From the Front Lines to Peaceful Isolation
The coronavirus pandemic makes me think of the Great Blizzard of 1978 . With this pandemic, my husband Tom and I are doing our part by maintaining a strict isolation. We are staying at home, as far from the problem as possible, so that those on the front lines – the people who work in health care – are not hindered by us. With the Great Blizzard, I was much closer to the front lines. Although my employer, The Ohio State University, shut down and cancelled classes for the first time in its history, the Student Health Center (along with the university hospitals) was the exception. We, the health center employees, were told to report to work because an outbreak of influenza had begun on campus, and sick students were coming to the center in spite of the horrible wintry weather. I was a student as well, working to put myself through college. The worst of the storm in Columbus happened overnight, as I recall. My neighbors and I woke up to ab...