T-R photo by Thomas Nelson People congregate along East Main Street as the dome is placed back on the Marshall County Courthouse.

The Marshall County Courthouse’s dome going up brought many residents out of their home, but now it’s time to go back.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has left eight members of the Marshall County community infected and on Tuesday three Marshalltown employees had confirmed cases.

Also on Tuesday more than 100 people gathered to watch the dome get replaced at the apex of the courthouse.

“That’s not what we’re supposed to do to help take good care of ourselves,” said Marshall County public health nurse Pat Thompson. “We want to stay at home.”

People came out, handed out cookies and stood shoulder to shoulder to watch the iconic dome come back and symbolically show how far Marshalltown has come since the 2018 tornado.

Unfortunately, the parade atmosphere was happening as a worldwide pandemic has left thousands dead and almost a million cases around the planet.  

“We still have to remember social distancing,” Thompson said. “So we can stop the spread.”

The biggest factor to stop COVID-19 from spreading more in Marshall County is to maintain a physical distance from one another and stay at home if possible.

Thompson is happy to see the dome, and was fine watching it rise from the comfort of her home.

“It was kind of cool to watch it,” she said. “We still need to respect that distance and respect the distance and it’s all about location, location, location right now.”

The best way to stay healthy is to stay home.

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Contact Thomas Nelson at 641-753-6611 or tnelson@timesrepublican.com