“Other people my age in this community say it’s fake and that people are trying to make it seem way worse than it actually is. Working as a receptionist at Grace Heights, I saw how many people were dying and that made me take it more seriously.”

“I'm old enough to remember the polio epidemic. I must have been six or seven years old. We had it really bad in Caldwell County and I have relatives who are still paralyzed from it. I was very young, but I do remember schools being closed, which was a big thing.”

“Compared to MS, my COVID experience is nothing. I've had a cold that was worse. It was just an inconvenience.”

“For me, it is a mindset. This is what I'm doing and this is what I signed up for. So, I'm going to continue with it.”

“I had the symptoms, but I didn't have the battle.”

“I wasn't that sick. I just wasn't feeling the best.”

“We've seen a lot of death, more than what I expected. I know people die in this population, but it came so fast and furious. It wasn't what I was expected.”

“One night I laid down and I couldn't get up the next morning. I couldn’t move nothing.”

“There's a very low percentage of facilities that would accept COVID patients from the hospital. At a time like this, I feel like it's our duty as a healthcare provider to provide these people a safe place when others won't and we will continue to.”

“Before getting COVID, I never imagined it would be this bad if I got it. When I tested positive, I still couldn't believe it. I was healthy and never had any pre-existing problems. It was said that if you are healthy, you wouldn’t get it. But, all that was a myth.”

“There’s a myth that once you no longer test positive from COVID, you’ve “recovered.” Like getting over the flu. That could not be further from the truth. Imagine having the flu but you never recover – like a university in hell. You just never graduate!”

“I was hospitalized for 29 days and ventilated for 10. I had kidney failure, blood clots, a dangerous reaction to a blood thinner, and infections while I was in a coma for 3.5 weeks. My family prepared for my death, but God decided it wasn't my time to go.”

MaElena didn’t think she could have children. When she got pregnant and COVID, doctors did an emergency c-section and then put her on a ventilator. 67 days later she held her baby for the first time.

“I used to go out every day after work like a normal 30 something. I can’t do that anymore because I suffer from regular, debilitating migraines.”

“When I got sick in March, I felt ‘cured’ after being treated with a mystery substance in a Yale study. But, six months later I’m still dealing with issues — like double vision and an irregular heartbeat.”

“If he hadn't given me that money, I wouldn't have been able to get care and I would've died.”

“I feel like I've dodged a bullet and I want to know why.”

“I went from a healthy gym-enthusiast to a bed-ridden woman battling a deadly, infectious disease.”

“After catching COVID-19, I was on a ventilator for 14 days. Doctors said I had a 15% chance of surviving. I’m 68 years old. I have no underlying conditions. But, I beat the odds. Here’s my story and why I think I made it.”

“The scariest part of those first 2 weeks was wondering if it was going to get any worse. I was aware that a lot of people were getting through it fine. But, I was also mindful of my own mortality. I still get winded. I can't yell at my kids, literally, still. They think it's funny, but I get really winded. I can't. Why don't we feel like we’re “back to normal”? It just might take a while.”