Hello Everybody. I missed you last week! How are you dealing with the Pandemic Pandemonium? If you're like me you are trying to remain positive and productive and get some work done. If you have school-aged children you are attempting to create learn-from-home lesson plans all while trying to get your own job done. You are ordering from local restaurants and supporting your neighbors. If you are like me, you are cooking from home and making the most out of the time you spend with your quarantine partners. If you're like me, you are ready for all of this to be over!

I, also, want to get back to work, where the tools that make it easier to do my job are located. I want to get back to interacting with co-workers because it's fun to bounce ideas off of each other while working to fulfill the chamber's mission. I love chatting with my co-workers and customers about the little things in our lives. We chat about our families, our cars, our friends and the things in the world to which we are connected.

I have been patient with all of this and I certainly understand that all of the measures we've been taking seem to be for the best. I've heard firsthand accounts from people I know who are on the front lines of the virus and the stories are scary. The virus that causes COVID 19 is very real and we are living through it. I know that it will take time and we may never be back to normal… at least the kind of normal that we had before the Corona virus reared its ugly head. We will get through this and we will soon be able to get out of our homes and greet one another on the street. The key to all of this is what we plan to do between now and then.

Today, 54 days into this, we have reached that point where we need to know when it will all be over. We need to know the answers to the questions that reassure us and our families in unsure times. We are humans and when the answers aren't readily apparent we begin to search for them on our own. To this I would simply say this: "Hang in there!"

The Silver City Grant County Chamber of Commerce is working with a diverse group of community leaders to develop a plan that will allow us to re-open Grant County for business. We have discussed strategies and the needs that must be in place in order for you and your customers to do business together. These discussions are centered around a plan that can be implemented only when it is safe for us to go back to work. I'm confident in the expertise of the people who have been assembled to help gather this information. The Next Steps Task force, as the group is known, has the best interests of the community in mind and they are working very hard to compile the data.

The time we are in right now is, obviously different from any other time in our history, and we must proceed with caution before every decision that's made. The information being gathered will be shared with the people who make the tough decisions for Grant County. We will open as soon as possible.

Your business is your business! You created it and you have full authority when it comes to owning and running your own small business. I'm the first person who understands that our country was founded by small business owners and it's the money that small business generates that fuel the American Dream. This slowdown is about the safety and security of our community and not about infringing on your constitutional rights. I urge you to keep the focus in the right place of this issue.

All we need is a little more patience and a little more time. The days of stay at home orders will all be behind us soon and we will be free to move around the city. Until then, close your eyes and imagine a world where you can meet with your friends at the park, go to a movie together or have a potluck gathering at your home. Those days are closer than you think.

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