COVID measures put in place for Albany City Commission retreat

ALBANY — A suggested COVID-19 protocol for a weekend Albany City Commission retreat met with mostly favorable reviews when it was broached during a Tuesday meeting.

Ward IV Commissioner Chad Warbington suggested that commissioners, staff and others who will be gathered get tested for the novel coronavirus ahead of the upcoming sessions over three days at Lake Blackshear. He also suggested that attendees avoid contact with anyone other than immediate family members.

The fourth surge of the disease has hit the state and Dougherty County particularly hard, with hospitals stretched to their breaking point. The daily census at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital has dropped somewhat, but there are still many patients in intensive care units who are being assisted with breathing.

“I don’t see it as controversial at all,” Warbington said during a telephone interview after the meeting. “It’s really something, if everybody else wasn’t going to do it, I’d still do it on my own. We’re going to be together for three days.

“If any of us could bring COVID or be exposed to COVID or be in the early stages, if we could get a COVID test before we would know we’re all clear.”

The rapid testing will be covered by insurance, and another provision was made that in the event a commissioner tests positive he or she would be able to attend virtually. Members of the public who attend would be able to watch via a video feed in a separate room.

“In my opinion, it was just something I offered up (where) if we all agreed to it, it would make it safer and definitely reduce the risk of transmitting COVID to others,” Warbington said. “It’s obvious we can’t stop living life and carrying on the business of the city. I thought that would help.”

Only Ward VI Commissioner Demetrius Young made an objection to the suggestions, to which the other commissioners and Mayor Bo Dorough agreed. Young was OK with the testing but said he was opposed to the other precautions listed.

“I guess I’m having questions about, you know, why we’re taking these measures kind of at the last minute,” he said. “I’m trying to see why we’re going this far with it now three days before the retreat.

“(Prohibiting) meetings, gatherings on the grounds, that just seems a little bit much to me.”

If live streaming is a possibility for those who make the drive to Lake Blackshear, Young asked if the sessions could be made available virtually to the public at large.

On Tuesday there were no city employees hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19, interim City Manager Steven Carter reported to commissioners during the meeting.

The city’s insurance plan has incurred about $1.2 million in costs for testing and treating sick employees during the course of the pandemic, including 12 hospital admissions over 14 months, commissioners were told.

Warbington, Commissioners B.J. Fletcher and Jon Howard attended the Monday meeting in person, with Young and Commissioners Matt Fuller and Bob Langstaff attending virtually. Masks are required in commission meetings, and plastic shields are in place on the dais where commissioner sit during meetings.

File Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]