Dear Front Line Medical Personnel:
Thank you.
Many of us have sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers who have joined you on the front to fight Covid-19 along with the many other illnesses people have suffered over the past 10 months. We have witnessed the anguish, the wear and tear, and the fear of infection. Many of those loved ones insist, too, to wear a mask when in our presence because the last thing they wish to do is cause us to suffer like the people they have cared for with the coronavirus.
Even those of us without such a relative in the field have seen the numbers, and we all are fluent with terms we never learned in vocabulary class. We didn’t want to know what “PPE” stood for or how a ventilator works, but we do now. We know about the sneeze and the spray and the 10-15 minutes of direct contact, and we now feel uneasy around more than 10 people. In fact, the uneasiness now feels natural.
And we know, too, that most of those who die these Covid-related deaths, no matter what other afflictions are present, drown in their own lungs.
We’ve had friends pass away with no other conditions other than Covid-19, but at the same time we unfortunately hear those deaths be discounted as “the slim margin.” You have had to do deal with that misconception, with the politics, and with the disregard for precautions. You have also tried to be our father’s or grandmother’s best friend because of restrictions on visitation.
We owe you.
And again, thank you.
Sincerely,
Good Folks in the Valley
