Fayette County commissioners encourage COVID-19 vaccinations

Fayette County’s Board of Commissioners addressed local COVID-19 vaccination efforts at its Aug. 12 meeting. During closing statements, Chairman Lee Hearn said he recently lost a cousin to the virus and that he believes “it’s smart to get vaccinated.” Commissioner Charles Rousseau asked the public to “please take this very, very seriously” and called vaccinations a form of “corrective action.”

County Administrator Steve Rapson read into the meeting record a lengthy statement from Steve Porter, CEO of Piedmont Fayette Hospital. “Over 95 percent of all of the patients we are seeing in the hospital with COVID-19 are unvaccinated,” Porter stated. “The citizens of Fayette County demonstrated a tremendous level of support for our staff during the pandemic. Your prayers and acts of kindness have been appreciated more than you’ll ever know. What we need more than anything right now is for everyone to take COVID-19 seriously, get vaccinated, and help us end this surge of the pandemic.”