St. Joseph Health Department says, "Do Your Part."

Connie Werner, Clinics Supervisor talks masks and socially distancing.

The Health Department is asking everyone to do their part to help them contain and mitigate the COVID-19 virus.

Di c1 >> connie warner from the st.

Joseph health department.

Tell us what you have to say to community members out there tonight and hearing the hospitalizations are going up, that tons of cases are going up?

What is your message?

>> it's the same message we have been given from the beginning.

We just need to keep highlighting it.

That is that to help make it through this pandemic with as little impact as possible, it's going to take the whole community.

It's not simply the health department or the medical providers or the ers.

In order for us to be able to do our jobs, it takes the community doing their job as well.

It's very, very easy to want to go back to normal, but we're not in a normal time.

We need to take the personal responsibility that we choose to wear a mask when we can't be six feet apart to keep the social distance.

Don't go out when you're not feeling well.

It's still common that people say they had symptoms for three days and still going out to various places.

So in order for us to do our jobs, any medical provider takes the participation of the community member, it takes each individual person realizing their decision can impact other people and so in order to make the best impacts, the least amount of damage to our community, it truly, truly does take everyone.

It's the same message.

It hasn't changed.

We need to keep asking it on behalf of the medical side to please do your part as well.

>> two other quick questions.

One, tell me about contact tracing.

How relieved are you to get money from the city for contact tracing?

>> it's a necessity.

Without it, we have two nurses and a supervisor of them.

And if we need to start other services as we do, you can't do two things at once.

We can't open up and give vaccines and make phone calls.

There's only one person to do one thing.

So to be able to have that ability to hire staff to continue to do covid, helps.

It's a necessity for us to be able to do everything needed to be done for the community >> do you feel overwhelmed as a clinic right now?

>> it's been, we have been in the midst of this since the beginning of the year.

Each day it's fighting the priority battle of the day.

It's a matter of not anything anyone ever planned for or signed up for.

I can just tell you that the nurses and the staff at this building have been working tirelessly to try to do the best they can with what resources we have to the best of the ability of the community.

I am really proud and impressed at our staff here who each day get up and do the very best job they can, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

I can only request people to make their choices with the understanding that it impacts other people.

I can't force anyone to do anything.

I can just educate and request.

And the consequences of actions we take good or bad.

And so, it's simply requesting to do your part.

To try to make it as easy on everyone