Downtown Sauk Centre looks pretty typical for this time of year, the traffic signals along Main Street draped with garlands and red bows.

But a closer look reveals how COVID-19 has left its mark on this western Stearns County community.

Restaurants and coffee shops are closed to dine-in customers. The marquee on the Main Street Theatre is asking for community support. The First Lutheran Church is advertising a parking lot worship service.

One of the biggest changes came last month, when central Minnesota’s CentraCare health system announced it would move its hospital in Sauk Centre to caring almost exclusively for patients with COVID-19.

It was a big change for health care workers and residents of the close-knit town, where “you can’t throw a stone and not hit a relative,” said Paul Knutson, development officer for the CentraCare Foundation in Sauk Centre.

As coronavirus cases in the region have spiked, Knutson said the pandemic is hitting closer to home.

“They all know somebody who's struggled with COVID,” he said.

Lifelong Sauk Centre resident Andrea Kerfeld remembers her reaction when she found out that, for the foreseeable future, the local hospital would be dedicated to caring for patients with COVID-19.

"I was, to be honest, a little sad,” she said. “Like, we've gotten to this point now."

Kerfeld serves in the local fire and ambulance department. She's also a 911 dispatcher for nearby Douglas County. These days, she said most of the medical calls she responds to are related in some way to coronavirus.

But Kerfeld wasn't sure how her community would react to its local health care facility becoming a COVID-19 hospital.

"I kind of thought at first, people would … freak out, or be a little nervous,” she said.

Some CentraCare officials had that same apprehension in mid-November, when they announced the changes.

"I worried that there might be some fear, some hesitation to come in and receive care at our facility because we are a COVID hospital,” said Patty Roth, director of patient care at the Sauk Centre hospital.

She said the transition happened quickly, and she wasn't sure how people would react. The hospital is attached to a clinic and a senior care center, which are still operating.

The goal of the change was to ease pressure on CentraCare’s largest hospital in St. Cloud, where its most critical COVID-19 patients are treated.

The 22 inpatient beds in Sauk Centre are now reserved for people with the coronavirus who need hospitalization, but not a ventilator or high-volume oxygen.

The emergency room is still open to everyone. But some other services — like labor and delivery — have moved to other CentraCare hospitals.

Roth said most people seem to understand that in a pandemic, things have to be done differently.

"They've been super supportive and understanding, and truly stepping up to the plate in ways that have been really amazing for our staff," she said.

Andrea Kerfeld and a group of neighbors have arranged for volunteers to deliver snacks and cards to hospital staff. It’s similar to a meal train, but because of COVID-19 restrictions, they provide pre-packaged snacks and beverages instead of homemade meals.

Nikki Linscheid, a teacher in Sauk Centre, said people were eager to help.

"We're a small community. We all know somebody who's working there, or we all know somebody who has been hospitalized because of COVID,” Linscheid said. “And we're all kind of searching for a way of how can we help our local heroes?"

Linscheid said volunteers signed up to deliver snacks six days a week this month. They're now extending the effort into January.

Roth said the show of support means a lot to the 250 CentraCare employees in Sauk Centre, many of whom have been reassigned from other duties to care for COVID-19 patients. She said it's difficult work.

"It's always putting on your N95 [mask], your face shield, your gown, your gloves each time you go in and out of a patient's room,” Roth said. “So it just takes additional time to care for these patients. And some of these patients are very sick."

Sometimes the patients get better, and go home. Sometimes they get worse, and are transferred to another hospital for more serious care, Roth said.

"And sometimes, we transition them into comfort care, and just really create that comfort while they're in the dying process,” she said. “It is very tough."

Kerfeld said she's heard from health care workers who appreciate the moral support.

"It's the food, but it's more of just the encouragement, or the compassion really, just to let people know that we're thinking about them,” she said.

COVID-19 in Minnesota

Data in these graphs are based on the Minnesota Department of Health's cumulative totals released at 11 a.m. daily. You can find more detailed statistics on COVID-19 at the Health Department website.

The coronavirus is transmitted through respiratory droplets, coughs and sneezes, similar to the way the flu can spread.

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