Paul Scott comment: Pace yourself, this is a marathon, not a sprint

Somewhere between the statements "We're all gonna die" and "This whole coronavirus thing is one big hoax" lies the truth of the situation.  We continue to try to pass along what the experts say and what advice they have to give.

I realize this leaves the average person wanting to respond--but not always knowing what the right response is.  Still, it feels good to be doing something, which is why people are making homemade masks or stocking up on toilet paper--anything to erase the feeling of lack of control.

A pandemic this large is a scary thing, especially since it's something which is going to last for awhile--at least through the end of April and perhaps longer.

But it occurred to me over the weekend that the knowledge that we'll be asked or required to self-isolate until at least April 30th might actually help us.

It means, as one public health official said, that we're running a marathon and none of us have had to run a public health marathon like this before.  But just like with a running marathon, when you're running a public health marathon, you have to pace yourself--you can't run at sprint speed the entire time.

So let's not worry about what the future will hold and focus instead on what we're doing today.  We can get through this--but it definitely will be better if we learn to pace ourselves."