NEW ORLEANS — They say time heals all wounds. Try telling that to “Sunshine” Jefferson.
It’s been a year since she lost her husband, Eugene, to COVID-19. He was one of the first people in the city the virus claimed.
Yes, it’s a year later. No, it’s not any easier.
“Even now, I can still hear his voice,” she said Tuesday after a memorial service on the steps of City Hall. “I cried this morning, and I ain’t think I was going to be able to come.”
Anniversaries mark events good or bad.
On this anniversary of COVID-19 in New Orleans, city leaders took stock of both.
“It took us by storm and led us to places that were unimaginable. 768 of our people’s lives have been lost to COVID-19,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said.
But on a day that marked the start of so much loss, there were glimmers of hope.
“Right now, all the numbers are moving in the right direction, and we do anticipate additional easement of the guidelines,” City Hall spokesman Beau Tidwell said, announcing that the mayor and Dr. Jennifer Avegno, the city’s health director, might announce Wednesday some loosened COVID restrictions in the city.
A year after her loss, “Sunshine” Jefferson only has memories of her husband.
“He smiled even when he was sick,” she said. “He laughed and joked even when he was sick.”
On this day of remembrance -- and looking forward -- she now has a tangible reminder of Eugene thanks to artist Brendon Palmer-Angell and a drawing he made of her husband.
“It means a lot to people to know that their family members are being remembered, especially in the midst of the pandemic where the impacts are just so huge,” Palmer-Angell said.
