在一次情绪化的简报会上，伊利诺伊州的高层健康一名官员在她发表最新讲话时泪流满面新冠肺炎(新型冠状病毒肺炎)并敦促居民不要在对抗病毒时沾沾自喜。
“我想说星期五快乐，但我理解这场流行病继续对人们造成的精神、社会和情感上的伤害，”伊利诺伊州公共卫生部主任恩戈齐·埃齐克博士在星期五的新冠肺炎简报会上说。
在承认她要求人们做出的牺牲的同时，埃兹克指出，新冠肺炎病例、住院和死亡在该州继续增加。
“昨天我们又失去了31条生命，总共有9418人死亡，”她说。“这些人从2020年开始和我们在一起，不会和我们一起在感恩节餐桌上。”
WLS
伊利诺伊州公共卫生部主任恩戈齐·埃兹克博士在发表该州最新的新冠肺炎报告时热泪盈眶。
她声音颤抖，周四报告称有3874例新病例，自大流行开始以来，确诊病例总数为364033例。
这位官员随后停下来，离开讲台去集合，然后报告说，有2498人在新冠肺炎医院过夜，其中511人在重症监护室，197人在呼吸机治疗。根据COVID跟踪项目，周四住院人数达到创纪录水平。
“我给你的信息是保持坚强，”埃兹克说。“我从来没有跑过马拉松，但我非常尊重那些能够训练、计划和完成马拉松的人。但这是一场艰难的比赛，你实际上看不到终点，我很抱歉这是我给你的信息。”
她恳求居民们“战胜疲劳”，继续保持社交距离，努力戴上面具，重新考虑大型的面对面聚会。
“这是我们必须做的，以降低我们社区的传播，”Ezike说。“当我们在社区推广时，孩子们可以安全上学，人们可以安全上班，活动和家庭庆祝活动可以是庆祝活动，而不是导致疾病和死亡的超级推广活动。”
Health official tears up delivering latest COVID-19 numbers in emotional briefing
In an emotional briefing, Illinois' tophealthofficial teared up while she delivered the latestCOVID-19numbers for the state and urged residents not to get complacent in fighting the virus.
"I want to say happy Friday, but I understand the mental, the social and the emotional toll that this pandemic continues to have on people," Illinois Department of Public Health Department Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike began Friday's COVID-19 briefing.
While acknowledging the sacrifices she has asked people to make, Ezike noted that COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to increase in the state.
"Yesterday we lost an additional 31 lives, for a total of 9,418 deaths," she said. "These are people who started with us in 2020 and won't be with us at the Thanksgiving table."
Illinois Department of Public Health Department Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike teared up as she delivered the state's latest COVID-19 update.
Her voice wavering, she reported there were 3,874 new cases on Thursday, for a total of 364,033 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.
The official then paused and stepped away from the podium to gather herself, before reporting that there were 2,498 people hospitalized overnight with COVID-19, including 511 in the intensive care unit and 197 on ventilators. Hospitalizations reached a record on Thursday, according to The COVID Tracking Project.
"My message to you is to stay strong," Ezike said. "I've never run a marathon, but I have the utmost regard for those who've been able to train and plan and finish a marathon. But this is a difficult race when you can't actually see the endpoint and I'm sorry that that's the message I have for you."
She pleaded with residents to "fight the fatigue" and continue to social distance, diligently wear a mask and reconsider large, in-person gatherings.
"This is what we'll have to do to bring the spread down in our community," Ezike said. "When we bring the spread down in our community, kids can go to school safely, people can go to work safely, activities, [and] family celebrations can be celebrations, instead of super-spreader events that result in disease and death."
