Golis: Hunkered down and trying to make the best of it

So what have we learned so far?

— We can now put a face on the heartbreak and sorrow caused by COVID-19 in Sonoma County. The veteran Santa Rosa Police Detective Marylou Armer was only 43 years old when she died on Tuesday. Flags were lowered to half-staff in honor of her 20 years of public service. 'She was just a bright light,' said Christine Castillo, who leads the nonprofit called Verity. 'The next brilliant star you see in the sky, that will be her.'

— We never expected to live in a country in which health care workers couldn't secure the equipment needed to keep them safe. Trash bags and other makeshift implements remain a poor substitute for gear designed to do the job. But here we are, the wealthiest country on Earth without the wisdom required to prepare for emergencies, or to catch up when an emergency occurs. Shortages of protective clothing, masks, face shields, ventilators and test kits continue, leaving some health care workers to put their own lives at risk in order to save others. They are the heroes of this pandemic.

— What's worse than being sheltered in place is what could happen if we were not sheltered in place — which is to say, more people would die (and we might be among them). With social distancing, we are flattening the curve — reducing the rate of increase of infection and the risk that hospitals will be overwhelmed. If we let up on these efforts, state public health officials warned on Wednesday, an additional 5,000 Californians could die every week. The numbers remain shocking — near apocalyptic — and we struggle to understand the enormity of it.

— The economic pain — measured in businesses shuttered and jobs lost — will be like nothing we have experienced before. In this week alone, the government recorded more than 6.6 million new unemployment claims. It's already awful, and there is more to come. People will need help, starting now.

— We are thankful for health care workers, first responders, grocery and pharmacy clerks, delivery people and volunteers. In providing essential services, they deal with the anxiety associated with being around other people, some of whom may be carrying the virus.

— Some folks have sought to rationalize the risk to public health long after denial was a plausible option. When we talk about how polarization cripples our capacity to solve problems, this is what we mean.

— We have a new local hero. Capt. Brett Crozier is a Santa Rosa High School graduate, and he was the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt. When a coronavirus outbreak struck the carrier's crew, Crozier last week appealed to the Pentagon for help for the 4,000 men and women under his command. For trying to spare his crew from illness and death, Crozier was fired on Thursday.

— We're living on a roller coaster of emotions some have compared to the five stages of grief. In coping with the daily drumbeat of grim news and the uncertainty about how long this confinement will last, some days are better than others, and that will continue to be true.

— In business and among family and friends, teleconferencing has become the new normal. It's OK, but it won't be confused with human contact.

— Neighborhoods are demonstrating their solidarity with sidewalk art, windows festooned with rainbows and teddy bears and light poles decorated with yarn.

In recent days, we've been bombarded with how-to stories meant to help us find new ways to occupy our time while hunkered down in our apartments and houses.

And I've tried to do my share. I've read recommended books, cataloged the titles of TV shows and movies for streaming, learned new Italian recipes, edited photos, reorganized files, prepped a bedroom for painting, reshuffled music lists, watched cooking videos, walked 3 miles a day, tried (and failed) to rekindle an interest in writing a journal, watched silly and inspiring videos, spent too much time staring at a computer screen, baked bread and began the growing of a sourdough starter (hereafter known as Edward).

This isn't normal behavior, but it's what we do when we're trying figure out how to make the best of circumstances we could never have imagined.

Would I rather hug my kids and grandkids? Share dinner with friends? Drive to the coast for lunch? Of course.

But this is the life we get right now. These small sacrifices make it more likely that friends and loved ones will remain safe. They also make it more likely that we will remain safe.

Pete Golis is a columnist for The Press Democrat. Email him at golispd@gmail.com.

You can send a letter to the editor at letters@pressdemocrat.com.