Some pandemic perspective
If you follow this newsletter each week, you’ve probably noticed that since 2021 started I’ve cited a top COVID-19 headline of the day at the end of my intro. It’s a practice I unintentionally started in my personal life after the New Year as I found myself scrolling back through old pictures and memories and thinking about where I was and what I was doing in the months and weeks leading up to the pandemic (and how different life is now). I figured I could start doing the same with the newsletter, but it’s gotten a little more surreal now that the headlines aren’t from stories written from China or somewhere on the West Coast.
On this day in 2020, Tennessee announced its first case of COVID-19.
Over the course of next week, we will be working on several stories for publication next weekend that recognize the anniversary of the pandemic in the Chattanooga region. But for this newsletter intro, I’d like some assistance from those who follow it. What were you doing and thinking in the early days of the pandemic (WHO officially declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020)? When and where did you attend your last concert? Did you stockpile toilet paper? Were you scared or did you think it was just the flu (it’s fine if you did, because so did many experts)? Email me your thoughts and memories by Thursday (also March 11) at noon, and I’ll pick a few to share here next week.
Thank you for sticking with me on this crazy journey,