Claverack motorist dies at Chatham crash scene

By PARRY TEASDALE

THE WOMAN LEFT HER CAR DOOR open in the parking lot. I could see her one moment and not the next from my desk as she hovered outside our office. A minute or so of that and she came just inside, leaving the porch door open behind her.

I said, “You don’t have to wear….”

“…. I always wear a mask,” she said, cutting me off. She was looking for a local hamlet not far away. She peeled off the pandemic mask and asked if we had a computer in the newsroom that would show her the way to her destination. She said she was frightened to use digital devices; you had to get so close to people.

I tried describing the route. She answered questions that hadn’t been asked. And then abruptly she paused. “You mean there’s only One stoplight?”

“One,” I said.

“I know that place,” she said. She smiled.

She waved a sheet of paper or maybe a map as she got into her car. She shouted something that sounded like, “treating … with dignity!”

It could have been thank-you. But I had no close match finding a phrase that fit. The truck traffic on nearby state Route 66 is at its loudest in the late afternoon. Keep in mind that this is a very poor example of reporting. Editors generally require contemporary notes and, in stories of conflict or controversy, we want to know details that might reveal conclusions that the facts don’t support.

I’ve been repeating the words that our visitor left with us. They might offer insights to the year ahead. I think of them as reminders that listening to strangers can tell you things you hadn’t considered. It can take you in all sorts of directions.

Take your pick, maybe something like climate change and clean water. What’s occupied my mind for much of the last few days is the question: Are we ready to protect ourselves from a new pandemic or some variant of Covid-19? We’re seeing the answer unfold as this is written. I looked online at some of the data for Columbia County. There are nearly 60,000 residents here; 53,937 of us received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. More than 46,000 completed their “primary series” vaccinations, which made all of us safer. The data come from the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The numbers seem to suggest that debate was over before it began. It wasn’t. And while the results have confirmed that mass vaccinations are the best tools, we have the anti-science folks are unlikely to give up their struggle.

I’d like to think I learned something from our harried visitor and perhaps I have. But either way, I have a duty as a citizen and a neighbor to remain informed and, when it’s advised, to get vaccinated once again.

If you want to know more and Covid-19, the CDC website is:

cdc.covid.gov

For local Covid information go to Columbia County Health Department on Facebook.