ELDORADO (WSIL) -- More than a dozen local leaders came together in Eldorado Wednesday afternoon to support the Egyptian Health Department's campaign of "Community Unity," their plea to the public to wear a mask.
Egyptian Health department is reporting two deaths from COVID-19 Wednesday, bringing the number of deaths to four in the past 72-hours. The region's positivity rate has spiked putting the counties of Saline, Gallatin, and White in the state's Orange Warning Level.
For State Sen. Dale Fowler (R- Harrisburg) and others who spoke Wednesday, the call to action is both personal and professional. Fowler spoke of his father, in assistant living, just down the road in Eldorado.
"He's going to be 94 years old in October, and I haven't seen him since March," Fowler says, taking a moment to calm his emotion. He said he wears the mask for his father, and stressed the importance of following the three "W's".
"And by following these guidelines -- wear a mask, watch your distance, wash your hands, we're going to get through this together," said Fowler. "And that's what it's going to take, it's going to take all of us, it's going to take Unity."
Egyptian Health Department CEO Angie Hampton contributes the uptick in cases due to the general population getting comfortable with the idea, COVID-19 was not a problem in their rural community.
"It is so important with our counties being at that warning level, that can affect so much -- for our local schools, our local economy -- we really don't want to stay in the warning levels," explains Hampton.
She says health and government officials met this past week to discuss what was the best way forward; whether through local ordinances , or leaving it up to individual responsibility.
"We have fantastic communities here in Saline, Gallatin, and White counties that all will do the right thing for the people of our counties," said Hampton. "We didn't feel that an ordinance was really going to be effective for us."
Hampton says instead of the ordinance they are taking increased measures in educating the public on the COVID status of their communities, and they working to reduce the positivity rate by increasing County Health inspections at restaurants and stores, all a part their new campaign of "Community Unity."
Egyptian Health Department says their "Community Unity" campaign is something of a challenge, asking people to post to social media "Whey they wear the mask." Many at today's press conference named a loved one for their reason, now they want to hear from the community.
