By Yvette Tello

I just spoke to a Director at Haven for Hope. I asked  how many confirmed cases they have had of the coronavirus. There are 1700 people on this campus. Not one! I was in disbelief and so happy to hear this. They credit this to following COVID protocol that has been put in place by the CDC, the Mayor and the County Judge and they require every person entering the campus to have their temperature checked. Any person with a fever will be denied entry and sent to Centromed to be tested and cleared for re-entry. They also give everyone entering a mask to wear while on campus. They have had to relocate 300 people to a local hotel in order to practice social distancing throughout the campus. Knowing this, do you think social distancing works? Do you think masks make a difference? Or do you think it’s just time for us to get back to normal, open the city up, and learn to live with this virus? Let’s talk about it..

Lila A’Giza: “Mask and just clean hands properly and dont be out unless necessary. At least for another month but heck that has not been followed  since it was ordered. Now, I see people hanging out together, parties, kids playing with other kids that don’t live in the home; like “ I’m just gonna go ahead and pretend there’s not a full blown virus actively spreading? You would be surprised if how many people asked me over to a get together. I’m like “huh?” No, I can’t do all that just yet. One of them even got mad at me”

Jeff Hull: “ In all honesty, from the perspective of someone who lived there for 4 months. I wouldn’t trust their word.”

Sally Keen: “According to recent data collected in NY, Cuomo said 66% of new cases reported they stayed at home, 18% were in nursing homes, and most were black & Hispanic”

Jesus Tello: “I talked to several people that feel it’s time to open up.  They are white. The hispancis that I talked to say hell no it’s not time.”

Yvette Elizabeth: “I was thinking of going home in July to visit but…my girlfriend that works for a hospital in SA texted me to say they have admitted 11 positive covid19 patients.  With that said,  I’m rethinking traveling this summer. Ugh! Right decision or not, I think this craziness will affect us all for a while. And now we have to worry about hornets “

Judith Scheidt Tello: “It’s damned if you do or damned if you don’t dilemma. We are all tired, worried, scared to death to venture out of our homes…At least Jim and I are afraid to go out because of our underlying medical issues, and a disabled family member to worry about. We keep seeing the cases and deaths go up, and it’s going to continue because there is no vaccine, and there are still people out there that don’t care about the costs they’ll make. I’m praying for everyone and grateful for the heros (nurses, doctors, food bank, grocery store workers etc) that’re laying their lives on for the rest of us. We pray everyday for a cure!”