COVID-19 casts painful symbol of hospital beds in place of cars

The arena no longer exists. The name has been changed. So had the dates of the auto show, from the heart of winter to beginning of summer.

But if you were raised in this area, you know exactly where the TCF Center — formerly Cobo Center — is located. Drive west on Jefferson, just passed The Fist. Can’t miss it.

Chances are pretty good you’ve snaked you’re way up the spiral entrance to park on the roof for the North American International Auto Show or perhaps a Pistons’ game back in the day.

The idea the coronavirus pandemic would become so overwhelming this venue would become a field hospital was unimagined. That, however, is the unfortunate case. The auto show, which had moved to June, has been cancelled.

Through its various renovations, the ups and downs synon

ymous with this area, it has been our gathering place for nearly six decades..

The auto show has been an ongoing fixture in our lives. What can be more celebratory of the Motor City than the shiny vehicles where soon hospital beds will lie.

The Pistons played there during the 1960s and 70s. Their biggest star from the time, Dave Bing, became mayor of Detroit.

Detroit is getting crushed by coronavirus. It always seems to be the epicenter of American crisis. Civil unrest. Recession. Now this.

Why didn’t we act sooner? It’s beyond a fair question — globally, federally, state-wise, locally.

We pour incredible resources into military defense. It’s justified, although the degree is debatable.

Why haven’t we stock-piled medical resources and planned for a pandemic the same as for potential military conflict?

There have plenty of warning shots. Ebola. H1N1. The history of World I and World II have been recited for decades. The Spanish Flu pandemic hardly at all.

Often, those of us in the suburbs tend to separate Detroit’s problems from our own. It’s not so simple. We have an alarming number of cases of COVID-19, too.

This area will bounce back stronger than ever. We always do. It’s in our DNA.

The symbols of COVID-19 are unlimited. But the TCF Center as a field hospital particularly hits home.

It’s been so much of us in the past, and is now the present for reasons that are devastating.

The great hope is the symbol ultimately is that of hero when this nightmare ends.