Woodfin cautions residents to be vigilant about COVID-19 during holiday

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Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin — at the regular meeting of the Birmingham City Council for Tuesday, Nov. 24 — warned the residents of the city to be vigilant about the risk from COVID-19 if they get together with friends and family over the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

“I just want to continue to remind residents of the city that take every precaution that you can with regards to this upcoming Thanksgiving,” he said.

At this point in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Woodfin’s “fear and concern at this point is as high as it was in March,” he said. “At the center of that fear is worrying about people dying from Coronavirus.”

“We still have to protect our most vulnerable residents, and we know that holidays is a time when family and friends get together, but I would like to remind you all that this Thanksgiving should not look the same,” the mayor told the council.

The holiday weekend in 2020 should be a “remix” or “scaled-down version” of what people normally do.

For example, Woodfin said, people should wear face coverings, especially in a space where everyone does not live in the same household. If there is a spread of food put out, everyone should use different utensils. People should not hug and kiss people who are not from the same household, he said. 

The mayor said that this affects his own family.

“My mom...has some underlying respiratory conditions, and because of that we will not even set foot in her home,” he said. “We will probably do something outside.”

Woodfin suggested that people should not have guests with “underlying health conditions” attend their gatherings.

“I know that’s not what we want to hear, but we do not want a situation where we are worried about folk or can’t see our family members because a few weeks later heading into Christmas they are in the hospital or worse,” he said.

The following items are among those passed by the council:

  • The council passed a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute a management agreement between the city and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI). Under the agreement, the BCRI board and staff will manage the institute, which is located at 520 16th St. N for one year, and the city will provide 500,000 in operational funding. The money will be paid in four equal installments, according to the text of the agenda item. 
  • Members passed a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with Space One Eleven Inc., a nonprofit arts gallery and organization located at 2409 Second Ave. N. downtown, in an amount not to exceed $4,500. Space One Eleven will continue to provide art education programs and workshops where professional Birmingham artists teach under-serviced children, youth and others in Birmingham. The money will come from the discretionary fund for District 5, according to the agenda item.
  • The council also approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to spend up to $700 to buy 10 yard signs reading “Keep Graymont Beautiful” in an effort to encourage beautification efforts in the neighborhood. The money will come from the Graymont Neighborhood Association, according to the agenda item.
  • The Opus Development Company, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, recently completed construction of a 17-story, 199-unit apartment building at 1001 20th St. S. in Five Points South. The council granted the developer — operating as ODC Collingsworth Birmingham LLC — permission to encroach upon the city’s right of way to finish the project. Opus allowed to install 9 canopies, 20 sconces for luminaire wall lights and 4 signs with internal lighting that will encroach into and over the city’s right of way on 10th Avenue South and 20th Street South. They will also be allowed to install one exposed fire department inlet connection for the sprinkler system and five metal overflow drains which will carry storm water from downspouts attached to the face of the building to a subsurface trench drain.