Thank you for this honest assessment. As a native NYCite, I can’t fathom the emptiness of the city which I see in photos but know it is for the good of all — there and here in Oregon where I now reside. I live assuming we are being exposed, or have been exposed, and need to take care of ourselves and the others — event those who refuse to believe they too can get sick and/or pass it along to others. And this:

I do think it’s appropriate to begin to prepare people. This will not be quick. It will be slow, it will be measured, and it will probably be a long time till we return to the kind of life we had before this pandemic.

We need more people saying this so the “open it now” crowds may begin to understand— and maybe learn to think we will never again have the kind of life we had before this pandemic.