As COVID-19 cases continue to increase across the county, state, and country ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, medical professionals are urging caution when it comes to large family gatherings.

Dr. Craig Wittenberg with Pella Regional Health Center says there is hope the pandemic may be nearing its end, with vaccines likely to garner approval and to be widely distributed over the next several months. But while everyone may be fatigued after eight months of restrictions, he says the best way to help out medical professionals is to avoid interacting with large groups of people, including the Thanksgiving holiday.

“We’ve been in this race for about eight months now–it has not been fun. I do think there is a light at the end of the tunnel with these vaccinations that are coming,” he says. “I know in our family we’ve talked, because we have multiple healthcare workers in our family, and we’re doing things a little differently this year.

We’ve run this course for eight months and if we have two or three months to run to be safe and healthy, then we are willing to do that at this point, because I do think the vaccinations are going to be safe and effective.”

I feel like we’re coming on the last lap of our mile run, and we’ve just got a little more to go to stay the course until the end and we’ll be through this, I hope by springtime.”

CEO Bob Kroese reinforces guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as ways to help slow the spread before the help from a vaccine arrives early next year.

“Limit the number of people you’re in contact with whenever possible, both you and the people around you should be wearing masks, and to practice social distancing — even with immediate family.”

Hear more about Pella Regional and their situation with COVID-19 on today’s In Depth with Dr. Bob Leonard.