Updating the community on Corona

Published 5:00 pm Thursday, March 12, 2020

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We’ve officially entered uncharted territory as a nation, as the coronavirus continues to spread and is slowly, but surely beginning to interrupt the daily routines of some Americans.

The NBA suspended its season on Wednesday night after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, and it happened in bizarre fashion. Right before tip off — seconds before — the game was delayed, and officially cancelled, because the Jazz were informed about Gobert’s positive test.

To be clear, Gobert wasn’t at the game, but the worry was for his teammates and the fans in the arena.

The NCAA basketball tournaments have been completely canceled.

March without basketball speaks to how serious this is. Some things are more important than basketball, even in March.

If you scroll through social media over the last week, you’ve seen post after post of either people complaining about all the hand sanitizer and toilet paper being bought at stores or memes about it. We’re not health experts, but from the beginning we’ve listened to the experts, and have told people not to panic. That’s not going to fix anything.

The truth is that no one knows exactly how bad this is going to get, but the cases are expected to climb in the days ahead. As of this writing, there have been more than 1,000 cases nationwide and more than 30 deaths.

Some companies are letting employees who don’t have to be at the office work from home, and The Center for Disease Control is recommending that people that have a higher risk of getting sick avoid large gatherings as much as possible.

Our job as a newspaper is to report the information accurately and quickly, so that it keeps the public informed as this situation continues to develop. We’re going to do just that. We’re going to make all local coronavirus content free on our website moving forward, allowing non-subscribers to stay up to date as this worldwide pandemic affects the country.

We feel like we’re beating a dead horse here, but do your part to avoid spreading the virus too. That means not going to work if you’re sick and thoroughly washing your hands.

It may not seem like much, but with the uncertainty out there about how this virus spreads, every little bit helps.