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Brooks Mayor “frustrated” over level of COVID-19 community spread in city

The City of Brooks is trying to get a handle on a major outbreak of COVID-19 in that southern Alberta community.

As of Tuesday, Brooks had a total of 157 cases, dozens of those (77 as of Tuesday) linked to the JBS meat packing plant.

Mayor Barry Morishita though tells our radio station the rest are basically community-spread, which is unacceptable. “People are not doing what they’re supposed to be doing. They’re getting together, clearly. They’re not maintaining social distancing and it seems like they’re not self-isolating when they should. I think that’s why we’ve had  the spread. It is as simple as that.”

Morishita says the City of Brooks plans on taking extra measures when it comes to monitoring and enforcement of COVID public health orders. “That’s our frustration. We are going to take extra measures on enforcement and monitoring. We are under a state of local emergency in Brooks and if there are businesses or gathering places that are violating those rules, we are going to shut them down.”

There have been cases of COVID-19 also confirmed at two fast food restaurants in Brooks and at a local grocery store there as well.

Brooks has roughly 75% of all cases in AHS South Zone.

Patrick Siedlecki
Patrick Siedlecki
Pat has been a mainstay in the CJOC News department from the time the station launched in 2007. He's been in the position of News Director since then and has been anchoring daily news casts as well as reporting and working behind the scenes. Community is important to him and keeping CJOC listeners and readers informed about what's happening across southern Alberta and beyond. Pat has been in radio broadcasting for the past 24 years, starting in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1997 and then moving up island to Nanaimo for another few years before heading to Lethbridge in 2007. Pat grew up in the small Saskatchewan farming town of Foam Lake. After high school, he went to Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon prior to moving to the island. Pat also spent several years broadcasting hockey in the BCHL as well as seven years as the radio voice of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Pat has been working at Cornerstone Funeral Home in Lethbridge as a Certified Life Celebrant and Funeral Assistant since 2016. News and sports have always been Pat's passion from the time he was a teenager and he's always been grateful to have had the opportunity to make that part of what's been a fun and long radio career!
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