To the Editor:

Thank you for including the article by SMN News Editor Kyle Perrotti, "COVID mounts late summer surge amid onset of flu season" in the Aug. 27 edition of The Smoky Mountain News. The article was-well written, factual, informative and encouraging.

The last year has brought an unusual pattern in COVID surges. 

Typically, the virus is worst during the winter with an additional summer surge beginning around June. Last winter, there were fewer infections, hospitalizations and deaths, and while this year’s summer surge has been delayed, it’s now being felt across the region.

To the Editor:

One of the few good things to come from the pandemic is you hear more and more people say, “I’ve done my own research.” As we face this election season, that has never been more important.

After a spring lull, the coronavirus has returned with a vengenance, leading to a surge in Western North Carolina that experts didn’t expect. 

Grant Wahl, a well-known sportswriter, collapsed and died while reporting at the World Cup Soccer Tournament in Qatar. He was 48 years old.

By Mark Jaben • Guest Columnist | Two big things are happening in Haywood County this week.

First, a tremendous outpouring of help and support from people coming here in the aftermath of the devastating flood. Already, though, one member of a group has developed COVID and is hospitalized. The first rule of incident management is don’t become part of the incident; don’t contribute to the disaster. The fact is if someone gets COVID and has to isolate, or has a close contact exposure and should quarantine, they cannot do the good work they came here to do. 

Let me wish each and every one of you a Happy Thanksgiving. Each year at the Passover celebration, there is a saying: “Next year in Jerusalem.” It’s a way of saying: “next year may we be in a better place.’’ Right now, I bet we can all get behind that.

Since the Coronavirus Pandemic began in earnest in Haywood County in mid-March, emergency physician Dr. Mark Jaben has been the face of the county’s response, so much so that he’s now regularly stopped on the area’s hiking trails by strangers exclaiming, “Hey, you’re the guy from YouTube!”