Editorial: A year with the pandemic; a special report

We’re not out of the woods yet. Already, two popular Bend events held around this time — the marathon and Pole Pedal Paddle — have been nixed for a second year. Safety remains paramount.

So many have lost so much: loved ones, family, jobs, their business and connections with others. Today’s way of life of masking up and social distancing is considered normal behavior.

To mark this somber date, The Bulletin is publishing a special edition of today’s paper. Especially important is to remember those who have succumbed to the virus. While we do not have the names of all who have died — medical privacy laws prevented that — we honor them here by listing the date of death on our front and inside pages.

Health and business reporter Suzanne Roig pens the overview of the pandemic and its effects on Central Oregon, making note of some important milestones along the way. The rest of our reporting staff reached out to sources and the general public to get their reaction to the virus and how it has changed their lives. Throughout these pages we’ve sprinkled their quotes. There’s a timeline of events as well with Bulletin photos to illustrate.

Our editors and page designers have crafted a special report that gives readers an inclusive, deeper look at how COVID-19 has affected us, the lows and the highs. They’ve done a remarkable job pulling all of this together.

We also have some extra content online. Of note is a poem read aloud by Bend writer Jessica Amascual about her loss during this last year.

We’d be remiss in not mentioning the hard work that medical and health care personnel and volunteers have done to get the virus vaccine into the arms of Deschutes County residents. First there was the testing. Now the vaccines. We’ve been flooded with letters praising the fast and efficient way the vaccine clinics are run at the Deschutes County fairgrounds.

Nearly all of our pandemic coverage from start to a hopeful finish, is online under the local news/coronavirus header if you wish to revisit any of it.

One year later, we remain cautiously optimistic for perhaps a normal summer. There remain a few unknowns to this virus, which means we need to err on the side of caution before we get too carried away believing we’ve conquered the beast. That shouldn’t be hard. We’re pretty well used to wearing masks.

Now that there’s a light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel and we may all soon be back together working and celebrating; there’s some anxiety about that, too.

Let’s not throw caution to the wind just yet and perhaps we can enjoy a normal rest of the year.