One Year Later …

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m a big history buff, so I like to observe historical anniversaries. For example, this September will mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Can you believe it has already been 20 years?

So, today marks an anniversary of sorts. One year ago today, I wrote about COVID-19 for the first time in the pages of the Evening Times. I’m not sure if it “feels” like a year. Time has lost a lot its meaning for me, as I’m working from home. A lot of the events that I use to mark time and days have been canceled rescheduled and postponed, I don’t even know what day it is. But I did look back at that first column, back when it was still called “Our View” … not gonna lie. It’s a little cringey.

I did start out by admitting, “I have no formal medical training… I have not been to medical school, and every time I look something up on WebMD, it turns out I have Ebola or the Bubonic Plague, so understand that I’m coming to you with this not as an expert in the field of medicine, but rather as someone who likes to observe and form a somewhat educated guess.”

With that out of the way, I made this completely asinine statement: “We are not all going to die.”

So, yeah. And I guess I was right. We didn’t all die from the coronavirus, but I did double-down on my ignorance. Here are some more genius excerpts from my March 3, 2020 column…

“We are not about to start dropping dead from the coronavirus.”

“Why are we completely freaking out about the coronavirus when exponentially more people are dying from the flu?”

“While the flu is so bad that 350 teachers in the Little Rock School District called out sick last week, we’re buying up all the Germ-X and medical masks in the state for a potential ‘threat’ that I don’t understand.”

Here’s one of my favorites, where I sort-of editor-splain how silly this all is.

“The flu is real. I promise you your chances of getting are exponentially greater than getting coronavirus … The flu is no joke. Dozens of folks right here in Arkansas have already died from it in 2020. Maybe at least if everyone is losing their minds about the coronavirus, it might actually help keep the flu from spreading.”

Here’s another gem: “Why is everyone freaking out? In just the past few days, I’ve heard things like ‘NCAA should play March Madness games in empty arenas’ and ‘Tokyo Olympics could be canceled’ and ‘Coronavirus cases confirmed near site of Wrestlemania’ … Wrestlemania, people!!!”

So it turns out all of that was true. Well, they actually cancelled March Madness altogether, and the “no fans” thing extended to include the NBA, MLB and the NFL as well.

Then it was time for rapid-fire blurbs, like some kind of stupid statement lightning round. Behold …

“No one should shake hands, or hug, or exist … because of the idea that we’re all on the verge of a coronapocalypse!”

“Did you know the sales of Corona brand beer are plummeting? I wish I was making it up, but it’s true. That’s the kind of limited-knowledge mindset a lot of people have.”

“What are people really expecting to happen here? I know The Walking Dead is a popular show on TV, so are we hoping for a zombie apocalypse.”

“Yes, some people are going to get sick. Yes, some people have unfortunately died from the coronavirus. There’s a learning curve here, though, and the best minds in medicine are working on what the next steps are.”

Turns out I was using the “curve” thing before “flatten the curve” was cool. But, I’m trying not to be too hard on myself. I know half a million Americans have died, including more than 5,000 Arkansans and nearly a hundred citizens of Crittenden County, but I simply didn’t know how bad it would get. I have since wizened up. I social distance, I wear my mask, I stay home and away from large groups. As always, I do try to find humor in even the grimmest situations. Heres’ where I found humor this tim last year…

“But we do not know how bad it will get over here. It might be in poor taste to inject humor into this situation, but I did see a tweet from Chelsea Clinton that said, ‘President Trump has left the U.S. dangerously underprepared to face a public health crisis like a coronavirus outbreak.’ To which someone named Lars Printzen replied, “So far, more people in the U.S. have died trying to testify against your mother than have died from coronavirus.”

With that, I’ll leave you with the message I left readers in that column … mostly because it still applies now.

“Hang in there, folks!”