Remember Niagarans who have risen to the challenge

There will be a lot of pieces to pick up when this is all over. A lot of wreckage to clear off the track before Niagara gets back in the race.

And it was racing, financially, as much as this region ever races compared to the rest of Ontario and Canada. Then — like a Ferrari advertisement in reverse — it went from 100 to zero in seven seconds, seemingly.

The toll COVID-19 is taking on humans is immense and heartbreaking.

Survivors describing the flu or pneumonia-like experience the worst illness they have ever encountered; people dying in hospitals, sometimes without the comfort of family members around them.

The coronavirus has put a terrible stress on frontline workers, too, from grocery stores to nursing homes and hospitals. Every day, they go to work wondering if they’ll be exposed and every day they return home wondering if they’ve brought it with them.

The financial wreckage will be immense, but of course cannot compare to the human loss. Still, heading into March, Niagara’s economy was humming.

“We were doing great economically,” said Blake Landry, manager of economic research and analysis for Niagara Region. “As far as new job creation, new investment in industrial and commercial building, construction, retail sales, export value — all the indicators were really on a positive trajectory. “And this really took a lot of the wind out of our sails.” Inevitably, economic pain is human pain. Thousands of jobs have been lost while people were sent home to wait it out. Businesses adapted, contracted, closed for now and in some cases, closed for good.

Amid all the bad that 2020 has brought us, though, there is plenty that’s good.

This week, has seen a slew of large-scale donations to improve health care in Niagara. That includes $110,000 from the Niagara Industrial Association and $270,000 from the Niagara Community Foundation to the Niagara Health Foundation, to acquire supplies like ventilators.

The Branscombe Family Foundation, meanwhile, gave $25,000 to the United Way.

And that’s just a few of the most recent ones. All across Niagara, people and agencies have stepped up to help.

In smaller ways, too, they are chipping in. We’ve all heard the stories about restaurants sending food to the hospitals and long-term-care homes as a way to thank workers there for their service.

At the paper, we have tried in a series of stories titled COVID-19 Front Line to put a spotlight on some of the people who have been asked to take extraordinary risks in their daily jobs, facing possible exposure.

Like Scott Wilson, a bus driver for St. Catharines Transit for 19 years. “Initially, I was a bit hesitant about being on the bus, but as more and more safety precautions were implemented my worries kind of decreased a little bit,” he said.

But the risk is there. A lot of people will get on and off his bus during the day.

Like pastor Bill DeGuire, who has been visiting some of the makeshift homeless camps around Niagara throughout the coronavirus outbreak.

No matter what protection he might choose, he still risks exposure while helping others. And it’s terrible to think of the impact COVID-19 could have on Niagara’s homeless population.

“Our street family is just as scared and have so much uncertainty, too,” he said. “Their daily routines are broken up, just like all of us. A lot of them are facing anxiety.”

We’ll be repairing the damage, human and economic, for a long time. But as bad as this year has been, never forget the way Niagarans have risen to the challenge.