Toccoa Vice Mayor reminds residents to wear masks

During the Monday Toccoa City Commission meeting, Toccoa Vice Mayor Evan Hellenga urged residents to wear masks.

Despite the recent announcement regarding the COVID-19 Vaccine, he says, everyone needs to continue wearing masks in public until the vaccine is made available to the general public.

Hellenga says this isn’t a partisan issue; but rather an issue of public health.

According to recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people are encouraged to wear masks in public settings and when around people who don’t live in their household, especially when other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.

Officials with the CDC explain that masks act as simple barriers to help prevent respiratory droplets from traveling into the air and onto other people when the person wearing the mask coughs, sneezes, talks, or raise their voice. This recommendation is based on what is known about the role respiratory droplets play in the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Anyone who doesn’t have a mask, Open Arms Clinic, located at 109 Big A Road, has free masks for the community. Mask can be picked up at the clinic on Tuesdays from 2-8 p.m. and on Thursdays from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.