Can you believe two years ago today, March 10th of 2020, Governor Baker declared a state of emergency for Massachusetts due to the coronavirus.  At the time, cases numbers in Massachusetts doubled to 92 cases statewide, most of which were spread at a Boston conference a couple week earlier.  Little did we realize what was on the horizon.  By the end of March 2020, Massachusetts had 6,620 confirmed cases, and obviously it grew (and continues to grow) from there.

Personally, I can’t believe that two years have gone by already.  How is it possible for time to move both slow and fast when it comes to the pandemic?  I guess time can fly even when you’re NOT having fun.

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I remember being at work, talking with co-workers, a bunch of uncertainty in the air.  I was so naïve, I remember saying that it would probably be like the flu at first, and it wouldn’t be a huge deal.  Oops.  I didn’t know that when the boss sent us home, I wouldn’t be coming back to the building for a long time.  In fact, I got moved to our North Adams studios, closer to where I live.

At first, we were just told to social distance.  Then, a mask mandate in Massachusetts was put in place on May 6th of 2020.  There was a stay-at-home order, and only essential workers were supposed to be out and about.  Remember when essential workers, like those in retail, were considered heroes for a time?  How quickly tides can change, especially in other parts of the country.

Restaurants went all take-out, zoom meetings and zoom classrooms became the standard,  toilet paper and paper towels were hard to come by, sports were played with empty stadiums, and we all re-learned how to properly wash our hands again.

From 92 cases when the state of emergency was first enacted two years ago, Massachusetts has now had 1,536,565 confirmed cases (I’m sure this number is actually higher), and 22,944 deaths attributed to covid since the pandemic began.  Thankfully, Berkshire County is back in the yellow, and trending towards the green as of this writing.  The Berkshires and Massachusetts also has a majority of people fully vaccinated.  About 77% of people are fully vaccinated in Massachusetts.

How do you feel knowing that two years ago today the state of emergency was announced?

 

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