January 19 2021 Update

Hope your weekend was great!  We had some good downtime this weekend - all socially distanced of course.  And today has been a good day with lots of early morning meetings catching up after the Monday holiday and then participating in today's City Council meeting.  

Tomorrow is national inauguration day.  Whatever your political persuasion, we can be proud of the fact that the United States respects our democratic processes and peacefully transitions the powers of governance once the voters (and the electoral college) have spoken.  My experience suggests that things typically don't take radical shifts, and with a very divided nation, any elected officials on the far ends of the spectrum would only push radical shifts at their peril.  Change will be incremental, and with a very engaged electorate, it will be done carefully and methodically.

So, take heart.  While things will change, there are built in safeguards in our constitutional republic that will make that change more gradual than we might fear.

CORONAVIRUS STATS

Nationally, Johns Hopkins University reports 24,227,835 cases with 401,288 fatalities. (The CDC website hasn't been updated as of this evening)

Utah:  326,221 cases; 12,645 hospitalizations; 1,507 deaths

Utah County:  79,680 cases; 2,112 hospitalizations; 253 deaths

NEWS YOU CAN USE

• A recent study from MoneyGeek has ranked Provo as number 21 on the list of safest larger cities in the country, also making it the safest of the larger cities in the state of Utah. 
• Utah legislature begins today and all of the legislative goings-on are available to watch at le.utah.gov, beginning at 10 am. (Because of COVID-19 and security issues, the Capitol is closed to in-person visitors.)
• Today the nation paused and remember the lives lost to COVID. Utah participated by ringing the bells at the State Capitol and here in Provo 15 times at 3:30 pm, in memory of the 1500+ Utahns that have died since March 2020.
• Egypt has unveiled a significant new archaeological discovery at the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, including 54 wooden coffins, many of which can be traced back 3,000 years. The funerary temple of Queen Neit was also discovered, which dates back 4,200 years.

PROVO SOCIAL MEDIA

THE MAYOR'S DAY

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Met with the Fire Chief
• Met with the Police Chief
• Participated in a human resources meeting
• Held a meeting with her executive team
• Participated in Council Work meeting
• Attended City Council meeting

FUN STUFF

There are always lots of fun memes out there on current topics.  Having been trying to get our older parents onto a vaccination list without success yet, this meme makes a solid point about looking for more successful models than the ones we have seen so far. 

Thanks for all you do!  I appreciate our city team more every day!

Wayne