The city of Seymour is urging its residents to take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously and to take appropriate precautions.

Yesterday, in the wake of Jackson County turning red on the state’s color-coded COVID-19 map, Mayor Matt Nicholson’s office sent out a release, urging people to wear a mask, to wash you hands, to keep six feet of distance between yourself and others and to consider postponing large holiday gatherings until it is safe to have everyone together again.

According to Seymour city officials, it is about protecting the people who keep our communities going. They say hospitals in our region and across the state are taxed and their capacity to care for patients is in serious jeopardy.

Jackson County showed the highest COVID-19 positivity rate in the state yesterday, of 19.4 percent. That means one in five residents who were tested were positive for the disease. According to the city, the 1,251 infections reported since early November is a 96 percent increase over the previous eight months combined.