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Dr. William C. Isaacs was at the front of the line to receive the first COVID-19 vaccine administered at the Canadian Physicians Clinic on Thursday morning, Dec. 24. He was followed by nine other local healthcare workers, each of whom received the first dose of the two-dose vaccine manufactured by Moderna.

Canadian City Council members closed out 2020 with a review of the city’s guiding document, the comprehensive plan adopted in 2016. The plan is intended to define the city’s vision for its future growth and development and to establish goals—both long-range ones and incremental ones that guide daily decision-making—to measure its progress.

Seventy-nine residents of Hemphill County tested positive for COVID-19 during the last 15 days, bringing the number of active cases to 78 on Jan. 6. In that same time frame, the Hemphill County Hospital laboratory also confirmed 47 new cases in out-ofcounty residents.

On December 24, 2020, Hemphill County Hospital District (HCHD) began immediately administering our limited supply of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccines, following the CDC Guidelines for Vaccine Distribution.

The number of new COVID-positive tests performed by the Hemphill County Hospital lab department has continued to accumulate over the last seven days. The hospital lab confirmed 19 additional positive in-county cases during that period, and an additional 22 cases in out-of-county residents.

Late last week, Hemphill County reported 40 active cases. By midweek, that number had peaked at 57 cases before dropping to 36, as the status of patients was updated from ‘active’ to ‘recovered.’

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jaquita Adcock shared this story about her grandfather, Delbert H. Harper, who was born on Christmas Day 1909. The story came from Lisa Brewer Williams, a granddaughter of Delbert’s only sister, Ruth. This story is about them and the hardship they endured as mere children on this special Christmas Day in 1924. “Again, this is a very thought-provoking time of the year for me,” Williams wrote. “I lost my maternal grandmother on Dec. 26, 2002, at 2:30 am. Every year around this time, I reflect on this story that I was told by my grandmother, Ruth.”

COVID was the constant thread that ran throughout the Dec. 14 county commissioners’ meeting—fitting testimony to the virus’ gradual but certain impact on every element of this community’s life, in the year that cannot end soon enough.

When Rachel K. Ward, BSN, RN prepares to care for a postsurgical pediatric COVID patient at Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, she dons fresh surgical scrubs, outer-space-like booties, a sterile gown, two sets of gloves, a face shield, a respirator and a mask over the respirator. It takes two people to dress her and so far--months into the coronavirus pandemic, these measures have protected her from infection, protected her patients, her colleagues, friends and other people around her.