STATESBORO — In June, prior to our return to campus, The George-Anne spoke with Statesboro’s Mayor Jonathan McCollar about what Georgia Southern University and Georgia Southern students could do to help flatten the curve of COVID-19. On Friday, October 30, we spoke with McCollar in order to get an update about the ongoing situation from his perspective. 

As a quick summary of how the university had done so far, McCollar said, “I think Georgia Southern has done a phenomenal job, as far as being able to keep the numbers down. […] Georgia Southern had been transparent and open with the city and county and other governing bodies throughout the process, so we had a good idea of what they were going to be doing. We were all able to adapt our plans so they could fit each others’.”

He went on to say how GS’s case tracing, additional testing, and quarantining procedures put everyone in a great position to begin and continue the return to campus. 

In regards to the initially high number of reported cases, he said that this was something that was expected due the return of both GS students and the public school system beginning of the school year occurring on the same day. 

Moving forward he advised that we stay the course as community partners. This means maintaining the guidelines and procedures established in the beginning of the semester for the remainder of the semester.

He expressed concern about the second wave which has been seen in areas where the colder weather has begun to arrive. McCollar used the example of France’s second wave causing their second lockdown in order to flatten their second wave.

“This is a virus where all of the experts are telling us that we’re going to see a rise as it gets colder,” McCollar said.

For us students, he had this to say: “I know students, and the populous as a whole, are beginning to suffer Covid fatigue. We’re tired of wearing the masks, we’re tired of social distancing, and I can tell you, me as a southerner, when I see my staff and my friends I want to give them hugs. But we have to continue social distance and until we are able to get past this we just have to make sure we listen to the advice of the experts and that’s the Center for Disease Control, John Hopkins, and the Department of Public Health.”