Local News – Thursday, August 4th, 2022
The Dent County Health Center will be holding a town hall meeting about Covid-19 vaccines on Friday afternoon August 5th at 4:00 at the Salem Community Center@the Amory. This will be a townhall style question and answer session to discuss recent updates regarding the Covid-19 vaccines including Novavax, a new vaccine that does not use MRNA technology, as well as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for children six months and older. Also, a discussion about the 1st and 2nd booster doses, as well as the Omicron booster which is under study. If you can’t attend, you can view the discussion online at www.facebook.com/DentCountyHealthCtr.
The City of Salem’s Finance Committee will hold a meeting this evening at 5:30 at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory. The agenda includes consideration of fees, unused tax, update on the budget, and audit status before adjournment. The meeting was called by Finance Committee Chair Kayla Sisco and is open to the public.
The Doe Run Company (Doe Run) has released its most recent sustainability report, available at sustainability.doerun.com, showing how the demand for the minerals it mines will play a crucial role in technologies being developed now and in the future. Doe Run’s 13th sustainability report recaps the company’s 2021 performance on 15 key indicators in 10 categories. The report also covers the following highlights from 2021 states the Doe Run delivered nearly 15,000 hours of employee training while continuing to follow CDC protocols so the company could safely work during the second year of the pandemic. In the past 10 years, Doe Run invested more than 585 million on projects to reduce environmental impact, including over 90 million dedicated to remediating former mine sites. The company is also committed to investing in the future. In 2021, more than 30 university students took part in the internship program, and Doe Run donated 60,000 to STEM-related scholarships and mining education programs at Missouri universities. Additionally, Doe Run delivered mining education kits to 18 local elementary school classrooms to teach children about the importance of mining and minerals. Over the past 10 years, Doe Run has donated over 1.9 million to local schools and community organizations. Doe Run also contributes 1.2 billion in annual economic impact to Missouri, including spending more than 188 million with 665 Missouri businesses in 2021. Doe Run also provided good paying jobs for more than 1,200 individuals in 2021. Doe Run’s average employee wages are significantly higher than average in the counties nearest our operations. Doe Run’s sustainability report contains Standard Disclosures from the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework, known as the Global Reporting Initiative or GRI. These disclosures consist of data about environmental performance, health and safety performance, workforce composition, and economic impact.
The National Association of County and City Health Officials, the voice of the country’s nearly 3,000 local health departments, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has selected nine local health departments, including the Dent County Health Center, to participate as host sites in Cohort I of the Partnering for Vaccine Equity Project. Over the past three flu seasons, vaccination coverage has increased among adults; however, racial, and ethnic disparities in flu vaccination coverage remain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adults from racial and ethnic minority groups have lower flu vaccination rates and higher rates of severe flu illness and flu-related morbidity and mortality compared to non-Hispanic White adults. This same trend of low vaccination and high morbidity and mortality is documented for COVID-19. Disparities in vaccination coverage, especially among racial and ethnic minority adults, contribute to and further exacerbate existing health inequities. The Partnering for Vaccine Equity project seeks to support local health departments to improve COVID-19 and influenza vaccination coverage because it is an important approach for improving the overall health and economic opportunity for historically-marginalized groups and advancing health equity in communities. The Partnering for Vaccine Equity Project focuses on increasing local health departments’ capacity to address inequities in COVID-19 and influenza vaccination coverage among racial and ethnic minority adults to increase vaccination uptake. This work will be achieved by collaborating with local health departments to identify and address barriers to vaccines, engage community stakeholders and influential messengers to support vaccine messaging, provide education and vaccine delivery at the community level, and facilitate relationships between vaccine providers and the community to increase vaccine confidence, access, and uptake opportunities. The project will run through December 31st, 2022.
Montauk State Park will be hosting Summer’s End Kids Free Fishing Day this Saturday. Fishing tags will be free to kids 15 years of age and younger on this day ibn the park. The children will be able to pick up their tags Friday evening after 7:00 or anytime on Saturday. Adults must have a daily trout tag to assist their children with their fishing experience. For more information contact the park at 548-2201.