'You can't thank them enough': New mural in SJ shares support for healthcare workers battling COVID-19
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- In the South Bay, a local artist is using her talent to reach those confronting COVID-19, daily.
A message of gratitude to medical workers is spelled out in a new mural near San Carlos and 11th streets in Downtown San Jose.
RELATED: New model predicts when COVID-19 deaths, hospitalizations will peak in California
New shelter-in-place restrictions may make it difficult for the public to catch the art piece, but ABC7 News connected with the artist to bring viewers a closer look.
"I weighed going out of the house," artist, Denise Olenak admitted to ABC7 News. "It's not exactly what somebody would consider 'essential.'"
However, Olenak said she decided the mural was essential- necessary to show medical workers they are supported.
"Healthcare workers are really doing the dirty work for all of us," Olenak added. "And all we have to do is stay home... That's the easy part!"
A painting contractor by trade, Olenak teamed up with her best friend Alex Alvarado.
"Originally it was going to be 'Keep calm and carry on... (but 6-feet apart),'" she explained. "But we decided that we just wanted something more hopeful, more heartfelt."
The finished mural features Dr. Fauci and a quote from Winston Churchill: "Never was so much owed by so many to so few."
"I think that's a lot to what the quote speaks to," Alex Alvarado said. "Is how much gratitude we hold for people who are working directly on the front lines, or with COVID-19."
Alvarado considers herself the Artistic Director of the pair.
"I decided the layout, the width and span of the letters," she shared. "I helped with the colors, and then I also made sure that everything was spelled accurately."
RELATED: Coronavirus Support: San Francisco neighborhood honors front line heroes by making noise
Referring to medical workers, passerby, Christopher Rodriguez said, "I don't think you can thank them enough."
The art attracted many passing by. Including Rodriguez, who said it's a message we can all get behind.
As he snapped pictures, he noticed there was no credit to the artist.
Olenak said she didn't sign the mural because this was never about her.
"That's deep, because you know she don't want credit for it," Rodriguez said. "Just like the doctors and nurses- they don't want credit for it- but they're still doing it for the people."
RELATED: Coronavirus Safety: Expert explains recommendations for wearing masks
Soon, Alvarado will join others on the front line. She graduated from Emory University's School of Nursing in December and passed the test for her nursing license just two weeks ago.
Alvarado has also answered Governor Gavin Newsom's call for health professionals to join the new Health Corps.
"Nobody ever thinks that you're going to graduate nursing school and then a pandemic is going to ensue," she said. "That is not at all what any of us had planned. If you'd told me that this is what was going to happen four months ago, I would not have believed you."
For now, the pair's mural is a small show of support for those making a world of difference.
On Monday, Olenak learned even that message couldn't keep vandals away.
She spent Tuesday morning painting over a tag.
"I'll keep fixing it," she said. "All I have is paint and time."
Get the latest news, information and videos about the novel coronavirus pandemic here
RELATED STORIES & VIDEOS:
- Live updates about coronavirus outbreak in US,around the world
- Everything you need to know about the Bay Area's shelter-in-place order
- Here's how shelter in place, stay at home orders can slow spread of COVID-19
- Coronavirus Timeline: Tracking major moments of COVID-19 pandemic in San Francisco Bay Area/
- Coronavirus and the new normal of livingin the San Francisco-Bay Area -- COVID-19 Diaries
- Happy hour goes virtual as people try to be sociable while social distancing during COVID-19 crisis
- Coronavirus Outbreak: Here's why you should practice 'social distancing'
- DRONEVIEW7: What the Bay Area looks like during the coronavirus shelter-in-place
- ABC7's drive around San Francisco shows empty streets, businesses shuttered
- Symptoms, prevention, and how to prepare for a COVID-19 outbreak in the US
- List of stores, companies closing due to coronavirus pandemic
- Canceled late fees, free services available amid COVID-19 crisis
- Here's how you can help during COVID-19 pandemic
- Coronavirus in CA: Get resources and information about COVID-19
- Bay Area school closures related to coronavirus pandemic
- How to maintain learning during school closures
- How coronavirus compares with the flu
- No masks but here are 100+ products that may help protect you against novel coronavirus germs
- Busting COVID-19 coronavirus myths: Facts from the Centers for Disease Control
- Here's a look at some of history's worst pandemics that have killed millions
- Asian community fighting racism, xenophobia, bigotry as world fights COVID-19
