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ROCHESTER, Minnesota (KTTC) – Last week, it was proven that COVID-19 doesn’t just happen “somewhere in the country.” It happens here: in the Mediterranean city.
“This virus doesn’t care where you live or who you are,” Olmsted County Director of Public Health Graham Briggs said. “It has spread to the point in our community where it has spread to everyone.”
On Monday morning, Rochester’s COVID-19 risk dial reached the red, or severe risk zone.
“We are, for the next few weeks, at a critical point here in the community,” said Rochester Mayor Kim Norton. “In order to keep our hospitals from overflowing, we really need to rethink our business.”
This crisis point, if not reversed, could lead to further restrictions. Norton plans to meet with the city’s emergency operations policy committee on Tuesday to discuss options.
“It wouldn’t be because we want to, but because we think we have to do it,” Norton said.
An idea Norton posed, a curfew in the city; to help discourage people from staying out of bars late at night. Depending on what happens, these policies could arrive in the next few days. In other words, if Governor Tim Walz doesn’t beat the city. He is expected to announce “targeted” COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday.
“If we don’t do the things we know to mitigate the spread, like masking, social distancing, staying home when you’re sick, and getting tested, we know that’s absolutely the result of where we’ll end up. “Walz said. reporters after a capacity test announcement Monday.
In the meantime, some are countering the surge in COVID-19 cases in their own way. The Mayo Clinic is now restricting visitors. Some restaurants, advertising on social media a temporary take-out or sidewalk-only dish.
On Monday morning, the Canadian Honker reopened its seats, after a weekend of take out only. He was extremely cautious after a member of staff tested positive for COVID-19.
“It’s very stressful, but again it’s nothing new in 2020,” said Nick Powers, vice president of Powers Ventures. Powers Ventures owns the Canadian Honker.
“Considering we’re across from Saint Marys, that played a major role in our decision on what to do this weekend,” said Powers. “It is very important for us to know that the staff at the Mayo Clinic, including the patients as well, have confidence that we will be safe here.
While Powers says he can’t predict the future of what these “targeted” restrictions might be, he feels more prepared after what happened in March.
“One thing we’ve learned with 2020 is that there are no forecasts,” he said. “There’s no way to even look in a week. You’re dealing with what you have today. You focus on precautions, safety.”
This future is currently on hold.
“We have a community of healthcare workers to protect as well as hospital visitors,” Norton said. “So it’s really about looking at all of these aspects of COVID and making a decision that’s right for our community.”
Until then, but ultimately in the hands of his victims.
“Really, it’s the community that has the power and the capacity to contain this,” Briggs said. “The next four to six weeks in the community will be determined by the decisions our residents make. And we really need the public help right now to help contain that and limit the pain that too many people have endured in this. country.”
As the time has come to act, Briggs feels hope. Especially after hearing the news of an ongoing vaccine trial.
“We know everyone is tired and sick and wants to get back to some normalcy,” he continued. “It is important, I think, that if we ask people that if we endure ourselves a little longer, it starts to seem realistic that we are only a few weeks away from giving the first dose of vaccine to the inhabitants. of Olmsted County.
“We’re going to start winning some of these battles that we have to fight,” he said. “There’s an end coming. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. And we just have to get down and get there.”
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