When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, our team went all hands on deck to help our local community. We immediately paused our ongoing research and pivoted to COVID-19. We then partnered with local clinics and agencies to help generate weekly reports of positive tests, hospitalizations, and mortality rates in southern Minnesota. Because of our interest in cardiovascular diseases, we also conducted research on the effect on acute myocardial infarctions and revascularizations in the community during the COVID-19 lockdowns. (1) It took about 2 years after the start of the pandemic for our team to completely get back to our prior research projects. (1) Lopes GS, Manemann SM, Weston SA, Jiang R, Larson NB, Moser ED, Roger VL, Takahashi PY, Sandoval Y, Bell MR, Chamberlain AM. Minnesota COVID-19 lockdowns: the effect on acute myocardial infarctions and revascularizations in the community. Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes. 2022 Feb 1;6(1):77-85.