Changes coming for next phase of fight against coronavirus
The coronavirus crisis that hit our community in March has changed so much, so fast, it is hard to remember it has been only a little more than two months since quarantines, furloughs, home-schooling and work-fromhome became a way of life.
Our community’s fight against the virus has evolved. Some shops reopened last week. Many hair salons opened Friday. We call from parking lots to let the dentist know we’ve arrived. Restaurants have put up partitions between tables to try to safely serve customers. More people are venturing out. More testing is available.
But we are going to be grappling with the effects of the disease for many months more.
Two months ago we changed the Dayton Daily News in order to give our subscribers crucial information about the virus quickly. Beginning tomorrow we are making more changes to keep the paper on pace with the evolving situation — as we all try to balance living with the virus.
For the past two months we have devoted the entire front section to news about the outbreak. Beginning Monday we’re moving back into the front section our business and Ideas and Voices pages. That will give us more room again in our Local section for stories from our local communities. Our reporters are still watching how your tax dollars are being spent and investigating important stories throughout our region. Our Local Focus columns will return.
We are launching new features in the next few weeks to help people know what jobs are coming back and how small businesses are evolving to grow despite the virus. We will continue to track the spread of the disease in Ohio and elsewhere.
In our Life sections, we will stop running our Learning at Home content on May 31. Those stories, lesson plans and tips helped parents keep their grade-school age children engaged during their home-schooling.
In Sports, we’re watching eagerly as the teams our readers have told us they care most about at this time of year — the Reds, the Bengals, the Ohio State Buckeyes — continue to try to find a way to take the field again safely. Our coverage of them will ramp up as their activities do.
Some things are not chang- ing. We’re continuing our special coronavirus email newsletter for subscribers that we launched in March. It has proven to be very wellread. If you haven’t signed up, go to DaytonDailyNews.com/newsletters.
I heard from many read- ers how grateful they are that the paper stayed a powerful, steady source of information in their lives when so many other things were changing. Our staff, from reporters and advertising sales representatives to carriers and delivery people, worked hard to keep the paper strong. As the fight against the virus moves into this next phase, we all remain committed to continuing to do that important work for our readers. You can rely on us.