My aunt died from COVID-19.
Why are you giving me a hard time about a mask?
Iam fueled with anger as I leave another day of work because someone gave me a hard time when I asked him to wear a mask. I just lost my aunt to COVID-19. People do not understand how serious the virus is until it affects their personal lives. She had already been battling thyroid cancer for several years while being a dedicated member of her church and helping raise her grandsons. Any time that you would see her out, she was wearing a mask. She was a fashionista, so it had to be a specially designed mask.
Just like the infected person she came unknowingly in contact with, the customer I encountered could have COVID-19 and not know it.
All I did was ask the customer if he had his mask. No answer. I asked again, making sure that he heard me. Still no answer. I waited until he got to the counter. I asked again if he had a mask. He finally told me no. I told him that he needed to have a mask for one of us cashiers to serve him.
He got upset and started to storm out, while I politely said, “We have four signs. All we ask is that you respect our rules.” He was boiling. He made a few more remarks, said “Screw You” and left the store.
Now, this was not the first time that I have been treated badly because I asked someone to wear a mask. It’s usually a snide remark or a sarcastic question, but eventually the customer puts on a mask. This customer might have been having a bad day.
I expect to be blamed because of a loss of a sale, but I lost my aunt because of negligent actions like that. I had to sit behind two of the granddaughters she left behind while they bawled their eyes out at her funeral.
According to state Health and Human Services data, there were 5,263 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Hartford and
Bloomfield as of Nov. 10, the day this was written. My aunt, Sharion Deneise Thomas, lived in Bloomfield but would travel to Hartford daily because that is where her church and her close family lived. Even before the coronavirus, my aunt would Lysol her entire house from upstairs to downstairs and would wipe all the doorknobs and surfaces. Sometimes when I would come to visit, I could still smell the chemicals.
When the pandemic started, I was not taking it seriously. I thought that this was a huge scam for the retail market to profit from people buying cleaning supplies. I would go on social media and see how people were fighting over toilet paper.
But it became serious when my mom’s coworker lost a family member to COVID19. Suddenly, I started thinking about my great-grandmother, who has heart problems, and my grandma, who has diabetes, and my aunt. It became very real when my grandma told me that my aunt was admitted to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center on Sept. 22.
I was in the middle of doing an essay for
my sociology class when she told me. I got so distraught that I could not continue.
While my aunt was in the hospital, my mom would call and put her on speaker so that everyone could hear how she was doing. The first time, she sounded fine. Then she was put on a respirator because the mucus had started to build up and she could no longer breathe on her own. It was hard to listen to her constantly coughing and wheezing. Then on Sept. 30 around 4 a.m., she stopped suffering.
At least now she can rest in the cemetery where she is buried, next to her beloved Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Hartford.
Confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Connecticut as of Nov. 25 are 4,926.