Letter to The Editor – Palm Beach Daily News, Sunday, July 5, 2020
Let’s be thankful for news sources
The last significant pandemic in modern history occurred in 1918. In three waves, over two years, that virus infected 500 million people and left 50 million dead.
Then, as now, the most important tool we have to combat the spread of the coronavirus is our knowledge of how it is transmitted and how to avoid getting it.
In mid-March, we watched the medical community “in real time” come to grips with the rapid spread of this new virus and the illness and death it left in its wake. Hunkered down in our homes to “flatten the curve,” the national news became a main source of medical information and our connection to the larger world.
But we were more fortunate than other towns because our town has its own news sources, the Palm Beach Daily News and The Palm Beach Civic Association. These “Unsung Heroes” have had a pivotal role in reducing transmission of the virus and flattening the curve. Both jumped into action early on to provide us the information we needed to stay healthy.
Their actions demonstrate how local journalism touches our daily lives in ways that national newspapers cannot. Carol Rose, editor of the Palm Beach Daily News, and her news team have covered the pandemic with an eye toward communicating what we need to know. Whether presenting the latest statistics or photos from the night we lit candles for our daughters and sons who work at hospitals caring for the sickest, the PBDN was there with us.
The Palm Beach Civic Association board and President Mary Robosson, created a local news program, “Palm Beach TV,’’ hosted by award-winning Tim Malloy and Wendy Rutledge. It is lively, informative and fun. Supported through the generosity of the Fortin Foundation, it has become our “go to” local news program on the island.
The Civic Association also showed courage by leading the way to postpone events that would have spread the virus. Its ethical decision influenced others to follow suit and saved many of us from viral exposure.
The next time you watch Palm Beach Civic Association’s “Palm Beach TV” or read the Palm Beach Daily News, remember the folks that make it possible. They grasped, early on, the threat of the pandemic and stepped into action to help get us through these challenging months.
Both have had a vital role in reducing transmission of this virus. [It’s] something for which to be thankful.
Maggie Zeidman Town Council president
