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Cook: ‘Be safe, love one another’ – the COVID-19 soldiers and Dr. Chris Haddock

Staff photo by Troy Stolt / Brea Johnson, an RN in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Hamilton Medical Center is photographed at the end of her shift on Friday, Nov. 20, 2020 in Dalton, Georgia. "When we go home, because we've seen so many poor outcomes, the first thing we think of as a nurse is what could we have done differently" Johnson said of treating COVID-19 patients in Whitfield County "right now we just don't know."
Staff photo by Troy Stolt / Brea Johnson, an RN in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Hamilton Medical Center is photographed at the end of her shift on Friday, Nov. 20, 2020 in Dalton, Georgia. "When we go home, because we've seen so many poor outcomes, the first thing we think of as a nurse is what could we have done differently" Johnson said of treating COVID-19 patients in Whitfield County "right now we just don't know."

By David Cook 5 min read

For the last 261 days, ever since the coronavirus appeared in this county on March 13, an untold number of men and women have devoted and risked their lives to save ours.

Doctors, nurses, first responders, health care experts – they formed the tip of our spear. These are our COVID-19 soldiers.

They come home exhausted, even traumatized, after hours of intensive care rounds or contact tracing, collapsing into family, only to wake up and go to battle all over again.

Every hour of every day, 261 days and counting.

All for us.