- At least one Twitter account has been tracking coronavirus deaths among a specific demographic — health care workers who’ve lost their lives to the COVID-19 virus.
- This Twitter account posts blurbs about those health care workers, making the account a constantly updated memorial to victims of the coronavirus pandemic.
- As of Wednesday, more than 201,000 people have been recorded as dying from the coronavirus thus far in the US.
The faces are so haunting. As you scroll through the Twitter account that belongs to @CTZebra, the name of which makes clear the account is meant to honor “US HCWs Lost to COVID19,” you see one face after another staring back at you — faces of the lives lost to the terrible coronavirus pandemic that’s hammered the entire world.
They belong to people like Marie Brumbaugh. Each health care worker lost to COVID-19, like her, gets a blurb on this Twitter account that tracks coronavirus deaths, from which we learn that Brumbaugh was a 40-year-old medical assistant in Branson, Missouri. She died from the coronavirus earlier this month after having spent a month on a ventilator, eventually suffering a catastrophic stroke. She left behind three children, the youngest of whom is just 10 years old. Meanwhile, just below Brumbaugh’s blurb, there’s another honoring Dr. Bruce Greene — a 61-year-old psychiatrist from West Orange, New Jersey, who died of COVID-19 back in mid-April.
Greene, according to @CTZebra, was a snorkeler and voracious reader who was also a trivia buff and avid collector of PEZ dispensers. “Kids intuitively liked him,” his short tribute continues. “He possessed a relaxed confidence.”
This is the human face of a tragedy that tends to get lost in the crush of news coverage focused on coronavirus trends, updates, vaccine developments, and statistics related to the virus. The team at Johns Hopkins University, for example, is to be commended for the intensive work it does by making available a constantly updated tabulation of coronavirus data including the numbers of cases and deaths in the US and around the world.
That data is heavily relied upon by everyone from journalists to political leaders tracking the pandemic. One shortcoming of the data that you have to acknowledge, though, is that it’s just that — data, and as such it doesn’t convey a sense of the humanity behind the numbers. All the lives lost, families wrecked, and communities irrevocably changed by this massive public health crisis.
As of the time of this writing, the Johns Hopkins data shows that, to-date, more than 6.9 million cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the US. Also, more than 201,000 people have died from the virus — a number that tragically includes so many health care industry workers. People who took the risks and made the sacrifices that we don’t have to. People like these and so many others:
Robert “David” Reisinger, 57yo RN, River Grove firefighter, and EMS coordinator, Stroger Hosp, Chicago, died of a stroke while recovering from #covid19 4/19. He was easy going, had a heart of gold, and a gift for teaching. #GetUsPPE #HealthcareHeroes https://t.co/T0VYIG3qxA… pic.twitter.com/WCDikjxowB
— US HCWs Lost to Covid19 (@CTZebra) September 20, 2020
Spagnolia Tart, 39yo Environmental Services, Rush U Med Center, Chicago, IL, died of #covid19 4/14.
He "played cards like Michael Jordan played basketball". While hospitalized, he posted a video and a request for prayers. #healthcareheroes #WearAMask https://t.co/XIj6m5D0hw pic.twitter.com/YSeZey0fIY— US HCWs Lost to Covid19 (@CTZebra) September 21, 2020
Teresa Rasmussen, 60yo travel RN, UMMC-Grenada, MS, died of #COVID19 7/13. She loved her family (especially her 3 grandbabies), and loved to travel to see God's creations. She gave her life for her patients. #healthcareheroes #GetUsPPE #WearAMaskhttps://t.co/Ewl5NmO999 pic.twitter.com/6VvkhegfNP
— US HCWs Lost to Covid19 (@CTZebra) September 20, 2020
Paul Ordin, 66yo Pharmacist, CVS, Athens, Texas, died of #covid19 8/4. He loved music, especially Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles and Beatles, and had an easy rapport with his customers. He leaves his wife, kids, and grandkids. #healthcareheroes #WearAMask https://t.co/5dFFboqSVA pic.twitter.com/alhRGndAiL
— US HCWs Lost to Covid19 (@CTZebra) September 22, 2020
Helen Gutierrez-Zwick, 62yo Social Worker, Infinite Ways, & HospiceCare, Miami, FL, died of #covid19 7/17. Her life was service, extended widely though her community. Her heart beat strongest for those struggling to hang on. #healthcareheroes #WearAMask https://t.co/Xn2eBlqUAr pic.twitter.com/dsuZxO8DSD
— US HCWs Lost to Covid19 (@CTZebra) September 14, 2020
