Listen to the full episode with Mayor Tom McNamara on This Week in the Stateline at the end of this article.
By Steve Summers and Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Mayor Tom McNamara is urging residents to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, or receive their booster shot, as hospitals have seen a surge in coronavirus patients this week.
“These cases are overwhelming our health systems,” McNamara said on This Week in the Stateline with Steve Summers. “Forget the politics, we have to get a higher vaccination rate in our community.”
This week doctors at UW Health SwedishAmerican Hospital urged people to get vaccinated after treating a record number of coronavirus patients. Doctors said 90% of those in the intensive care unit for coronavirus were not vaccinated.
The three hospitals in the city were treating 167 patients with coronavirus on Friday, an increase from 129 the week before.
About 53% of Winnebago County residents are fully vaccinated, according to the Winnebago County Health Department. That trails the state rate of more than 58%.
“We have plenty of vaccine. We have plenty of locations for vaccine,” McNamara said. “We actually need people to just get off their butt and go get a vaccine.”
No, Mercy
On This Week in the Stateline, McNamara was also asked about his strong statements made a week ago in response to Mercyhealth moving its emergency care from the west side Rockton Avenue campus to Riverside Boulevard.
He said Mercy’s CEO Javon Bea, a Rockford native who grew up on the west side, has not kept his commitment to residents on the city’s west end.
“At every single turn he’s done nothing but provide the minimum for maintenance at that facility and cut services from there,” McNamara said.
“It’s disappointing that someone would break their word and their commitment,” McNamara said, and “just disappointing that someone who came from Rockford has shown so little respect for Rockford.”
Stroll success
McNamara also gave praise to the Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau for Stroll on State, sharing a story about a Madison resident who told the mayor she would travel to Rockford for the Stroll every year.
“Huge credit and kudos to John Groh and the Convention & Visitors Bureau,” McNamara said.
Listen to the full episode below.