This is a scene from the news of yesterday – some nation, perhaps a third-world country on the other side of the world, being plagued by a rampant disease. And here it is, right here, spreading throughout our USA. In my day job of news editor for a Massachusetts seaside newsroom in a large media company, we have been crazy busy covering the many aspects of the coronavirus as it impacts our area – and we are now doing that working remotely. From initial positive cases to school closings, from event cancellations to businesses shuttering, the many-veined impact of this virus is having a devastating effect on our community.
Local government is largely shutting down, closing libraries and senior centers (Meals on Wheels and transportation services continue) in addition to schools, and so, as a footnote, the talk I was going to give at a local senior center on my books and writing won’t occur. That event, a dinner/talk for an LGBTQ audience, had to be canceled, among so many others – most far more significant than mine.
I’m told we’ll have a future date for the event. That will be great, if and when. For now, however, we must remember that the persons most at risk of covid-19 are the fragile members of our senior community, our elderly neighbors who bear their own health issues. We think of them and pray for nature’s guidance.
We also realize that this issue brings home the need to reflect on who we are, what we do, how we behave. We see educational institutions coming up with online solutions to brick and mortar attendance. We see restaurants having to close but offering curbside pickup. We see people being laid off and places of work that may never reopen. So many angles and aspects of this outbreak are impacting all our lives, in so many different ways. And we wonder: Is this our new reality?
Fortunately, here, in our home, Leigh and I are healthy. We have no health issues, our immune systems seem just fine. On a purely personal level, we’re sure we can, physically, weather the storm. But we, like everyone, don’t know what lays ahead. It may be business as usual next month; we could be facing long-term isolation as we wait out the virus’s spread. We’re glad to have a proactive state government, whose public health management appears to work as well as can be expected. We’re saddened to know that many of our neighbors will come away from this event scarred. We wish for everyone’s safety and well being. When this passes, let’s take away lessons that teach us, and learn from those lessons. And then share what we’ve learned.
Bless you all!