DAVENPORT, Iowa — Wednesday, The Quad Cities Chamber held their annual meeting to look back on fiscal year 2021, and talk about the vision for the future.
Paul Rumler, Quad Cities Chamber President said "To win the race for talent and economic prosperity, the Quad cities Chamber has adapted our business model to not only provide relevant services, but to create an essential impact on the Quad Cities Region."
The coronavirus pandemic has certainly left a mark on businesses and people around the Quad Cities. During Wednesday's event the chamber honored the Quad Cities COVID-19 coalition as the business of the year for their work to protect the people and businesses in the Quad Cities.
"The award recognizes the contributions of the dozens of Quad cities city and county governments; public health; health care providers; emergency operations; non profit and private organizations; schools and education partners; and businesses." The Quad Cities Chamber posted in a press release.
The Quad Cities COVID-19 coalition began in March of 2020, before the first case of COVID-19 was recorded in the region.
David Donovan with the Scott County Emergency Management Agency say's, "[The coalition] met over 180 times over the last 18 months or so to ensure that our community has, you know, speaking with one voice concerning COVID-19."
The group had its challenges navigating the data of the novel virus coming from two separate states. Donovan said the data was inconsistent across state lines, in terms of how the data was reported. But Donovan says their mission remained united, "How can we help individuals and businesses in our community find their way through this."
And ask people who may be hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine to consider rolling up their sleeves.
"We're still worried. We've got variants out there. Our case numbers are going back up. We had another coalition meeting this morning and learned that the hospitalization numbers are going back up." Said Donovan.