When ripples of the pandemic first hit St. Clair County beginning in late February and early March, it was almost as if overnight, the region transformed itself.
People sprang into action to help others. Businesses closed; others found alternatives to “business as usual” and stayed open with online shopping and ordering with curbside delivery.
Video conferencing and online access became the vehicles for communication in education, health care, business community and simply checking on family and friends.
City and county services didn’t stop. They just took a detour with essential workers handling the load in new and different ways.
In St. Clair County courthouses, judges conducted hearings and conferences by Zoom Video Conferencing. In the courtroom, in-person hearings took on extra precautions. The judge sat on the bench, lawyers and clients were seated at tables behind plexiglass, and the bailiff stood nearby, but all were careful to maintain 6 feet of distance as ordered by Presiding Circuit Judge Phil Seay.
Schools closed, and teachers quickly learned how to deliver their lessons online so that students and learning wouldn’t suffer.
Organizations whose mission it is to help and serve others filled all kinds of needs throughout the county – groceries, deliveries, restocking food pantries and providing meals for local frontline workers as well as school students.
Churches delivered sermons online, through live streaming and social media.
People dusted off their sewing skills and started making face masks that had been in short supply.
The governor issued a Safer at Home order, and for the most part, St. Clair Countians obliged. They kept their distance – at least 6 feet – and they minimized their exposure to others.
Grocery store shelves emptied quickly during the early days of the pandemic, and shortages occur to this day. Surreal almost sounds too cliché to describe the atmosphere from one end of the county to the other.
But there was a common thread, no matter what corner, what demographic from which you came. Everyone was in this crisis together. Still are. There may be varying degrees, but they nevertheless are in it together.
By May, it was almost as if it had become regular routine. Social distance, physical distance, donning face masks – they all were part of the order of the day.
The governor lifted the Safer at Home order in May, and little by little, the county began opening up again.
No one really knows where it heads from here. But it can’t be said often enough, “We’re all in this together.”
