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ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – Together we will get by. This is the message Rochester leaders want community members to hear less than a week before Thanksgiving.
City leaders, health officials and frontline workers gathered almost Friday afternoon to deliver this message; amid the largest outbreak of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations the region has seen to date.
“We have entered a new phase of this pandemic,” said Rochester Mayor Kim Norton. “We knew this was coming, cases are on the rise.”
Minnesota, along with the upper Midwest, has entered a new phase. The one with a new record wave of coronavirus cases.
“We experienced a small outbreak, but nothing that we are currently experiencing,” said Dr Elie Berbari, infectious disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic.
“This is creating tension in our community, far beyond the health department,” said Graham Briggs, director of public health for Olmsted County.
While this push is something that health leaders have braced for, they are also asking community members to do their part. “We have spent most of the spring and summer preparing for this moment,” said Dr Berbari.
He compared it to training, and now to competition.
During the meeting, leaders in Rochester urged the public to help our first and only defense against the virus.
“It is our community that can help protect them,” he added. “You can help us, with that first line of defense, by following the governor’s new executive orders and continuing to wear a mask, as Mayo Norton just showed everyone. Avoid gathering people outside of your immediate household, and stay away from people if you become ill. “
In doing so, health officials say it helps ease the burden on those who carry the burden.
“As we continue to see this surge in COVID-19 cases, we know it will continue, not just for medical staff and patients for everyone in the community. We are exhausted and we are tired, ”Kim. Brake said. “… We have to remember that we are all in the same boat. This is a community effort and if we can all practice these safe behaviors and encourage others to do so, we will slow this spread.”
“Healthcare workers have been the real heroes of this pandemic,” Briggs added.
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