Editor’s Note: 2022 certainly promises to be another news-filled year, from a continued fight against COVID-19 to a debate over whether Buckhead should break off from Atlanta. Reporter Newspapers surveyed local leaders to hear what they think will be the biggest issues in the next 12 months. 

Robb Pitts, Chair, Fulton County Board of Commissioners

The most important issue of 2022 is going to be the same as it was in 2021 and 2020 – fighting and defeating the COVID-19 pandemic. It might have briefly felt like we put this crisis behind us, but by June of this year, more Americans had died of COVID-19 in 2021 than in all of 2020. This year, we faced the Delta variant which caused a tremendous spike in cases and in deaths; in 2022, it seems likely we’ll be up against the Omicron variant and others.

We know how to defeat this virus – by getting everyone fully vaccinated it becomes much more difficult for the virus to continue mutating. Unfortunately, the fight we’re in now is convincing people to actually get the vaccine. They have been in use for over a year now and just over 60% of eligible people in Fulton County have gotten a single dose. Now, we know that to be fully protected you need the booster shot – which only around 30% of eligible Fulton County residents have received.

Defeating the COVID-19 pandemic is a literal life-or-death issue. My top priority now and in 2022 will be working to get as many Fulton County residents as possible vaccinated so we can put this terrible virus behind us.

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