COVID in Racine; leaders address omicron surge
RACINE COUNTY, Wis. - Racine County leaders are encouraging residents to do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19 as they see positive cases rise—especially among essential workers.
This omicron surge could really impact direct services to the community if it isn’t stopped.
"Since Christmas Day we’ve had 44 deaths in the city of Racine public health jurisdiction. Last year at this time we had 21 deaths in the same period of time," said Racine Mayor Cory Mason.
Racine is seeing the highest COVID-19 numbers in the community since the pandemic began, with over 8 thousand positive cases reported since Jan. 7 of this year.
The local hospitals are overwhelmed.
"Our health care workers have never worked harder to compassionately care for a community but we are tired. Nurses and other key individuals have never seen this level of stress and needs for health care in our community," said Dr. Janice Litza of Ascension Wisconsin.
With the omicron surge, county leaders hope you do your part by masking up indoors and getting vaccinated if you’ve considered doing so--not only for your safety but for the safety of essential workers.
"Most city employees are essential workers. They pick up our trash, they’re police officers, they are in the fire department, they transport people to the hospital in ambulances and so keeping those folks and not exposed to covid so they can continue to provide those direct services is critically important," said Mason.
These direct services also include the efforts provided by the Racine Unified School District.
"I’m asking the Racine community to be diligent about taking appropriate safety measures, monitoring their symptoms, most importantly, staying at home if you are sick. Keep your children home if you think they are sick. This is imperative to keeping our schools and community safe and keeping our learning centers open," said Dr. Eric Gallien, Racine Unified School District Superintendent.
Leaders hope they’ve made testing and vaccination sites as accessible as possible for the Racine community.
"Together I think we can get through this but we all have to do our part," said Mason.
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