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Brenna Hodge
Interview

Jeffrey Hodge
Narrator

April 24, 2022
Virtual Interview

BH: (00:00)
Okay. Do I have your consent to record this interview? Yes. Okay. Tell me a little bit about yourself in your relationship to

JH: (00:18)
60 year old father work in a job that I've been at for 39 years. Love living here in Wilson's Mills with my family. And that's bout it

BH: (00:37)
ah has COVID affected your job in any way.

JH: (00:43)
Yes, it has,

BH:
in what, what?

JH:
co workers getting COVID. We, we have I've had several employees that had to be out in quarantine.

JH: (01:03)
I've had to be out quarantine myself, never caught COVID. And we had one gentleman that caught it back in November, and all the way up till the last of last month, he was continually sick. He didn't have COVID any longer. But he was losing weight. And he couldn't keep anything down, of course. And he finally went and seen a specialist and come to find out. He had kidney death and that they've done other tests since then. And everything else is benign. They check for the liver, the lungs and all that. So he's going to have that removed in two weeks. I don't know COVID. I think it I just think all the doctors thinking he could, well he had covid. He's just he's just not handling it as well as others. When in reality, he had something much, much worse.

BH: (02:17)
And that affects your immune system.

JH:
That's correct.

BH:
What about other people in your life? How has it affected your personal life?

JH: (02:32)
Got a niece's husband. That had COVID up in Virginia, him and his wife and kid we're visiting his brother and their family. Everyone in the household caught it everyone in the household was pretty much over it in a couple of weeks. Not completely but 95% But then, and he just kept getting worse and worse and worse. And his was so bad. He lost about 60 pounds 65 pounds. And they didn't they weren't sure if he's gonna make

JH: (03:17)
but eventually, he did pull through. He went to a total of three different hospitals. But he finally did be finally pulled it long enough. He did pull through and he's he hadn't gained all his weight back but he's probably about halfway there. He's only 30 something year old.

BH: (03:45)
Has it affected your the way your family does like family gatherings?

JH: (03:54)
Absolutely. It it pretty much didn't have Christmases together, Thanksgiving together. Towards we did have people within the family that thought it was all just it wasn't method to it. And but I think I think he's serious, serious illness. I just think it hits people differently. Daniel was a healthy young man that smoke never had smoke or anything and he got the worst of it

BH: (04:39)
what is your pinion how the government responded to COVID and like the media coverage, misinformation, stuff like that.

JH: (04:55)
I don't think it was handled very well. I think personally, I think everybody was just new to it. They didn't know what it was. They didn't know what they had coming at them. And I think the ones that were calling the shots didn't know them sales, I think. I think like the seat, what was the CDC director? Yeah, he would say he would say one week to wear your mask. nother week, he said, Well, you didn't have to wear your mask in it again, another week do you need to wear to mask I mean, it flip flop back and forth, back and forth. I mean, and it's as far as me personally. I mean, I knew, or I felt like I knew that there was it was very serious. It was dangerous. But I just use my own common sense as far as far as what I needed to do as far as being safe. With the hand sanitizer, the mask and, and all that stuff. And I didn't pay any mind after about two months, looking at a moment news, because they clearly clearly didn't know. And I think the media, I think the media, I do think it is not to go so far that way. But I do think it was a lot political. And that was very, and I think that was very wrong. It was a very serious issue still is a serious issue. And they need to they need to be focused on contain this thing, no matter what part of you it. And let's move forward.

BH: (06:51)
What did you think about the masks when the mask mandate first started?

JH: (06:58)
Well, naturally, I didn't like it. The company I worked for. They did require. We had to put up a little blind thing there in front of the camera. We kept all the doors, sanitized all the doorknob, sanitize. Every piece of equipment sanitize. I didn't like it. Personally, I mean, I think I just been real lucky. I think I have had it. But mine was three years ago when I went to the doctor and I thought I had the flu. And I was tested for the flu. And he told me that he didn't know what it was. But that's what he was going through. And I think I had because that was before the corona test.

BH: (07:50)
Did you ever get a vaccine?

JH: (07:53)
Yes, I got the two shots. I got the two shots,

BH: (08:00)
Which one?

JH: (08:02)
Probably, I don't remember it. I know it was one shot and had to wait a month and go back and get a second shot. I can't I can't remember.

JH: (08:17)
I don't think I would have had I would have taken the shots. Because as I said, as I've sat down and looked at what media I mean, they clearly I mean something more right? Because they didn't really no one was saying yeah, one was saying neigh. And you'd really didn't know what the end what were they putting in your in your body. And I probably wouldn't have gotten the shot for the simple fact But the company I worked for where it mandated it so I had to get I didn't approve of it. And I wish I wish it was another way but it is what

BH: (09:03)
I forgot. When we were talking about Daniel the things that happened with the community on like Facebook, that found out about it all over the country. That like Yeah. gave him. Well, tell me about that.

JH: (09:26)
Yes, a lot of people sent money. That was different things that were done for the family all into community. But yeah, there was people from out of state out of country that that sent him some money. And it I mean, it didn't put a dent in the reveal but but it helped, it's money they didn't have

BH: (09:52)
has COVID affected your relationships with certain people. Differing views?

JH: (09:58)
No No, no, I don't think it has for me personally. I've had I've been in contact. I mean, I've been within arm's length. So people that had it that didn't know that several, several times. And like I say, and I think I've, I've just looked

BH: (10:25)
to me about family members, or like, friends has different opinions. What do you think about that?

JH: (10:34)
Well, everybody has their own, everybody has their own opinion, they have a right to have that opinion. I just, I just think that as a whole, just like the government, this was something new to everybody. Nobody really knew. And, of course, you have people anyway, there's gonna go against the government no matter what it is, but but it is what it is. And that goes back to what I said. I mean, they need to put their political differences aside, and do the right thing for the whole purpose. And but that's not happened. It's not happened yet. Actually.

BH: (11:20)
We're so different stories. You've heard about different rumors and things like, similar to the story that the nurse told you at one time.

JH: (11:33)
Oh, it had been going on probably six, eight months. And I was at a business that I was having some work done. And in the waiting room, there was a lady in there waiting for her car. And I struck up conversation with her about things that that I had been hearing. You know, at that point now there was a lot of stories flying around a lot of stories were flying around because people like I said it was just the apex of the of the disease. But she told me that she sat right there and watch in because she was a nurse. And she watched it in the hospital that they would die of something else but they were put down in Corona. And she says she she said I don't know you and you don't know me, you don't know my name. And I don't know your name, but I'm telling you, they're falsifying the records. And I believe she had no reason to lie to me.

BH: (12:48)
And it was for like money from the government. So they would get more money.

JH: (12:54)
Yes. Yeah. And I've had people that tell me that they knew doctors going to the church. And they thought this would tell ya they get extra money

BH: (13:09)
that was the test came out didn't it? Yes. Any other interesting stories that you've heard? Well

JH: (13:27)
I didn't read it entirely, I really didn't read it enough to to get into it much. But I did see article on people getting cancer. All of a sudden, heard when concerning the shots and stuff. I don't know what's in there. I don't even see who the article was by I didn't like that. It wasn't I didn't read the entire thing. But I don't know. But again, that just goes back to all the uncertainty and people not knowing and it's just it's just a crazy world that man.

BH: (14:12)
Back when it was first starting, did you ever have to work from home at any point? Or did you stay in person?

JH: (14:22)
No, I was in. I was I had to go to work.

BH: (14:26)
There were many people coming in.

JH: (14:30)
Yes. Had masks. Yes. Some had masks. Some didn't have masks. I was in that group that failed. That was that was permission to work that bottle work. And just like builders who I'm associated with on a daily basis, or that that work could keep on I didn't agree with it but it is cuz most of the people I'm more inside sales the outside sales were mandated to stay home they were refrained from going to see any customers have no contact with anyone but yet we did. I didn't like that part. It wasn't it wasn't the fire but again I had to have job

BH: (15:36)
did the business suffer at all, like

JH: (15:42)
actually, ours benefited from it greatly. It the when they had all those shutdowns. And when there was a hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of 1000 people staying at home. Apparently they decided that was a good time to just spruce up to spruce up their yards. Or what heavy wood masonry pavers, fixing up their yard with different things outside fireplaces. And actually, the first year was the best year that our company had recorded in 20 years as far as profit. The second year wasn't quite as good, but very close to it. And this is the third year. I mean, we're still on track. breaking records again this year.

BH: (16:45)
Um, see? Ah did you when they did start letting kids back into school and like opening businesses back up? Did you say they did it too soon? At some point?

JH: (17:11)
Well, at first, like I said earlier, a couple two or three time. I don't think nobody knew what to do. I didn't know what to think. Because I didn't know what to believe. I didn't. I mean, there was nobody that you could trust with a straight answer. As as far as for the good. I think personally, I just think that that's something that shouldn't they shouldn't have been toying around with that. You're talking about little kids who can't defend themselves. Yes. And they needed I don't think they should have went back to school as early as they did. But then there again it I'm just like everybody else. I didn't. You didn't? You don't know. You're saying well,

BH: (17:59)
no, I'm Did you at work? Did you ever have confrontations with people not wanting to wear masks, even though it was well? Was it required to wear a mask? In

JH: (18:17)
Yeah, it was. It was but my company if they didn't have a mask, they were still allowed to come in if they wanted to come in. That wasn't a company and that wasn't a company mandate. It was kind of one of those things that's kind of swept under rug under the rug. I didn't have I only had one that I can remember that I had a confrontation with I didn't actually have a confrontation but a customer had a confrontation with another customer who didn't have a mask on. So I had to get in I had to get in the middle of that and battle which we did we got the customer that didn't have the mask. We got him what he needed real quick got him out

BH: (19:17)
what were they fighting over? What happened?

JH: (19:22)
One wasn't wearing a mask. The other one was, ah that's what happened. They had one that was very felt very strong forward. And one evidently didn't mean so much to him. He didn't want to

BH: (19:44)
get pretty heated between that kind of stuff.

JH: (19:49)
Yeah, actually, and actually, the gentleman that wasn't wearing a mask was a Spanish fella. And I've known this guy for several years. He's a good Christian guy and he I think the guy was just being a little prejudiced because he was Spanish I don't know that for sure. Just in my gut feeling, this way I feel. I stood up for that. I mean, I I took care of both of them

BH: (20:21)
is there anything else that you want to talk about your story she got or

JH: (20:28)
no, that's pretty much it. You should be hearing from my manager on how much he gonna pay me for this interview.

BH:
Okay.

JH:
[inaudible]. You had some good questions. A lot of those things I hadn't thought about in a while. But yeah, it was good.

BH: (20:53)
It's been a long time.

JH:
Yep.

BH:
Well, thank you very much.

JH: (20:58)
Yes, ma'am, I thought all right. Bye.

[End of Recording]