Hopkinsville City Council will vote Tuesday night on a COVID-19 vaccination incentive package that would use $110,000 of the city’s American Rescue Plan money.
The proposed municipal order aims to pay $100 each to as many as 1,000 city residents who become fully vaccinated between Sept. 13 and Oct. 31. Each of them would also be eligible to win one of 10 drawings for $1,000.
The plan is described as a partnership of city government, the Christian County Health Department and Jennie Stuart Health “to develop, promote and administer” the incentives. The Pennyrile Area Development District would give support with “marketing, outreach and advertising.”
As of Tuesday, Christian County had the third lowest vaccination rate in the state with 19,109 residents — or 26.4% of the population — having at least one dose of a vaccine, according to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
If the incentive passes and achieves the goal of getting 1,000 additional residents vaccinated, it would push the county’s vaccination rate to at least 27.8%.
In its most recent weekly update, on Thursday, the health department reported 468 new cases of COVID-19. Of those, 41% percent were among people age 18 or younger. The last time the county had more new coronavirus cases in a seven-day span was on Jan. 10, when there were 494 cases reported in a week.
As of Thursday, there were 647 active coronavirus cases in the county, which was up from 302 a week earlier.
The incentive plan is the last item on a somewhat lengthy city council agenda. The council is also slated to consider property tax rates, an amendment to the employee pay plan, amendments to the operational and capital budgets, Martinrea incentives, the Inner-City Residential Enterprise Zone funding and the stormwater utility budget.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Hopkinsville Municipal Center, 715 S. Virginia St.
This story has been updated to correct a miscalculation in the rate of vaccinated residents the county would achieve with 1,000 additional people being fully vaccinated.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
