'Normalcy Will Return': Nurse, Firefighter Remind Public To Stay Safe By Following Guidelines

CHICAGO (CBS)-- Friday starts a new month of staying home. While we're all anxious to get back some sense of normalcy, a local couple says life is worth the wait.

A wife and husband, both working as first responders during the pandemic, are doing everything they can to keep the community and each other safe. Taylor Hermann is a nurse and Gunnar Hermann is a volunteer firefighter who is also battling an autoimmune disease.

"We started staying in separate parts of the house," Gunnar Hermann said. "We weren't talking to each other very much. We weren't touching at all. I was using the downstairs bathroom."

"Every day, having that anxiety that I could bring this home to him knowing that he's at high risk, that was really hard for me and I think he saw me struggle a lot with that," Taylor said.

Even following all the rules and guidelines, Taylor eventually started showing symptoms.

"I was taking all the precautions, I was doing everything right and I still got it," she said.

Then, her husband was diagnosed as well. Now, they are both home recovering until they are able to go back to the frontlines.

"It is a lot of anxiety and it is really draining emotionally, so I'm anxious about getting back, but also wanting to go back," Taylor said. "At the end of the day, money will come, restaurants will come, normalcy will return but we can't get our wife our husband or children our grandparents if we lose them to this"

Until they can go back to helping others, they are hoping everyone will step up and do their part.