Macon County has amassed a contingency fund of over $23 million for a “rainy day.” Well, it could not be raining any harder in Macon County. Covid-19 cases are spiking, deaths are on the rise, and Macon County Public Health is rolling out vaccinations 2 days a week with an average of 100 people a day being vaccinated. Assuming they increase this to 3 days per week as they plan, it will take approximately 116 weeks to vaccinate the Macon County population. That is over two years!

It is time to open the county wallet and demand a better job. Hire the necessary people to administer the vaccine, open drive through vaccination sites at some of the empty shopping center parking lots and manage the problem. It is your job as our elected leaders.

Reading the article in the January 13 Franklin Press, the process to schedule a vaccine is reminiscent of an Abbott and Costello comedy skit. We are advised to call a number (option 2), provide our email address verbally (no risk of error here), await an email with instructions, and then call back the same number (option 2). All of this on a phone system that is described later in the article as totally incapable of handling the current incoming volume. Good luck fixing that with Frontier. 

In addition, what percentage of people 75 and over, or any age here in Macon County, do not have an email address let alone dependable internet service? A much better plan is required.

Is Macon County going to step up to the plate, loosen the purse strings and implement a workable plan? I guess we will have to wait and see. Lives are at stake.

Eric J. Moberg

Franklin