I’ve been in journalism for 20 years now, and this is a first for me.
I can’t recall anything that halted so many things and changed the daily lives of residents of a county, state, country and even the world.
The only thing that even comes close were the events of Sept. 11, 2001, which affected the whole country, but didn’t stop us from going to the newspaper office the next day.
I have spent the last five days working out of my home office, which also doubles as my garage.
With the COVID-19 pandemic taking over the news, many of the events and features I typically cover for the pages of the Citizen Telegram are postponed or even canceled.
If it weren’t for the occasional pedestrian and rush of cars down Railroad Avenue while I’ve been out walking the streets, Rifle would feel almost like a ghost town.
I’ve spent the last few days scrambling — I had already interviewed Suzy Bogguss for a preview of her scheduled show Friday, an event which is being rescheduled for later in the year after the order of no large gatherings from Gov. Jared Polis.
Many of my sources are busy trying to set contingency plans for their businesses, schools and children as they get used to the new daily protocol in Garfield County.
I know my daily routine has changed drastically, as my daughter grows stir-crazy while she sits idle with no school or extracurricular activities to occupy her time.
Daily check-ins with my mom have been more regular, making sure she is feeling OK and the family back home is well.
As you have probably noticed with our sister paper the Post Independent, we have suspended the calendar during this time of social distancing.
This week’s edition will be a bit smaller than usual, and filled with press releases and schedule changes for the city and county.
I have been able to get out and shoot a few pictures to cover this week’s paper, of projects like the hospital expansion that pushes forward.
With the lack of events taking place I would like the people of western Garfield County to reach out to me with story ideas or human interest stories as we navigate our new reality here in western Colorado.