Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Why wear a mask? I’ll tell you why I do. I contracted COVID-19 at the end of March. I became deathly ill and was hospitalized on April 5, 2020. I was so sick I could hardly breathe. I don’t remember driving myself to the hospital, walking into the ER, or even speaking with anyone. I was placed on a ventilator for 13 days. I gave my wife the virus, and she ended up in the ICU for a couple of days during the time I was on the ventilator. I was later told that I had come very close to dying multiple times.

However, I didn’t! Because of the great ICU staff of nurses, respiratory therapists, and doctors that worked on me, I survived. We here in Gloucester are very lucky to have Walter Reed Hospital and its wonderful staff. They, along with many prayers, saved my life. I was able to leave the hospital on April 30.

Most people think that once you survive COVID-19 and are released from the hospital that everything is better. It’s indeed better to be alive. Ne...