Congratulations on a COVID-19 milestone Rock County

One day last week something remarkable happened.
Quietly, almost imperceptibly, Rock County hit a milestone with its COVID-19 data.
While our masks were getting lost in glove boxes and purse pockets, and while we crowded together at Buffalo Days and began planning for the Fourth of July, and while we ramped up our social schedules after a pandemic year of isolation …
… Rock County reached 20 straight days of no new coronavirus cases.
It didn’t make headlines in the way that our first coronavirus cases did, and the way our first coronavirus losses did.
It’s not like the news media to report on what didn’t happen, but perhaps we should.
Considering the journey from those first cases to today, and considering what it took to reach “no new cases,” it’s certainly worth some reflection.
It was perhaps the single most challenging public health crisis to burden our local leaders and health professionals since polio in the 1950s.
It required perhaps the most personal responsibility and sacrifice since World War II rations.
And the toll it took on business and commerce was unlike any other economic hardship in recent history.
If the pandemic were a marathon, we paced ourselves at the start, took off like a shot at Mile 10, and somewhere around Mile 20 we feared there may not be a finish line.
We geared up for overwhelmed hospital rooms, made arrangements for medical staff reinforcements, and stocked up on hand sanitizer and PPE. There’s the 2020 Acronym of the Year if there were to be one. (Personal Protective Equipment, for those who weren’t paying attention.)
There is no race so difficult as one with no end in sight – and it did feel that way at times … when we buried loved ones, closed beloved restaurants and businesses and eclipsed school pastimes like prom, spring sports and graduation.
The list of losses goes on.
But as we rounded the new year with our COVID-19 numbers leveling off, we began to see the finish line: a vaccine.
Just as we lined up for community testing clinics, we did the same for vaccines.
One shot at a time, one age group at a time, protection built. And the Covid cases dropped.
Until one day, we realized 20 days in a row had passed with no new reported cases.
Have we crossed the finish line? It’s hard to know. Perhaps after a year of no new cases we’ll declare the journey over.
Meanwhile, Rock County, we can appreciate today.