A YEAR OF COVID
Sharing loss, heroism, struggles — and at last, shots of hope
Nobody knew it would be quite like this.
On March 5, 2020, the coronavirus pandemic was already something familiar to most people in Pennsylvania.
The first cases of COVID-19 in the state would only be reported the following day, but the infectious disease was already big news. It had hit other countries hard and was already spreading in parts of the U.S.
The mantra of “wash your hands, clean and sanitize, socially distance” was becoming part of the collective conscience.
But just how bad things would get, how much all of
our lives would change; that was a story yet to be told. We didn’t know then that we were standing on the precipice of a year unlike one any of us had experienced before.
The past 12 months have been trying ones, ones filled with disappointments and tragedies and countless frustrations. They’ve also been filled with moments of hope, with strokes of innovation and acts of compassion.
MediaNews Group is marking the one-year anniversary of COVID-19 in Montgomery County with a series of stories about the impact it has had here.
And what an impact it has had.
More than 47,000 have tested positive for the disease in the county since the first case was reported March 7, 2020. More than 1,200 — 1,233 as of March 5 — have lost their lives to it.
That two-week statewide school shutdown? It was eventually extended to the end of the last school year. Some students still have not returned to classrooms, while others have found themselves with a mix of in-person and virtual learning.
Days after the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Montgomery County, the governor ordered all non-life-sustaining businesses to shut down, a move that sent some scrambling to figure out how to work from home and others to the (virtual) unemployment line.
And those who did end up turning to unemployment were in for a nasty surprise. While more money was made available because of the pandemic, the staggering volume of people seeking benefits overwhelmed the state’s system and left people waiting for weeks or even months for the money they were owed.
Restaurants have taken a devastating hit, at times barred from allowing indoor dining and forced to rely on takeout service to sustain themselves or to shut their doors.
People lost birthday parties and vacations and proms and a chance to watch sports in packed stadiums and arenas or listen to live music. High school graduations were held via computer screens or with graduates tucked inside cars in parking lots.
Some missed out on the chance to be with dying loved ones or even to properly celebrate their lives at funerals.
Isolation and fear cultivated concerns about mental health. Experts worried about exploding drug and alcohol abuse and warned of a potential increase in suicide rates.
Other experts sent out warning flares for a flood of homelessness, and the thousands out of work fell behind on rent payments or mortgages.
And of course, we’ve all gotten used to grabbing a face mask before we head out the door.
There was a lot of darkness, a lot of struggles. But there were also rays of light.
Countless people stepped up to help their neighbors, who provided much-needed meals to kids or seniors.
Some took to sewing cloth masks by the dozens, and others worked 3D printing face shields for medical workers and emergency responders.
And all those struggles figuring out how to work from home? A lot of people figured it out, opening up a whole new array of possibilities for what certain jobs can look like in the future.
While there are ongoing challenges in the world of education, teachers and administrators worked tirelessly to provide the best education they could in next-to-impossible circumstances.
They got virtual learning programs up and running, they handed out grab-and-go meals to make sure students didn’t go hungry, they plotted and planned and adapted to find ways to safely return kids to classrooms.
Scientists performed miraculously, crafting a vaccine in record time that will help to finally put COVID-19 in our rearview mirror.
And, of course, most of us learned how to use Zoom. Sort of.
The past 12 months haven’t been what any of us expected, and they certainly haven’t been what anyone wanted. But they happened. COVID-19 happened.
And we’ve all just been trying to wade through it the best we can.
Hopefully, the next 12 months will be different. Hopefully, they’ll be better.