Leaders in denial
My dismay with the Claremont City Council continues.
The council has eliminated any mention of the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic at the council meetings. At the Wednesday, Dec. 8, council meeting, Councilor Jon Stone asked to have the agenda item for a COVID-19 update by Councilor Contois removed. The council agreed to remove it.
While many Upper Valley communities struggle with mask mandates, climbing infection rates, vaccination availability, and the economic havoc of the pandemic, the Claremont City Council has chosen to ignore it. By burying their collective heads in the sand, they believe the pandemic has gone away.
The facts are that the pandemic has not gone away. At the meeting, a moment of silence was held for a recently deceased former city councilor who died of COVID-19, according to his obituary. COVID-19 is real. The transmission rate for COVID-19 in Claremont is high. There are currently 151 active cases of COVID-19 in Claremont. Sullivan County has a total of 40 deaths. New Hampshire has a total of 1,768 deaths, The vaccination rate for Claremont is 45.4 percent. The city has a cumulative test positivity rate of 18 percent over the last seven days.
This pandemic is real, and people are dying every day. The continued denial of the obvious effects of COVID-19 on our community is not working.
Call your councilor and ask them to act, take a stand for common sense, wear a mask, and please put our citizens health and safety first.
Jim Contois is a resident of Claremont and represents Ward II on the Claremont City Council.
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