EDITOR’S NOTE: Robert M. Traxler, aka “Army Bob,” has had much experience in emergency preparedness during his career. He has graciously consented to writing more columns featuring advice to citizens about how the handle the current Cononavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

by Robert M. Traxler

The current emergency with the COVID-19 virus has mobilized the nation, a very good thing. As of this date people seem to be pulling together and coming together as one.

The spread of the COVID-19 virus is an unknown, and scientists have modeled the spread with the casualty numbers estimated from a few hundred to more than 1.1 million. The variables are in the assumptions used in modeling the virus. A small change in the model changes the long-term numbers by a huge amount.

Do we all want a clear path to follow predicting the future of the disease? You bet we do, but the science is just not there; we can compare COVID-19 to other pandemics and make a best guess, but even science cannot predict the future.  Science is never settled as long as we need to make assumptions and is capable of error in predicting the future course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

So, what can we do to help out? A friend, Chandler Stanton, reminded me we can indeed, and must help out local small businesses. If we can’t go to a restaurant, order out for pickup. Colonial Kitchen, 5 Lakes Brewing, Enza’s Pizza to name a few in Dorr. Please feel free to add other restaurants in other local communities in the comments section. Go the extra mile to help out the small businesses in our communities.

We must be aware of our surroundings and those we interact with; social distancing is not a suggestion. That said, it is a difficult thing for us to do. Last week as I was going into Wal-Mart, a lady was coughing and having trouble breathing. As I walked by, she said, with tears in her eyes, “Sir, can you please help me? I can’t lift the bags out of the cart into my car. She went on to say, “I asked God to send someone to help me.”

OK, now what do you do? I placed the bags in her trunk. As I was loading the car, she said she wanted to stay home, but did not have food. She had a lot of bags, all contained food mostly canned goods, and the bags were heavy. After I was done, I went back to my vehicle and used the hand sanitizer, took my hat, gloves and coat off placed them in the back and went home to sterilize everything.

The smart move would be not to help the elderly lady, to pass by as others had done; I lack that amount of intelligence, even the courage to do that. Since then I have only interacted with others outside while wearing something over my mouth and nose and gloves, being careful to keep a distance.

During the interaction with the lady I wish I had been wearing a basic homemade cloth mask; vanity and fear of ridicule caused me to leave it home, a dumb move on my part. So, I will stay clear of others for a few more days, a price that must be paid in the new normal for basic kindness to a stranger in need.

We as a nation face challenges in the future and we must weigh all our actions with an eye towards balancing compassion with intelligence, helping others with protecting our loved ones. This emergency will pass, and we will be stronger and better for it. Keeping a journal of this event in our nation’s history will be a good thing to do for generations to come, you could even write it down in cursive and on paper to make it more historic.

Be careful; we just do not know what we do not know when it comes to this pandemic.