My first twinge of worry came as I was flying back from San Francisco.
As I made my way back to New Hampshire in late January, I read a story about officials’ growing concern that the COVID-19 virus in China could be entering the U.S. on flights landing at SFO airport. Wait, I thought, I just left there.
Time passed and I mostly forgot about it. I was back to work revitalized, ready to go. How was I going to photograph Town Meeting in a different way this year, I asked myself. And the winter playoffs were coming up. I love covering high school sports, especially the playoffs. Let’s go.
But the virus stories kept coming. The virus was starting to impact everyday life in San Francisco and the state of Washington. Both my sons live in the Bay Area and in what seemed like a drastic move at the time, they were working from home and sheltering in place.
That may have been far away, but the worry for them crept in nonetheless. Then, during the first week of March, with the coming of Town Meeting, it became real here, too. Reporter Leah Willingham and I went to meet the residents of Havenwood Heritage Heights to see how their medical professionals were dealing with the virus. Leah wrote for the March 8 Sunday edition that, “there’s still a lot unknown about COVID-19, a new form of coronavirus that has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 worldwide, most of them living in China.”
But that week, things started changing quickly. The usual tightly packed crowds at town meetings were noticeably smaller, and I started changing the way I go about my work. Starting that week, I stopped shaking hands and I started keeping my distance, which goes against my nature. I know so many people from my work here. I did get a quick hug from someone, but I couldn’t stop it fast enough, not wanting to offend. I calculated I was around more than 500 people during that week of Town Meeting and it gave me pause. Looking back, it seems like a long time ago.
Since then, the virus has arrived in New Hampshire, and Monitor editor Steve Leone and managing editor Jonathan Van Fleet have driven our local coverage to be about the virus and how it has affected our state, our communities and our lives. For me, it has changed my social interactions with everyone I meet and photograph. Many images have come through windows, and now I always wear a mask and gloves. The newsroom is nearly empty and reporters are often working from home. We have one conference call in the morning and then a barrage of texts and emails to communicate throughout the day.
The first time I stepped into a newsroom in 1979, I felt the energy of the people and the ideas, and I was hooked. There is heightened sense of urgency that I have always been attracted to in newsrooms, both large and small.
Now, my work happens mostly in silence.
There are still many ideas, plenty of communication and lots to shoot, more than I even imagined a few weeks ago. It’s been a challenge, but we are all pitching in to bring the coverage to readers.
These days, when I take my gloves off, I see my hands dried raw from washing and hand sanitizer. At 65, I do not want to put myself at risk. 65? How did that happen?
But, really, how did this happen?