Millerton News Opinion/Viewpoint

Ancram neighborhood group offers a helping hand

Ancramdale Neighbors Helping Neighbors Association (ANHN) serves the Ancram Township, including Ancram, Ancramdale and Boston Corners.

Far from the front lines of a grimly desperate big-city hospital, it’s starting to feel real. I now know one victim and am 3 degrees of separation from another.  As our president didn’t mean to say about the 40,000 ventilators Governor Cuomo wants, “I have a feeling the numbers are not what they are going to be.”

In my copy of Churchill’s “The Second Word War,” there’s a quote that I feel applies to our situation, in fact to all countries’ situation in this pandemic: “There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept away… people can face peril or misfortune with fortitude and buoyancy, but they bitterly resent

There are so many struggling with the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic, with few well-defined paths to good outcomes right now. The time is unique, but it gives us some feeling of control and comfort, it seems, to compare it to other times and look for historic ways of coping that have worked before and might work now.

Likening the coronavirus pandemic to being in a state of war, President Trump has been delivering daily updates to U.S. citizens, informing them not only of the number of confirmed cases and deaths, but also of just how the country is dealing with this critical emergency health crisis.

It may feel like a welcome break. But steel yourself. A week ago, my wife’s boss said the organization would close through the end of March. More recently, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the pandemic won’t peak here until about May 1. He didn’t mention that it will need to subside, at roughly the same rate.

We’re from the government and we’re here to help

There is no better time to think about open government and transparency than in the middle of an unprecedented health crisis. After all, the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic are affecting all our lives right now, and will continue to do so as the full effects become clear down the line.