(Photo by Zachary Meseck)

CHENANGO – As concerns about the coronavirus pandemic spreads to upstate New York government officials are urging calm as an anxious public is told to prepare for the unknown.

If you visited any area stores in the last week you would have noticed a growing tempo of activity, similar to a holiday shopping season or a pending weather catastrophe.

As supermarket shelves lay empty it makes confronting the pending public health crisis impossible for any of us to avoid. Things like hand sanitizer, toilet paper and a host of similar products are hard to find.

I was at a local dollar store Saturday afternoon. There were at least a dozen customers in the store and the parking lot was more than half full. Large swaths of empty sections of shelves could be found dotted throughout the store. Besides the number of people in the store being above average, the amount of items filling carts seemed much more than usual as well. A line several customers long never seemed to shorten as people kept coming in to replace those leaving.

A flustered dollar store cashier suddenly stopped checking people out. She had to finish paperwork for a truck delivery she explained. “He [the truck driver] has been waiting more than an hour, it has been crazy around here today. I'm sorry. It'll take a few minutes.”

The truck driver, who was standing in the corner of the store near the loading docks, could be heard watching news coverage of the coronavirus on his phone. As the woman went over to him and started doing the paperwork the two began swapping stories about recent events. She said the store has been a “madhouse.” The truck driver told her not to worry about the delay and described how he witnessed customers nearly fighting over a recent delivery he dropped-off at another location further down state.

A few minutes later another employee arrived. She seemed as if she might have been called in. She looked around and her body language and half-hearted “who can I help next” conveyed a feeling of annoyance at the hustle.

As she started checking people out I asked her a little sarcastically “how is your day going?” She responded with double my amount of sarcasm saying, “Great.”

I asked what she thought about what was happening and she offered a blunt assessment. “Think people are overreacting and being dumb and crazy,” she said. She also worried aloud about how a possible closure at Sherburne schools might impact her family, due to a lack of options to take care of her kids while working during the day.

I along with other Evening Sun staff met with public health officials on Friday and they somewhat agreed with the sentiment about over-reacting.

They urge calm and seem to indicate the public response to the crisis was a little over reactive. They told people to prepare and isolate themselves if they at all felt sick, but not to over react. Schools in Chenango closed Monday at the health department's recommendation.

I felt the advice reminded me of a Goldilocks' dilemma. Officials are telling us, don't worry too much or too little, just worry at medium. But that's not how people work.

Medium worry means staying home if you feel sick but otherwise go to work. Avoid large public events and be extra careful about hygiene and washing hands, but otherwise live your life semi-normal.

People should also prepare for the possibility of self isolation or illness and pay attention to news updates.

Despite the advice not to over-react, I'm not totally convinced people are. How does one stock up for a possible two week isolation without stocking up? It seems only normal for people would act this way. If you look at the issues currently taking place in other countries, like Italy for example, and the drastic steps being taken, you understand this is only the beginning.

State officials said this weekend the health crisis will only get worse in the coming weeks and months. Unfortunately it looks as though one of the hardest hit ares in the country may turn out to be our own state as several hundred new cases and at least one death have been recorded since last week.

Chenango health officials warned last week that with surrounding areas already monitoring or confirming cases, it would only be a matter of time before Chenango County would have cases of their own. They said people should prepare mentally for that to happen soon and stay calm.

As the crisis grows many readers want to know how it will effect their lives. Should I send my kids to school? Will the schools even be open? What about work, or visiting an older loved one in a nursing home? How should we be changing our behavior in the near future in order to try and stay healthy?

Many of these questions the Evening Sun is also asking and we will bring you the most up to date answers as we can get them from local officials. Many organizations are adapting to the virus daily as new information becomes available. Please keep reading in the coming days and weeks as we continue to get to the bottom of these concerns and work to keep the community updated.