Pam Sohn - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Sohn: What a tabletop pandemic war game foretold about COVID-19 and how it ends

by Pam Sohn ·March 26, 2020

The "what if ... ?" has become "now what?"

Victor J. Blue, The New York Times / A hospital worker puts on gloves in the Intensive Care Unit at the Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York on Monday. The 175-year-old facility, a small, independent hospital, has been transformed as it tries to cope with an exploding number of patients suffering from COVID-19.

Sohn: Newest ‘New Deal’ isn’t enough of a deal for COVID-19’s recovery

by Pam Sohn ·March 24, 2020

The headlines are daunting. Italy overtaking China's COVID-19 death toll. U.S. gaining confirmed cases on Italy. Trump considering reopening economy over health experts' objections.

Erin Scott, The New York Times/Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to his office on Capitol Hill this week as talks continue over coronavirus stimulus package.

Sohn: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s order mandates open meetings amid COVID-19

by Pam Sohn ·March 23, 2020

Tennessee's Gov. Bill Lee stepped up Friday when he issued an executive order that governments are allowed to meet online for the next several weeks, but they must continue their responsibility to keep citizens in the loop - coronavirus or not.

Staff file photo by C.B. Schmelter / Gov. Bill Lee speaks at Chattanooga's Volkswagen assembly plant last October. On Sunday, Lee issued an executive order that government bodies must make reasonable efforts to conduct their business meetings online, preferably livestreamed so the public can stay informed and involved.

Sohn: Please Mr. President, hand the microphone to Mike Pence to save us from coronavirus

by Pam Sohn ·March 23, 2020

Can't someone please shut the president up?

Al Drago, The New York Times/President Donald Trump at a coronavirus task force news conference at the White House on Sunday. Trump said the government would reassess the recommended period for keeping businesses shut and millions of workers at home after this week, amid millions of job losses caused by the efforts to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Sohn: Don’t just binge through COVID-19, do something worthwhile

by Pam Sohn ·March 22, 2020

Stuck at home and need a diversion? We have some projects for you. Not binge entertainment - projects.

Staff photo by Troy Stolt / Olivia Newton, 11, pours thickening agent into a vat of water as her mother Danette uses a mixture to create a gel while creating a small batch of 65% alcohol hand sanitizer in Lass and Lions' manufacturing facility on Thursday. Lass and Lions vodka distillers normally uses the location to infuse their product with flavors, but has recently began to work on creating 65% alcohol hand sanitizer to help Hamilton County residents in response to the national outbreak of coronavirus creating a shortage in the market.

Sohn: America is believing science, not Trump. That’s enough to help swallow COVID-19’s bitter pill.

by Pam Sohn ·March 21, 2020

Forgive us if we sound a bit bitter. But when only a few dozen COVID-19 virus tests have been completed in Hamilton County in not quite three weeks since a coronavirus-stricken pastor administered three separate church communions before he had symptoms, what other emotion should residents here have? Rage, maybe? Bewilderment?

Doug Mills, The New York Times / President Donald Trump and members of the coronavirus task force address a news conference at the White House in Washington, Tuesday.

Sohn: Testing debacle is straining prayers and trust for COVID 19

by Pam Sohn ·March 20, 2020

China has turned the coronavirus corner - at least for now, reporting no new cases Thursday.

AP FILE / In this March 17 file photo a health worker displays the packaged nasopharyngeal swab, which goes about two inches into the nasal cavity, used on patients at a drive-through COVID-19 testing station in Seattle.

Sohn: COVID-19 is writing tomorrow’s history books while life as we know it changes before our very eyes

by Pam Sohn ·March 19, 2020

Life as most of us know it has changed. And in many ways, it likely will never go back.

This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, yellow, emerging from the surface of cells, pink, cultured in the lab. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. The sample was isolated from a patient in the U.S. (NIAID-RML via AP)

Sohn: Don’t let governments use COVID-19 to draw a curtain around their meetings

by Pam Sohn ·March 17, 2020

When Tennessee lawmakers on Tuesday pushed aside the regular House and Senate calendars and decided to focus only on essential business before taking an eight-week coronavirus recess, one of the key items left on this week's plate is a bill to temporarily amend the Open Meetings Act.

Staff file photo by Tim Barber / A standing room only crowd listens to viewpoints on a tax increase inside the Hamilton County Commission room last June.

Sohn: Get comfortable with COVID-19’s loneliness factor

by Pam Sohn ·March 16, 2020

In Nashville, the honky-tonks hummed the weekend away. In Chattanooga, the zoo was busy with people, despite warnings and pleadings from city, county and medical officials that we all stay home. Furthermore, Hamilton County leaders and health officials had to plead Monday with local residents to be responsible and self-report if they believe they've been exposed to coronavirus.