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Advertising market rebounds in June
Arkansas Press Association
Guest Column: Read any good catalogues lately? By John Foust
Publisher Weekly Vol. 15 | No. 31 | Thursday, July 30, 2020 | Serving Press and State Since 1873
In COVID-19 isolation, Sandra Brand finds community support As her long-time employer, the Osceola Times, celebrates 150 years this year, Sandra Brand is grateful to be celebrating each and every day as it comes. Brand, the Times’s editor and general manager, was released from the hospital Sunday following a three-week stay for treatment of COVID-19. She spent nearly 20 days in agony and isolation in a small, sterile room. Brand experienced difficulty breathing, had chills and had aches and pains, and medical workers determined she had viral pneumonia in both lungs in addition to the coronavirus. She spent a few days in the intensive care department at NEA Baptist Hospital in Jonesboro before moving to that medical center’s special COVID-19 unit for the remainder of her treatment. She still must remain isolated from others and is using oxygen to help her breathe. “When I was laying in that ICU unit and was about 112 percent sure I was going to die, I wanted to say something, and I wanted to tell people how serious this is,” Brand said. “ … There were a whole lot more people in that unit with me that died than went home.” Brand credited God and the work of capable medical professionals for helping her through the ordeal. She was the recipient of plasma from someone who’d already had the coronavirus, which helped her produce more antibodies to fight the disease. She also was prescribed the drug remdesivir, which has been shown to decrease recovery time for patients with COVID-19. Brand, 58, said she thought being a diabetic may have contributed to the severity of the illness. Though she said she’s not seen an issue in three weeks, the newspaper has continued publication despite some difficult and unusual circumstances over its sesquicentennial. Not only has she been away, her husband, Steve Knox, also works for the newspaper and was required to selfquarantine because of his potential COVID-19 Sandra Brand, editor and general manager of the Osceola Times is pictured with her dog Milo, Continued on Page 3
before she was hospitalized with COVID-19. Brand has returned home, but is in isolation and Milo is keeping her company