This month marks five years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The shutdowns have long since ended, but the impacts on society are still being understood. Beyond the deaths and long-term illness, the pandemic disrupted how we work, learn and even eat. The New York Public News Network is marking the anniversary with a special series. As WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley reports, people remember business shutdowns, lockdown requirements and people seeking solitude in the Adirondacks.
In December 2019, a new coronavirus was detected in China and by January 30th the World Health Organization announced that the virus was a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. As the worldwide outbreak continued and escalated, the international agency declared that COVID-19 was a pandemic on March 11, 2020.
Clinton County Legislature Deputy Chairperson Bobby Hall is the owner of Bobby’s Lounge, a bar and restaurant in Plattsburgh. Looking back, he remembers having no income and being unable to leave his home.
“It got really scary for a while. We were closed up for three months at the business and there was nothing coming in. It got really, really worrisome. I think the other thing was, I think because of my age, our age my wife and I, we couldn’t go anywhere. We were staying right here at the house. Our son would drop us off groceries and put them on the front porch,” recalls Hall. “Woah, what a way of life. I mean to have somebody tell you can’t go out, can’t go anywhere, it was a big thing.”
Hall says he is lucky because his business survived and is now doing better than before the pandemic.
“I was one of the very fortunate ones. All my employees, five ladies and one gentleman, all came back to work. None of them quit and went somewhere else. I was scared that we weren’t going to get them back. And it’s surprising because a lot of other places, especially the bigger restaurants, didn’t get them back,” notes Hall. “There’s still, I mean even to this day, no matter where you go you see signs: help wanted, help wanted, help wanted.”
During the pandemic, the U.S. Canada border closed. Tourism from the north is a key economic driver for the region. Jim McKenna led the Lake Placid-based Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism at the time and remembers the bewilderment as the pandemic began.
“We were very uncertain really what the next day was going to bring and what the information might be. At first it was difficult to believe this was really happening!” McKenna chuckles. “And of course being in the Adirondacks and the economic engine being the travel industry, there was great uncertainty on how to prepare for the future. But once we recognized that it was not only New York state but it was throughout the country we had to bear down and figure out the best process for primarily residents and businesses locally and then the traveling public.”
New York Assemblyman D. Billy Jones, a Democrat from the 115th District, recalls that his daughter was in first grade when the pandemic began.
“Teaching my child and certainly appreciating what teachers do day in and day out. I remember just trying to figure out how to teach your children and doing a lot of that. It was eye opening,” Jones says. “The one thing I will say we did get to spend a lot of time together. But it was certainly trying times. And getting into the work aspect of it, fielding calls from constituents. Every day, every hour, it seemed like there was another thing put on us and trying to communicate that with our residents and our businesses. It was an unbelievable time.”
Looking back, Bobby Hall has found a positive outcome from the pandemic.
“I appreciate more now what I have than I did before. I think I took it for granted. And after losing everything, no money coming in, no business, the bar being closed up, can’t go anywhere, I really appreciate it now,” Hall says.
In August 2024, COVID-19 labeled endemic, a constant manageable presence.
