I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend and that you are coming back energized for our annual conference next week. I want to thank you all for doing everything you can up to this point to make informed decisions about how we serve our counties and continue our work while following safety and wellness practices. While 2020 is quickly coming to a close, this year continues to bring daily challenges and critical decisions for keeping our people safe and our communities well-served yet protected as much as possible from the spread of COVID-19.
As I am sure you are all well aware, the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are all increasing for Ohio and across the nation. We must continue to be vigilant and put the safety of our employees and that of our clientele first. It is the belief of the university, our college, and our organization that if we can help reduce the load by preventing or slowing down the spread of the virus, we should.
We must continue to make decisions based on the best science and advice to which we have access at this point and, as always, assure that these decisions are in alignment with our values and principles. We need to be following science and modeling best practices for reducing the spread of this virus.