Russ's Ravings: Coronavirus Pushes Pause, Presses Patience

Editor's note: The following is Patch Field Editor Russ Crespolini's, hopefully, weekly column. It is reflective of his opinion alone.

Remember when a VHS tape was finishing up its rewind and the sound would get louder and higher pitched as the spool wound down to one end? Then, it would violently stop with a clicking sound leaving a deafening silence in its wake.

Until you pressed play.

This week was the high pitched whine ending with the violent stop on Friday. And now, we're in the deafening silence as we all try to adjust to our new normal.

Sure there are still some echoes in our ears, the scant few school districts still open, there were still a few plays troddin' the boards. Movie theaters still had some light attendance and restaurants were still serving.

But for the most part, everything paused.

Well, except for the finger pointing.

In the beginning of the week the fingers were being pointed at the media. When people started to see how woefully underprepared and overwhelmed Italy was they flooded the stores desperate for crucial supplies.

But that was because "the media" was "creating hysteria" because they were reporting the information being shared. You know, by doctors.

So the fingers were being pointed at the media. Real quick: there is no such thing as "the media." Journalists are men and women who have dedicated their lives to providing the truth as far as it can ascertained. They live in your communities and are just as scared and overwhelmed as you are.

But their job, our job, is filter out that fear and provide the facts.

The media didn't tell you to buy toilet paper. They didn't tell you this was a hoax. They didn't downplay it and deny it. They told you to wash your hands. They told you to wash your hands because the experts told them to tell you to wash your hands.

Now this is not universal, with every topic you can find the the YouTube video that erroneously links vaccines to autism, the one infectious disease doctor that will tout this is nothing because 99 percent of the population will survive. If you have confirmation bias and you search, you can find someone on a site like InfoWars to validate your opinion.

We know certain things about where we are right now. We know the current administration axed the executive branch team responsible for coordinating a response to a pandemic and did not replace it. We know that coupled with denying it was a problem and positing that it was a political ruse slowed down a federal reaction.

That had a domino effect on everything that came after.

But the fact of the matter is the focus now is on pressing pause, so we can slow the spread of this novel coronavirus and give ourselves a chance to catch up on testing and preparation to treat those who are seriously sick.

Because the point is, sure 99 percent will survive. But boy does it suck to be in that one percent. So why not make that one perfect as small of a one percent as possible by keeping the infection rates down.

And that requires more than just the forced discipline of closing down schools and working from home. This needs to go beyond social distancing. It needs to be, temporarily, social isolation. This is not a snow day. You should not be having playdates and parties.

If we don't do this now, it our medical facilities will be overwhelmed and this will drag on for months. And then we don't get to press play. Temporary closures will be extended. More mandatory curfews and enforcement will come down the line if we cannot control ourselves.

Now we need to control ourselves. Now we need to stay home for the time being. Now we need to remember there are literal lives at stake.

Now we wait to press play.

Whether we do that in two weeks or nine months is up to all of us.

Russ Crespolini is a Field Editor for Patch Media, adjunct professor and college newspaper advisor. His columns have won awards from the National Newspaper Association and the New Jersey Press Association.

He writes them in hopes of connecting with readers and engaging with them. And because it is cheaper than therapy. He can be reached at russ.crespolini@patch.com