GREENSBORO, N.C. — One Greensboro woman said she's keeping her mask on because she lost her dad to COVID-19 in December.
"His name was Jesus Carmona," Melissa Carmona said.
Even though the wording 'getting back to normal' has become more common lately, Carmona is challenging us to use different terminology because her life will never be normal again.
"He was very hardworking, that's what I always admired about him," she added. "Funny, too."
Carmona pictures his smiling face when she thinks about her dad.
Carmona said she tries not to think about the end of his life: alone in a hospital and hooked up to a ventilator.
"I sit with the fact that my dad not only died alone and died in fear, we also never got to say goodbye to him," she said with tears in her eyes. "I never even got to say goodbye to his body. All I got were his ashes."
Last week Gov. Roy Cooper announced loosened restrictions, that largely got rid of the mask mandate.
"What do you want people to take away from your story?" WFMY News 2's Jess Winters asked.
"I want people to keep taking care of one another," she responded.
She acknowledges that others have the right to keep their mask off.
"I try to not be rigid, I get that everyone's experience is very individual."
But she made a post on the Nextdoor app encouraging continued sensitivity and safety.
Carmona specifically wants to do away with the phrase 'getting back to normal' as the state opens more because for her and so many others there's no such thing as normal anymore.
"It's been really hard," she said wiping away tears. "So when I hear people saying, 'oh, things are going back to normal, our life is coming back,' I think I'm not the only one who shares the feeling that, for many of us, it's not going to go back to normal."
Her Nextdoor post resonated with many.
"There was a big response from people, very empathetic. It was a reminder that there are so many people that have gone through what I've gone through as well."
She hopes people stay vigilant.
"Communities being impacted the most by this are the Black, indigenous, and people of color."