Levi Njord, Kelsey Glatt and Lindsay Powers

As managers at Monument Health, we see the signs of COVID fatigue all around us. Nine long months of pandemic protocols and politicized responses have left people tired of compliance, low on compassion and deaf to new calls to action.

The timing couldn’t be worse as the number of COVID-19 cases surges for the first time in Mesa County.

Each of us faces choices in how to respond. Will we join in a renewed commitment to slow the spread? Will we commit to staying home and getting tested if we don’t feel well? Will we work together to keep businesses open and avoid another state-mandated shutdown? Each of our individual decisions contributes to the overall health of our community.

We’d be remiss, though, to not first celebrate some successes. As a community, we’ve responded to each new call to action. At the onset of the shutdown and seemingly overnight, local companies pivoted to new ways of doing business. Teachers created online lesson plans. Employers and employees alike became fluent in Zoom and Google Meets. Local philanthropic organizations dedicated resources to address challenges with evictions, food security and mental health.

Mesa County Public Health provided accurate information and guidance to allow for a quick reopening. MCPH created a data dashboard unrivaled by national organizations, disseminated immediate guidance for the community, deployed a responsive team of contact tracers and worked with local businesses to help them to safely reopen.

We pulled together to support neighbors, the elderly and local health care workers as we prepared for COVID-19 to make its inevitable appearance in our community.

Fast forward nine months to today, and COVID has made an aggressive appearance in Mesa County. Positive tests multiply daily, and the list of COVID outbreaks grow. A variance from statewide health orders was downgraded from protect our neighbors to safer at home, level orange, in a matter of a week.

It’s time to renew our resolve. It’s time to embrace our individual choices and actions and slow the spread of COVID-19. We want our economy to stay open and ultimately thrive.

We’re tired of hearing the message, but we know our community can’t be successful fighting this surge without each of us agreeing to make different choices.

Let’s start here. Can we commit to staying home if we don’t feel well? Even if you think you might just have a head cold, stay home and limit contact with others. In less severe cases, COVID-19 mimics the common cold. Staying home when we’re ill is a good rule of thumb — pandemic or not — to prevent illness from spreading and keep our workforce at work.

When we do fall ill, can we commit to making a pit stop to get tested? Testing has become widely available. The results empower each of us to make informed choices whether to go about our business if the results come back negative or stay home if the results come back positive.

A public testing site located at the Mesa County Fairgrounds operates from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Although no appointment is required and insurance isn’t necessary, you can register on the MCPH website at https://health.mesacounty.us/covidtesting to save time.

Colorado Mesa University has opened its drive-through testing site on its Grand Junction campus for limited appointments between 3 and 5:30 p.m. Register online at https://www.primarybio.com/l/cdphe to schedule a free COVID test.

We’re grateful to our health care workers and public health experts as well as the primary care providers, specialists and hospitals within our network working on the front lines to keep our community safe and open.

Let’s make a choice to support them and slow the spread of COVID. Let’s keep our local businesses and community open. All of our choices matter.

Levi Njord, Kelsey Glatt and Lindsay Powers work at Monument Health, a clinically integrated health care network established in Western Colorado in 2016 to deliver more comprehensive, integrated care to its members. Njord is a trained epidemiologist and chief information and technology officer. Glatt is a trained clinician and manager of clinical operations. Powers is benefits and operations manager. For more information about Monument Health, call (970) 683-5630 or visit www.monumenthealth.net.