Jamestown   (CVHD) The City of Jamestown wants to remind the public that the city wide mask mandate that was previously issued, will continue after the discontinuation of the statewide Mask Mandate which ended on January 18, 2021.

On January 4, 2021, Governor Doug Burgum moved all counties in North Dakota to the moderate risk (yellow) level. Businesses and events/gatherings are recommended to reduce occupancy to 50%, with a cap of 150 people. Additionally, the state wide mask mandate will end on January 18, 2021.  Many counties are issuing continuation of mask mandates with this statewide change.

Mayor  DwaineHeinrich is asking the public to continue helping prevent the spread of the COVID virus by wearing masks and social distancing.

While the numbers of positive COVID cases has decreased in Stutsman County, Mayor  Heinrich wants to remind the community this is not the time to abandon COVID mitigation measures.   “We are still a long way from elimination of the COVID virus in the community states Mayor Heinrich.  “Wearing masks has proven to be effective in helping to decrease the number of COVID cases in Stutsman County.” Recent numbers show that Stutsman County’s number of positive cases has decreased to 27 cases. Special thanks to the folks at Central Valley Health as well as all of the medical providers in Jamestown. But, also it is important to recognize the people of Jamestown and Stutsman County that did the right thing after we realized that we were in trouble and more stringent rules and regulations had to be put into place. We want now to remind everyone to stay diligent, just because a mask might not be required doesn’t mean that it might be a good idea!

North Dakota receives less than 10,000 does per week of COVID 19 vaccine which is distributed across the state.   Central Valley Heath District  Unit Administrator, Robin Iszler reports that 1664 doses of vaccine have been administered in Stutsman County but this is much less than what is needed to help protect the population from COVID 19.  In order to obtain that herd immunity status – 70% of the population must be vaccinated.   Robin adds,  “We are a long way from vaccinating all those who are eligible. Until we reach a higher number of vaccinated individuals we will need to continue to practice COVID prevention measures such as wearing masks, social distancing, testing, washing hands and staying home when you are sick”.