Testing positive for …

The clarion call right now in the coronavirus crisis is for more testing. The data that will follow as larger percentages of the population are tested will substitute fact for hypothesis on many fronts.

There will be hard lessons learned as those data develop. It’s already clear that some assumptions were almost diametrically wrong, and as we learn more it will also become clear that mistakes have been made. As with all hindsight, we’ll know better what not to do next time.

Patience, that balancing twin to passion, as Maya Angelou reminds us, is critical to drawing conclusions rather than leaping to them.

Yet while we wait for medical scientists and analysts to crunch the fast-growing body of diagnostic data, we’ve already been tested in various other ways. And learned much so far from those results.

POSITIVE FOR INGENUITY

There’s never been a more suffocating box dropped down on American society, and the ways people have been thinking outside it range from inspiringly innovative to truly ingenious.

When confronted with situations nobody could have imagined six months (aka forever) ago, it’s amazing to see how many somebodies have figured out workarounds — some of which have tapped in to consumer preferences we didn’t even know existed.

There were no models predicting the degree of liberating slaughter for status quo sacred cows, but the rate and reach have been significant.

The waiting room experience is as ubiquitous as doctor’s appointments, for example; closing them down is an idea whose time would never have come. But one parent told me she much prefers the adaptive measures her pediatric clinic implemented. She waits in her own vehicle in the parking lot, with her daughter strapped in the car seat (and not wanting to play with a roomful of other sick kids), until called to come directly into an exam room.

She doesn’t want to go back to the way things were pre-coronavirus.

From primary-care triage to opioid addiction counseling, the necessity of suddenly moving to telemedicine has had a streamlining effect, resulting in years of change within mere weeks — a rapidity that would be unfathomable under normal conditions.

Restaurants have had to pivot from in-dining experiences to takeout or curbside pickup, and delivery-only “ghost restaurants” are emerging as a promising new twist to existing storefront models. Many eateries have also added grocery or market items to their menus.

The sudden closure of schools and colleges rushed the developing concept of remote learning into a daily reality, and also exposed glaring geographical gaps in Internet access. Some school districts outfitted dormant buses to become Wi-Fi stations parked in underserved areas; others offered to pay the bill for poorer students whose families couldn’t afford Internet.

POSITIVE FOR COMPASSION

People helping people is a primary pandemic theme, because so many are in need of so much. I’ve seen post after social media post from individuals offering to help others if they’re hungry or need a grocery run. “Send me a private message,” they always finish.

There were no packed sanctuaries this Easter Sunday, typically the biggest church attendance date, but that didn’t stop congregations from gathering online and even conducting virtual egg hunts.

For children celebrating birthdays, drive-by parties have replaced close-quartered cake and candle gatherings.

Community initiatives have popped up everywhere. In Jonesboro, Operation Full Bellies began as a free pizza night following a destructive but nonlethal tornado, and blossomed into a dozen restaurants serving 2,500 nocharge suppers over two weeks.

NEA Onstage is a cooperative effort between a local content channel and Jonesboro’s premier arts organization to keep area live-performance musicians (who have no gigs during the shutdowns) at work by filming the singers at The Forum theater and streaming the shows online.

The first airing is Saturday night, with subsequent shows to follow every Tuesday and Saturday night. Among the performers are recent The Voice contestants Marybeth Byrd and Cory Jackson.

POSITIVE FOR WIT

You don’t have to swipe through many Facebook or other social media screens to find a chuckle or even a full LOL from something playing off the pandemic.

From the irrational run on toilet paper to the incessant rash of Tiger King parodies, coronavirus memes and jokes have delivered innumerable lockdown laughs and helped us remember the healing power of humor in dark or anxious times.

POSITIVE FOR SHARING

I had never seen Andrew Lloyd Webber play the piano until he got quarantined. And while it’s been a joy to listen to a musical legend play some of his most famous melodies, the real treat is watching people from everywhere respond to his singalong invitations.

Most recently was “Think of Me,” from Phantom of the Opera, which resulted in women (and some men) of all ages from all over posting videos of themselves singing as Christine at home to Sir Andrew’s accompaniment online.

A common chorus, belted out by a sweeping variety of voices. All apart, but all together.

Inspiring examples of other groups gathering online to sing or play or otherwise share and give are countless.

Once again, the irrepressible human spirit is being tested. And proving priceless.