- Associated Press - Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Recent editorials from Tennessee newspapers:

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April 15

The Johnson City Press on President Donald Trump’s reopening the county amid the pandemic:

President Donald Trump’s adamant desire to reopen the country is understandable, given the number of businesses and employees who have been affected by the stay-home orders issued by state governments during the novel coronavirus.

Record unemployment claims reveal just how far the problem reaches. The government’s efforts to provide paycheck relief and other forms of support cannot come fast enough.

It’s not just pocketbooks that are suffering. Schoolchildren, many of them with severe learning disabilities, are essentially being homeschooled with online support from teachers. Bereaved families are unable to conduct normal funeral services. No hospital visitations are allowed. Churches have been forced to forgo services or conduct them online.

So yes, we agree with the president that a return to normalcy is a major priority.

But if we are to fully recover from this crisis, the U.S. must first get the virus under control. Health officials, including those in the top levels of the Trump administration, have warned that ending social distancing too soon would give the deadly virus a renewed lease on life. Lacking a comprehensive testing program, a definitive treatment and a vaccine, the spread would go unchecked.

The curve we have worked so hard to flatten would spike again, endangering more lives. All of our sacrifices would be for naught. Back we would go into another, possibly longer shutdown, thrusting the U.S. into an even worse economic quagmire.

Some good news: Governors around the country are developing what are likely drawn-out, incremental strategies toward reopening their states, as they are responsible for the health and welfare of their citizens. A measured approach grounded in science, not politics, is necessary.

So Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee was right on Monday when he extended his stay-home order another two weeks, through April 30. Given a Vanderbilt study’s estimations that the state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations will not peak until mid-June without even further intervention, Lee’s order is likely just a stopgap. Expect another extension. Vanderbilt’s study and others like it, though, present an optimistic picture. The measures we have undertaken are working to diminish the rates of infection.

Here in Northeast Tennessee, we have seen 144 cases and five deaths as of Tuesday. There were three new cases in the upstate out of 213 new confirmations statewide. Based on just how fast COVID-19 spread in major metropolitan areas before intervention, we can take some comfort. The work is paying off, and we cannot let our guards down.

We know this is tough. Like all businesses that depend on free commerce, we are feeling the crunch.

Our best strategy is to stay the course and be even more vigilant. Stay home except for essential needs. Follow the social distancing and sanitation guidelines.

If it’s long-term normalcy you want, continuing the short-term sacrifices is a must.

Online: https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/

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April 14

The Johnson City Press on chronicling personal experiences during the pandemic:

For decades, we have relied on the Archives of Appalachia for images and documents from the region’s past as we have reported on history and other topics.

Founded in 1978, the repository at East Tennessee State University is a phenomenal research tool for students, historians, genealogists and others with interest in the stories of this region. It houses more than 250,000 images, 85,000 sound recordings and 800 collections of manuscripts, including organizations’ records and personal papers. It’s also home to more than 500 magazine and newspaper titles, spanning over 200 years.

You’ll find such collections and files as the early photographs of Johnson City taken by Burr Harrison, the Jonesboro Woman’s Christian Temperance Union’s minutes book, the records of the Coal Employment Project and the 1863-65 diary of Blountville resident Fannie Fain.

The latter is of particular relevance to our discussion today, for it offered a glimpse of daily life in Northeast Tennessee during the Civil War.

While much of what is in the Archive results from preserving the past, the staff often is focused on current events. After all, today’s present is tomorrow’s history. That’s where you come in. You have a chance to help write the story of a unique time in our lives.

The Archives recently initiated the living history project, “Telling Your Story: Documenting COVID-19 in East Tennessee” to document the novel coronavirus pandemic and how it affects our region. The Archive’s staff is asking local residents to share personal experiences of living through the pandemic in writing, photographs, videos, social media posts and business correspondences. Submissions will be permanently housed within the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services.

Archives Director Jeremy Smith says the idea is to chronicle how you journeyed through these unprecedented times. How do you spend your days? How have your lives, families and businesses been affected? How have you experienced loss and hardship? What lessons have you learned?

Any resident 18 or older can join the effort. You don’t have to worry about proper grammar, spelling or writing style, as well as using professional video recording and editing equipment. Submissions should not include identifiable health information about other people. You can even make your contributions anonymous.

More information about the project, including a submission form, can be found at etsu.edu/cas/cass/archives/covid-19story.php. Questions about the project may be directed to archives@etsu.edu or 423-439-4338.

Generations who follow us will want to know how we coped with this pandemic, much as we are now looking back to the Spanish Flu Outbreak of 1918 and other outbreaks for perspective. Be a part of that story by taking the Archives of Appalachia up on its offer.

Online: https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/

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April 13

The Crossville Chronicle on adapting to new social norms amid the pandemic:

These are unprecedented times.

Those words have become part of our leaders’ vernacular. They’re not wrong: Not since the influenza pandemic of 1918 has our country experienced anything like COVID-19.

But these bizarre days have borne ingenuity. Our churches have just concluded a Lenten season in which congregation members celebrated together but separately in the safety of their own homes. Others who feel the need to physically be with their church families have found a way via services conducted through AM and FM radio transmission on their radios as they sit in their cars in the church parking lot.

The school system’s food services immediately rallied to provide daily meals for children, many of whom only had nourishing food courtesy of school breakfasts and lunches. When that avenue seemed to close due to Gov. Bill Lee’s stay-at-home mandate, the staff tripled and quadrupled efforts to provide more food for days they could not be present.

Those who provide education and recreation services to us have found a way to keep our minds active, with museums, zoos and theaters offering virtual tours and entertainment.

Grinder House Coffee offers up its popular “In the House” concert series by hosting artists on Facebook Live in what is now known as “Stuck in the House.”

Even Tennessee icon Dolly Parton is in on the action. The country music legend reads stories from her Imagination Library books with “Goodnight With Dolly,” a series that starts at 6 p.m. Thursdays on Imagination Library YouTube and her own social media and YouTube channels.

And we would be remiss if we failed to mention our favorite restaurants and markets that have stayed open to offer curbside service and no-contact delivery.

We can’t wait until we again can visit with our neighbors and friends, embrace them in church, sit down at a restaurant, explore exhibits and do a bit of leisurely shopping.

But we are immensely grateful for the services and neighbors that have found ways to reach out until that day arrives.

Thank you.

Online: https://www.crossville-chronicle.com/

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