individual Idahoans do not make the choice to reverse the trend in our rising COVID-19 cases.”
The Governor goes on to explain that in the “Crisis Standards of Care” doctors may need to triage patients and ration care to those most likely to survive or be unable to provide immediate care for people in non-life threatening situations.
Locally, in the last four weeks Washington County has experienced 254 new cases and 5 more deaths. In all, there have been 857 cases with 14 deaths. All of the people who have died in the county so far, have been within the Weiser footprint. Again, our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those who have lost loved ones to this terrible disease.
In a separate news release Governor Little goes on to talk about how the virus is our enemy, not each other. Here are some excerpts:
“Everyone questions who is responsible for protecting ourselves, our loved ones, the economy, healthcare access, and our kids’ ability to learn in their classrooms. “
“The answer is all of us. We are all responsible, each in our own way, for doing our part to get us through this dark and difficult time.”
“At the state level, we have equipped our hospitals with the resources they need to handle the impacts of COVID-19. We’ve also improved access to testing statewide and will continue to make therapeutics and a vaccine broadly available. We’ve taken numerous statewide actions over the past ten months to communicate the need to reduce transmission in our communities while protecting jobs and education.”
“And in our individual lives, we must do all we can to stay vigilant and consistently practice simple measures, including wearing a mask, avoiding gatherings and crowds, and keeping physical distance from others. Government alone is not going to prevent a crisis in our healthcare system. It is up to each of us as individuals to make the right choices.”
“There is an ugliness out there that we can overcome only by uniting around the true enemy – the virus, not each other.”
“Let us not be trapped into thinking the problem is someone else. The solution is all of us. We all have a role to play in fighting the enemy virus.”
“I know at times it can be hard to have compassion. But this Christmas season is a time to reflect on family, faith, and unity. Choose to support others while seeking to understand those who do not view things the way you do. We should not let the pandemic divide us, but make us stronger.”
This last weekend was a great example of how we can continue to safely enjoy our lives in spite of the virus. As we go into this Christmas Season, let’s continue to find ways to celebrate the season and still give each other the gift of health and safety.
Well, that’s it for this week. May you have a joyous and wonderful Holiday Season!
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