Roofers, Alcoholics, and Bunnies: Care In Crisis

I like roofs, and you should too. They help keep us dry and warm. I also love a tasty glass of high-quality reasonably priced Chilean red wine. I wish I loved bunnies as much as my spouse and daughter do, but I don’t. Even when one special bunny brings shiny, neatly wrapped chocolate eggs to children across the land in springtime. Roofers, alcoholics, and bunnies all have one thing in common, they were deemed essential during the pandemic.

The pandemic exposed who we are at our deepest core, way down in the space where the knee jerks and the soul lives, right in the center of the teeny, tiny heart of our best Grinch interpretation. Our collective reaction to the pandemic crisis provided relief and support to businesses, households, and public health platforms. We did this through public policies like the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020, state and local stay-at-home mandates, and individual employer-driven adjustments to leave from work, scheduling, and work-from-home policies.

Within a 24-hour period from March 11 to March 12, 2020, national and collegiate sports leagues cancelled games. Sporting events became an artifact of the past, much to the shock-and-awe of sports fans. What made the news was the cancellation of all major men’s sports. A Utah Jazz player first tested positive for coronavirus…