Russell

76

09/16/2020

Halfmoon, New York

In November-December 2019, the Wuhan COVID-19 outbreak was being reported. By January 2020, the Chinese strain of the disease was affecting South Korea, Italy and the West Coast of the US. The East Coast, particularly New York and New Jersey, began to feel the impact of the European coronavirus strain In February. If anyone doubted by mid-March that we didn't have a global pandemic, they weren't paying attention. My own reaction had changed by late January or early February as I realized how serious the crisis would be.

I am a choral singer, and my partner and I are tennis players and ballroom dancers. We also like to travel both in the US and overseas, and we are used to going out weekly to dinner or to hear music. All that has been put on hold since March. We have four children and five grandchildren between us; and until June, we hadn't been able to see them.

At times, I've been cranky and occasionally have been depressed. I've had "cabin fever" from not being able to get out - particularly until the weather turned warmer in May. My partner and I have gotten by with rental movies, takeout dinners, reading and 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles (wine consumption has also been up!). With warmer weather, we added meeting friends - outdoors and distanced - and taking walks.

My extended community in Upstate New York has largely followed state safety guidelines. People locally were initially scared and suspicious, but have become polite and thoughtful over time. What has surprised me is how many people outside our region are selfish and inconsiderate of the safety of others, and have failed to see what measures have worked in states with strong governors in bringing rates of infections and deaths down.

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I am a retired New York State employee. I'm fortunate that my retirement benefits and medical coverage have continued uninterrupted.

My volunteer work since retirement has been in community education, specifically as a Board President of our local two-towns public library and vice president of our regional library system. All board and committee meetings, budget and long-range planning sessions, etc. have had to be virtual.

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For privacy reasons, I don't use social media. My internet and digital platform use has increased significantly. In particular, Zoom and GoToMeeting have been very useful.

I was on the planning committee for my 50th college reunion in May, which was cancelled along with graduation (we held a virtual reunion, with Zoom program sessions, over four weekends, and we published a 300-page 50th anniversary book instead).

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Libraries in the Northeast, along with schools and colleges, closed in late March and early April. The boards of our local library and regional library association were involved in the closings, developing safety and reopening plans, and the staged openings themselves (which are currently still in progress). This process is described in more detail under Item #27-28.

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We've had a few deaths since the start of the year; all the memorial services have been postponed until 2021.

Why emergency stockpiles had fallen so low, and why public health expertise had been deemphasized by some politicians.

It's not a mystery. The public health professionals had taken their 40-year experience with AIDS, Ebola, SARS and MIRS and had developed clear protocols, which have been largely ignored in much of the United States. 1. Each political jurisdiction should have a single spokesperson. 2. That person should be guided by the counsel of career public health and medical professionals. 3. The message should be factual and truthful. 4. The message should err on the pessimistic side to encourage citizen awareness and compliance, rather than worrying about panic. 5. Adequate emergency supplies should be stockpiled, with plans to retool industries to quickly replenish them.

Business and convention travel will be down, and more videoconferencing will be utilized. More people will be working fully or partially from home; and office rental income will fall, particularly in central cities, which will also affect urban restaurants and small businesses. People will be more careful when and where they travel. There will probably be more un- and under-employment, with corresponding pressure for both income subsidies and new job creation. The political divide over whether or not to trust science will continue.

Russell

COVID-19 (Disease)

Southern Adirondack Library System

Southern Adirondack Library System

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

English

Covid History

11994341240

Coronavirus Pandemic