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I’m tired of COVID-19 as I am sure most of you are, too.

This thing has dragged on for several months now with no end in sight.

After the first few months of lockdown, everyone was really tired of the whole ordeal and, let’s face it. We let our guards down.

Remember Memorial Day? We mostly by that time had decided to give up on the stay-at-home orders and some businesses were opening back up.

By Fourth of July it was like COVID-19 had never happened.

People, for the most part, were gathering, scoffing at mask ordinances, not social distancing and mixing it up.

Some people even went so far as to protest ordinances and decry the loss of their freedoms.

No doubt some people are still ignoring the reality that COVID-19 is a problem that must be dealt with.

Don’t believe me?

Look at the numbers. National, state and local are going up. You can blame it on more testing, you can say it won’t affect you and pretend like it is only going to get the other guy, and it may well avoid you.

But, it is hard to deny the reality of the numbers, which are more than just numbers. Each number represents a person, who possibly by no fault of his or her own, has contracted the COVID-19 virus.

Many people who get the disease may not have any symptoms or may only have slight symptoms but can still infect others who can get very sick and require extensive medical care to survive.

That is evidenced by the growing numbers of people with COVID -19 in the state’s hospitals, including right here in Natchez and Adams County.

The Intensive Care Unit at Merit Health Natchez was at near capacity on Monday and Lance Boyd the CEO of the hospital said that a stroke victim in Mississippi had to go to Georgia to find a hospital bed because all of the state’s ICU beds were filled, as were the ICU beds in Louisiana and Alabama.

The best defense we have at this point in the COVID-19 pandemic is not to get the disease ourselves. The insidious part of this disease is that you can have it and be spreading it to others for weeks before you exhibit any symptoms or even know you have it.

On Monday, Adams County COVID-19 Task Force Liaison Neifa Hardy reported that Adams County had 90 people with active cases of COVID-19 as of July 24.

One reader shared with me that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that worldwide data shows that for every person who tests positive for COVID-19, another 10 people who have been in their environment have COVID-19.

So, with approximately 90 active cases, that means Adams County potentially has 900 people walking around with COVID-19 who may not even know they have it yet.

Already, the hospitals are strained.

Even President Donald J. Trump has now officially said that wearing a mask is the patriotic thing to do and has been pictured wearing a mask himself. We all have to sacrifice for freedom, so do your part. If you are going out in public where socially distancing of 6 feet is not possible, wear a face mask.

Not only is it the patriotic thing to do, but it also may save someone’s life.

And, as an added bonus, we may be able to finally get rid of this pandemic and get back to our old way of life.

Scott Hawkins is editor of The Natchez Democrat. Reach him at 601-445-3540 or scott.hawkins@natchezdemocrat.com.