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OUR VIEW:

Over the last few months, COVID-19 has taken over our lives. It’s to the point where we’re all tired of it, and wish it would go away, but unfortunately, it figures to remain a central portion of our lives for the next few months. Maybe longer.

This newspaper has gotten away from constantly updating the number of cases in Chambers County (or Troup County), as the consistently rising numbers are not surprising and don’t give a full story of what’s really happening. The numbers don’t put names and faces to COVID-19 cases, nor do they explain the severity.

We’ve put out a call to action several times, asking for people that have been diagnosed with COVID-19 to share their story. We certainly understand that re-experiencing such a difficult time can be tough, and we know not everyone wants to let the public in to their personal life.

However, there have been 329 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Chambers County, and we’ve written stories on a handful of them. That’s less than 1 percent. We want to share more of those stories.

And people in Chambers County want to hear from people who live here, people who have experienced this virus and come out the other side.

We also want to write features on the 22 local men and women who have lost their lives. We know that those types of stories are extremely difficult to talk about — and they’re challenging to write — but they’d serve as a way of honoring those people who died by telling their life story.  All 22 had a story to tell and people they left behind. We also want to talk to people who have had their income significantly impacted, either through job loss of furlough days. We want to talk to businesses, who have seen their profit margins decrease due to temporary closures and their plans to move forward. All of these stories show the real impact of this virus on Chambers County.

We’d love to hear from you. If you have a story to tell and don’t mind sharing it, please email us at news@valleytimes-news.com.