Twenty-two weeks ago, our lives changed.

It wasn’t our idea. Here on the coast, we were preparing for another banner summer season welcoming laughing folks from away. As usual, we thought and hoped, tourists would stay in our hotels, eat our fresh seafood, shop for a bit, and propel our balance sheets into the black for another year.

We need summer. Unlike other tourist destinations, we are limited by the calendar. The warm summer days attract our visitors. The cold and rainy and, gasp, snow days, not so much.

But the sun warms our rocky shores for just a few months, then the summer residents and visitors vanish. Suddenly, it is easy to find a parking spot on the main drag.

Not too long ago, you might hear the locals grumble about “summer people,” but we all know it is a symbiotic relationship. We need each other.

Some 22 weeks ago, it all changed. Mr. COVID-19 came to our world. The pandemic threatened our economic and personal well being. Schools closed, workers were laid off. Once solid firms tip-toed on the edge of bankruptcy. Hospitals filled up. Fear slowed everything down. Unemployment numbers dove into the tank.

It came during a time when many enjoyed good health and good fortune.

Most of us are pretty healthy and work to stay that way. We brush our teeth, wash our bodies, eat right and avoid the bad stuff. At least most of us try to avoid the bad stuff, at least most of the time.

The medical community helps us, too. When we get a headache or the old athletic knee decides to flare up, they give us a pill to take care of it. Accidents are accidents, and we know the good folks at the Urgent Care Center or the emergency department will be glad to take care of our boo-boos. If not, our medical friends will be happy to replace the parts that wear out, like hips and knees and a shoulder or so.

As we got older, our youthful energetic bodies, the same bodies we no longer recognize when we get out of the shower, sometimes break down. Cells go haywire and become cancer. Our tickers no longer tick on time. Lungs no longer breathe the wonderful salt air without triggering a raspy cough. When we reached 40 or so, we began using “cheaters” just to read the newspapers.

The Good Book talks about how long ago, miracle workers brought sight to the blind and cured lepers. Today, doctors routinely restore sight to thousands. Antibiotics can take care of leprosy. Science replaced miracles. Once dreaded diseases faded. We no longer tell our children to stay away from lakes, ponds and creeks for fear they might catch polio. Our modern water purification and waste treatment systems erased the word cholera and other ailments from our daily conversations.

Even the words scarlet fever, diphtheria, tetanus, chickenpox, measles, words that once triggered parental nightmares, seem under control. Many other health problems can be fixed or put on hold.

Did we get so accustomed to our good fortune we took these “miracles” for granted?

Last March, it was like we were hit by a truck. As we watched the news, we saw a handful of infections race past five million as the death count passed 160,000.

We learned a new language peppered with medical terms like viruses, ventilators, PPE, social distancing and masks. Local, state and national leaders found themselves in uncharted waters. Some suggested old answers to this new problem. Some blamed Mars,  Area 51, and/or little green men with horns and ray guns.

The medical community and their friends at Big Pharma didn’t have an answer, either. They suggested we adopt common-sense public health practices, wash your hands, stay six feet away from others, and stay at home until things get better. Some leaders tried to shift blame to others, foreigners, political opponents, or the press. Some said it was a hoax, or that it would just fade away.

As we enter the month of August, politicians, administrators, teachers, and especially parents wonder what the coming school year will bring. Will the schools be safe for all? Will anyone show up?

Political types who had prepared for a presidential race based upon the economy, personalities, racial tensions and foreign policy found themselves facing public health questions they cannot answer.

Telling people to stay home from work torpedoed the economy. Suggesting people ignore the disease and go back to work increased infections. Round and round we go.

We have learned we are not in charge. Mr. COVID is. There is no quick explanation. No one has found a magic bullet, a miracle cure. No one has a simple or easy answer – yet.

Stay safe. Be well.