EDITORIAL

Let’s Stick With It:

We’re Beating COVID-19

COVID-19 numbers are rising again nationally, but we’re zigging as the nation zags.

As this edition went to press Tuesday, Oct. 13, SUNY Oneonta had not reported a single COVID case in the previous five days.

This, in an institution that had 100 infestations in one night at the end of August. Since infections there totaled 712, and they closed the campus until after Thanksgiving.

So zero-zero-zero-zero-zero is particularly welcome news.
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Hartwick College, across the valley, reported no cases last week, and only a single one in the last couple of days.

Likewise, the county Health Department is reporting four infections in five days, an average of less than one a day, although a hospitalization, reported Tuesday, was the first in weeks.

Of course, our county has a relatively small population of 61,000 souls, but let’s give ourselves credit.

It’s the rare person you run into who isn’t wearing a mask or practicing social distancing. Establishments are enforcing “No Mask, No Service,” and both Oneonta and Cooperstown have toughened laws in the face of the pandemic threat.
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Happily, the fellow who spray-painted black “X’s” on the “Mask on Main” signs at the edge of the Business District has been charged. But it just goes to show, not everybody’s bought in.

Who isn’t in favor of freedom? But there’s such a thing as common sense, too. And let’s remember, wearing a mask protects the people we run into more than ourselves. Do we need a law to be caring
of others?

Let’s stay the course. It’s paying off. Let’s breathe easier – and stick with it.