Twenty-eight local small businesses received some very welcome season’s greetings this week, in the form of checks delivered by the Canadian-Hemphill County EDC, on behalf of the City of Canadian, Hemphill County Hospital, and Canadian Independent School District.

The holiday season entered full swing in town last weekend with the official Christmas in Canadian celebration, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. Celebrations across town created scenes so idyllic, they could have been from a nostalgic Christmas card.

The second wave of COVID-19 cases in Hemphill County is proving to be not only the largest of 2020, but the most persistent, as well. The number of new COVID-positive tests performed by the Hemphill County Hospital Laboratory Department has continued to rise over the last seven days.

Explore full-page map online at https:// datawrapper.dwcdn.net/sQnOK/7/ The number of people from rural counties who died from COVID-19-related causes in a one-week period topped 3,000 for the first time last week, marking the fifth consecutive week of a record-setting number of fatalities. Rural counties broke another record last week for the number of counties in the red zone, defined as 100 new cases per week per 100,000 residents.