Frankie Pryor, Mitchell County Resident

The Corona Times – April 18, 2020

by Frankie Pryor

Frankie Pryor is a Mitchell County resident who is sharing her family experience with COVID-19.

Frankie Pryor

Fast and unbelievable are the two words that come to mind with the Coronavirus Pandemic.  How unbelievably fast life has changed!  At the beginning of March, I was on the phone complaining to my sister, who lives in New York, that this whole Coronavirus thing was being over-hyped by the media.  She was in total agreement, which is saying a lot because she works in media.  We ended our conversation saying that this whole thing would blow over in very short time and the news people would move on to bigger and better stories.  The next week my sister, among thousands of others in New York, was sick with upper respiratory symptoms and a high fever.

While her fever hit 103, her doctor told her to stay at home and call if it went above 104.  At that time, she was not a candidate for testing, frankly because she could breathe on her own. Thankfully she recovered, but our guilt lingers for making light of COVID-19.  We went from joking to worrying that everyone in our family would be cut off from one another in the event that things tragically worsened.  When would we be able to see each other again?  My heart ached to see my daughter in Ohio and comfort her when she was furloughed from her executive job.

Although our family roots in Western North Carolina go back to the late 1700’s, we are typical of so many other families who have branched out across the United States through the years.  With the exception of me and my mother, the rest of our immediate family live in New York, Ohio and Virginia.  We are blessed that no one in our family, wherever they are, is by themselves and especially thankful that my 84-year old Mom here in Spruce Pine is not by herself.   I am here with her, so she is able to fully stay in and stay safe.  With a mask and gloves, I venture out to handle all our essential errands but am very concerned about bringing home germs.  I worry about her health daily and as an elder at my church I am also making decisions that ultimately impact the health and safety of all our members.

Today family and friends can connect by an unbelievable variety of digital means such as FaceTime, Snapchat, and Zoom.  My church now has an online worship service on Sundays.  Although I have been staying at home, with the exception of a grocery or pharmacy run since mid-March, I have never felt isolated or alone. We are supported by county, state, and national government officials and have a wealth of information at our fingertips.

I wonder how my great-grandfather, John Arthur Banks, must have felt in 1918 when he contracted the Spanish Flu.  He was 36 and lived in Yancey County with a wife and three children all under the age of 13.  How much he must have suffered both mentally and physically and how frightened my great-grandmother must have been when he died on October 29, 1918.  My father was named after him and I think the pain was so great that no one talked about this through the years.  I discovered his story in my genealogy research a few years back and remember thinking how awful it must have been for anyone going through a pandemic a century ago in Western NC.  What hardships they must have faced.  Now here we are a little over a hundred years later experiencing another pandemic.

In looking back to that generation and their challenges to survive in the early 1900’s, I find much to be grateful for today.  My great-grandparents did not pass along fear to the next generation, they passed along strength and the will to survive.  Today my family and I are meeting and facing challenges daily and doing what we need to do to stay healthy.  We are more than willing to forgo inconveniences and let’s be clear – at this point we do only have inconveniences in Mitchell County.  I am not making light of the financial burdens of some, but we do not have loss of life in our area.    We realize that by doing what we need to do personally — such as only going out for essentials, wearing masks and gloves and socially distancing — we are also ensuring that we don’t spread anything to our neighbors and our community.  The more diligent we are in following the official guidelines the sooner we will ALL get through this.  With God’s help we will see this through.  Be safe and be blessed, Mitchell County!

We Want to Tell Your Story

If you have stories, images, or videos that you would like to include in The Corona Times, please e-mail mitchellnchistory@gmail.com with your stories and files for inclusion. If you have problems sending us videos, please e-mail and we will make arrangements for you to upload the video to us.

About the Numbers

You will note a series of numbers contained in the blog. They document the spread of virus through confirmed cases by the federal Centers for Disease Control and by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. These are the official totals provided by state and local government at the date of the post and do not include estimates or cases not confirmed by these agencies. This is our effort to provide an accurate gauge of confirmed virus spread as it continues during the pandemic.