By most accounts, looking at 2020 through COVID-tinted glasses bears out a pretty miserable year — one of missed opportunities, economic hardship and isolation.
As the year drew to a close, a News + Record subheading on another pandemic-related story in November captured it perfectly: “As usual, blame COVID-19.”
The coronavirus, after all, transformed nearly every aspect of life in Chatham — from closing county schools to canceling mass gatherings to shuttering businesses to even injecting anxiety into every trip away from home.
COVID-19 arrived earlier in Chatham County than in most counties across the state. It all traces back to one date, March 6, when Chatham reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 — and North Carolina’s second.
In hindsight, the timing was ironic. It was the very same day the Chatham Economic Development Corporation held its annual “Opportunity Chatham” event in Pittsboro to celebrate regional efforts toward economic growth and predict a bright future.
“Economic development officials boasted about Chatham County’s recent business successes and sounded hopeful as they looked toward the future,” former CN+R reporter Zachary Horner wrote in an article describing the event.
At the event, the hundreds gathered were collectively trying to figure out whether to shake hands or hug or not. “Social distancing” had yet to enter our lexicon.
Life would soon change. On March 27, three weeks after the county reported its first case, Gov. Roy Cooper issued a stay-at-home order, and everything screeched to a halt.
County schools closed for the rest of the academic year. Sports leagues paused or canceled their seasons. Many small businesses shut down temporarily — then permanently. An increasing number of employers told their employees to work from home — or laid them off indefinitely, which left unemployment numbers soaring. Churches canceled in-person worship.
“Typically, the spring is the busiest time of year for me,” Trader Chris Consignment’s Chris DiGiovanna told the News + Record in May. “April was the worst month for me revenue-wise in many, many years. I am concerned about being able to keep my business open long term with much lower revenue right now.”
The abbreviated lockdowns and fear of the virus meant that many people didn’t see their families for weeks and months at a time, even those who live in adjacent counties.
“Hispanics have something very in common that we are very sociable,” Luis Armando Lucas, the owner of Tres Estrellas in Siler City, told the News + Record in August. “For everyone, we shake hands. We give each other a hug. ... Now everyone distrusts one another. There is like that fear of approaching another person.”
During the first few months of the outbreak, the county had been a virus hotspot. At one point in April, Chatham County ranked in the top 10 in North Carolina for most positive tests for COVID-19 and per 10,000 residents. Testing at a Chatham nursing home, The Laurels of Chatham, turned up more than 51 positives in early April. Likewise in late April, testing also identified an outbreak among workers in Siler City’s Mountaire Farms poultry processing plant.
North Carolina’s pandemic restrictions began to loosen on May 5, as Cooper announced a modified stay-at-home order that allowed retail businesses to open at 50% capacity. Save a state mandate requiring face masks and limits on gatherings, state restrictions had been gradually stripped away during summer and into fall. But as cases, deaths and hospitalizations surged, Cooper announced another modified stay-at-home order on Dec. 8, mandating a statewide curfew between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in an attempt to curb further spread.
As 2020 draws to a close, Chatham’s better off than most. According to the state health department’s COVID-19 dashboard, Chatham has lower community spread than most counties across North Carolina. As of Dec. 29, Chatham had 2,855 cases out of North Carolina’s 524,279.
Still, there’s been tangible damage in ways both measurable and incalculable. In story after story this year, many Chatham residents told the News + Record that government relief measures haven’t been enough to patch up the damage.
At the end of March, Congress passed the CARES Act. Among other things, it provided direct stimulus checks to most Americans and small business relief under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
In July, the CCCC Small Business Center’s director, Jon Spoon, described the PPP loan program as a “quick lifesaver designed to last for two months.”
“It’s a good start,” he told the News + Record. “But it’s just a really hard challenge to get your hands around because people don’t know exactly how long (the pandemic’s) going to last or what the next steps in the phases are.”
Other government relief measures — state as well as federal — issued moratoriums on evictions and stopped water and electricity shutoffs for a time.
“People are getting eviction notices, their basic needs to survive are being taken from them, utilities being shut off ... electricity, water, gas,” Abundance NC’s Marcela Slade told the News + Record in December. “It’s getting worse as time passes.”
But 2020’s not just an unprecedented year of hardship and isolation; it’s also a story of resilience and drive to help one’s neighbors. When government relief wasn’t enough, Chatham stepped up.
Chatham Outreach Alliance (CORA) distributed over 1.3 million meals to Chatham throughout the year. Chatham’s Neighbor2Neighbor program — of which the News + Record was a sponsor — has been raising money to help people pay utility bills and buy groceries since April.
When undocumented immigrants or families with “mixed” immigration status weren’t eligible for government stimulus checks, organizations including the Hispanic Liaison and Chatham Habitat for Humanity organized a “Solidarity Fund” that distributed $900 checks to over 200 families.
And now after a long and difficult year, things have begun to look up. Medical workers have begun to receive COVID-19 vaccines, and in months, most people should be able to receive it as well. The News + Record chronicled the first vaccinations in Chatham County, given two weeks ago to front-line workers at Chatham Hospital, including Chief Medical Officer Andrew Hannapel.
And just like Hannapel had said at the time, “The end is in sight.”
Reporter Victoria Johnson can be reached at victoria@chathamnr.com.