Fandango asks this question every Sunday, to reflect on the previous week. I could have voted for the same people for several weeks in a row now. So today I will:

OUR FIRST RESPONDERS – HEALTH CARE WORKERS who have sacrificed so much in time and energy, and possibly, their own health, to treat and care for the patients that are overflowing their hospital beds during this pandemic. With little help from the federal government, they have had to do their job caring for people with a highly contagious virus sometimes using masks that should have already been thrown away, finding a way to use a ventilator for more than one patient, and finding room for those in need. Under tremendous pressure and disorganization, they are the heroes on the front lines every day and night, doing their best to keep COVID patients alive. And when they fail, they cry.  They are truly grieved for the ones who don’t make it.

Sign in a Chicago home

Also, all other ESSENTIAL WORKERS – delivery people, mail carriers, supermarket and pharmacy workers, and those behind the scenes like teachers trying to help their students progress without a classroom, the staff at senior living facilities, apartment managers, and others who go to work to provide services to the rest of us during this pandemic.