My iphone has a handy little app which tells me how much time I spend on my phone every day.This week my daily average was just under three hours, up 188 percent from last week. I bet if I had a way to track the same data on my laptop it would be much higher. This is no surprise, considering the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last Thursday the U.S. reached a grim milestone by becoming the epicenter of the pandemic and according to the N.Y. Times and other sources, our country now leads the world in confirmed Coronavirus cases. As of the time of this writing, cases had topped over 707,000 worldwide with more than 33,000 deaths. Also as of this writing, California has seen a surge of cases threatening to overwhelm our health facilities. NBC reported cases grew 26% in one day Friday, even with the results of 65,000 tests still pending. Johns Hopkins University tallied more than 4,700 California cases with at least 97 deaths.
As the threat of Coronavirus infection in Lake County continued, Lake County’s Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace issued a shelter-in-place order over a week and a half ago, adding his voice to health officials worldwide who have advised this is the best way of slowing community spread. With our lives disrupted by the virus, the world has turned to technology to combat isolation and boredom, to keep in touch with our loved ones and to find ways of creatively dealing with the situation, I have done so as well.
Businesses, including this newspaper, have turned to digital platforms like Zoom, Google Hangouts and others to conduct business, hold staff meetings and to communicate with co-workers. Government agencies such as the Lake County Board of Supervisors, places of worship and retailers have similarly turned to technology to console them, to aid them in their daily tasks and to provide a window into the world and our community like never before.
This is our “new virtual normal” and no one knows for sure how long the crisis will last. But in the midst of all the craziness and community upheaval, there have been signs of people adopting to this new reality with great originality and spirit. As an avid PC gamer since junior high school, I have been practicing social distancing during my time off by leveling my undead orc warrior in the virtual lands of Azeroth, visiting the virtual bars in “Dungeons and Dragons” online, streaming the latest Star Trek shows, while also keeping up with friends and loved ones via Facebook, Nextdoor.com, Instagram and other social medias.
Earlier this month, Lake County Tourism Certified Ambassador Tony Barthel creatively used technology to help out by making a live shareable document on his Facebook of all the open restaurants in the area detailing whether they offer curbside service. It was shared by the Chamber of Commerce and others, with this newspaper following suit and providing a hard copy version of similar information on our print product for both Mednocino and Lake County. All over the country, educators are also implementing distance learning to supplement, or to temporarily replace, their regular curriculum. Not to mention the wide range of information, updates or hilarious memes which have cropped up to help keep us all same during this difficult times. Recently, digital film producer Sam Euston made available this year’s past Stars of Lake County ceremony on Facebook and YouTube for all of us to enjoy.
These and many other efforts have not only shown the power of technology for allowing us to retain a semblance of our humanity and our lives before this deadly virus forced us into isolation, but also demonstrates how forward thinking individuals and community members can make a big difference. We will get through this, but until then take care of each other, keep washing your hands and practicing social distancing. If you’ll excuse me I am going back to killing zombies, after all, my orc warrior isn’t going to level himself.
Ariel Carmona Jr, a Cal Poly Pomona and CSUF alumnus and a 15 year veteran of the journalism industry, is the managing editor of the Lake County Record-Bee.
