Leaders in rural communities are concerned about the spike in COVID-19 cases

As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the state, people in rural areas in Tennessee are concerned about how those numbers will affect their small towns.

Large cities like Memphis and Nashville are responding to thousands of COVID-19 positive cases.

The towns in between are now concerned that as those numbers rise theirs will as well.

“I do understand, you know, people are sort of getting tired of this stuff and they are taking a few more chances than they should", says Humboldt Mayor, Marvin Sikes.

A number of smaller towns in Tennessee are without hospitals causing a high number of people to go to nearing hospitals.

Brownsville city Mayor, William Rawls, says he’s concerned about his community.

“As we can see in this particular virus, the uptick and dangers in our community, our African American population is higher. Thus we must be more diligent, practice more social distancing, we must wear our masks", adds Rawls.

And without a hospital they need to take more precautions to slow the spread.

“It is a different way of doing business, without a hospital we’ve had to make adjustments in our communities and we have to continue to do that to keep everyone safe", says Rawls.

Gibson county just announced they will not issue a mask mandate right now, but people still need to follow the current guidelines… because their numbers are rising fast.

“If you look at the numbers in Gibson County, you know they are up 32% in a week. So, we need to take it very serious here in Humboldt", add Sikes.

Both mayors are asking their residents to be cautious and stay safe. Imani Williams, for 39 News, in Humboldt.