Hello and welcome to the Story Collider's Stories of COVID-19. This is our third and final series of COVID-19 stories that we've aired over the course of the pandemic.

These stories were recorded in the spring and originally set to air in June, but at that time, the country was reopening.

Most people wanted to think about anything but COVID, and I thought, perhaps, I will save the remainder of these stories for the fall.

When we have some distance and are ready to reflect on what we've been through, I know, so naive.

Because obviously, COVID is as much a presence in most of our lives now as it really has ever been.

Back home in Kenaw County, West Virginia, where

my grandmother lives and my little brother is an epidemiologist for the health department.

The case rate is higher now than it ever was in 2020. And that's true in many places.

So as cases surge again, I see these stories in a different light. Some are important

reminders of what we have suffered and lost already, warnings of what we could continue to

lose. Some of them help me have a sense of humor about the situation when I don't feel like

having a sense of humor.

Some of them reveal the important work that's been done during this time,

whether it was in the hospital, the lab, or the home,

and remind me that this work is being done by people who are thinking and feeling and suffering in the same ways that all the rest of us are.

But I think most importantly, some of these stories and maybe all of these stories show

that unconditional love was, is, and will remain the only way that we can get through this.

And I don't know about you, but that's something that I really need to remember right now,

as my frustration boils over on a daily basis.

So, in today's episode, I want to kick things off in the same way that we started our original

stories of COVID-19 series back in November 2020, with New York City nurse Harvey Katz.

First, I'm going to reshare Harvey's original story that he recorded with us last summer

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