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Volume 135 • Issue 38
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
kmherald.com • 704-484-1047
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Join in the fun each Thursday evening for Pickin’ At The Park. The event begins at 6:00 p.m. at Patriot’s Park. (Photo provided)
PICKIN’ AT THE PARK continues throughout the fall City Council unanimously approved the logo design from several presented by marketing agency NP Strategy. Photo provided by KM Main Street Program
Throughout the Summer, the City of Kings Mountain and the Cleveland County Music Hall of Fame have proudly sponsored Pickin’ at the Park, an acoustic jam which runs every Thursday night at the
Gazebo located in Patriots Park. It begins at 6:00 p.m. With the success of Pickin’ at the Park, the City of Kings Mountain and the Cleveland County Hall of Fame have decided to continue to host this weekly
event throughout the fall. • Bring your lawn chair and join the fun. • Want to participate? All pickers are welcome! • Patriots Park is located at 220 South Railroad Avenue, Kings Mountain.
For more information on Pickin’ at the Park, contact the City of Kings Mountain’s Special Events Department at 704-730-2101, or the Cleveland County Music Hall of Fame at 704860-4068.
New KM logo unveiled for the Cleveland County in crisis; hospitals downtown district overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients By Christy Adkins, Main Street Coordinator
The Kings Mountain Main Street Program is accredited through the state of NC Main Street and the National Main Street Programs. The goal of the program is to help the city create a more inviting and beautiful downtown area for the citizens and visitors to enjoy. The program is a public-private partnership between the city and volunteers from the residents of Kings Mountain. Some of the projects the program is working on are
helping to design streetscape elements, promotion, and marketing of the downtown businesses, creating training and a platform to help businesses maintain an online presence, and facilitating communication between city residents and city management, to receive more input and ideas that will make Downtown Kings Mountain even better than it is. The Kings Mountain Main Street Advisory Board just completed work on a new logo. There were several goals for the new logo See LOGO, Page 5A
Two events cancelled due to an increase in COVID-19 cases D u e to an increase in COVID19 cases, City of K i n g s Mountain has cancelled the last Cruise-in and Car show of the season featuring Who’s Bad: The Ultimate
Michael Jackson Experience and October’s Wonderful Adventure to Oz. “Out of an abundance of caution, and to help slow the transmission of COVID-19, we made this difficult decision to cancel two events. We hope our Coronavirus numbers drop as a result and we will monitor the situation regarding our Christmas Events,” said Kings Mountain Mayor Scott Neisler.
By Loretta Cozart In a press conference on Monday at 2 p.m., Cleveland County shared dire news. Cleveland County is in crisis. Cleveland county is experiencing 78 average daily hospitalizations, far more than surrounding counties. The Delta variant is six times more transmissible than the original virus. In the last five weeks, there have been 40 deaths due to the virus. Of those who died, only five were vaccinated. In Cleveland County, only 40 percent of the population has been vaccinated and there is a direct correlation between the number unvaccinated and the number of deaths,” according to Cleveland County staff. And the fastest growing population of infected patients are in the 0 to 17 age group. Dr. Inga Kish, Chief Medical Officer for Atrium Health facilities in Shelby, Kings Mountain and Lincoln spoke regarding cases and their impact upon the medical community. “Cleveland County is experiencing approximately 1,400 new cases of COVID19 each week. The Delta variant is much more potent and one in every 59 patients who contract the virus have died,” she said. Dr. Kish also shared that 40 percent of the patients at Atrium Health Cleveland have the virus and that Kings
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Dr. Inga Kish (left), Chief Medical Officer for Atrium Health facilities in Cleveland, Kings Mountain and Lincoln spoke regarding cases and their impact upon the medical community. (Photo by Michael E. Powell/CF Media) Mountain has begun accepting COVID-19 patients out of necessity. Currently, 20 percent of Atrium Kings Mountain’s patients are COVID-19 positive. The problem is made worse by the crowded situation in the Emergency Department. “Of the 35 Emergency Beds we have, half are occupied by patients waiting for a bed of any type, be it a medical bed, a step-down bed, or an ICU bed,” she said. The process has resulted in EMS diversion to other hospitals. There is a subset of critical patients we will continue to
take in who present at our door.” Atrium Cleveland and Atrium Kings Mountain have been on diversion collectively 18 times for a total of 287 hours out of the last 15 days, according to the Cleveland County Health Department’s PowerPoint presentation. Cleveland County has called for Mutual Aid twice in the last three weeks due to most ambulances transporting out of county to hospitals not on diversion status. “Less critical patients can be diverted between Shelby, Kings Mountain, and
Lincolnton. And we continue to look for additional space. Last week, 90 percent of our ER patients were COVID19 positive, this week that number has dropped to 40 percent,” Dr. Kish said. “The hospitals are also looking at the needs of ancillary departments, like pharmacy. Being aligned with Atrium Health, we can share resources across all our hospitals as needed. We have staff to do that.” Then Dr. Kish addresses the four deaths the hospital experienced in four hours. “This is devastating every See CRISIS, Page 5A
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