By Linda Bergren Polich
2020 … a new year and a new decade. Everything was going well, and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Hard. And it turned our world upside down!
Schools were closed, and students had to be home-schooled until further notice. Parents were told to work from home.
Churches, libraries, and other gathering places were closed. Retail stores, barber shops, and beauty salons were temporarily shuttered. Some stores and restaurants will probably never open again due to their loss of business.
Face masks are commonplace, and are required in all public places.
Local events were cancelled – County Fairs, State Fairs, and summer concerts. Sporting events were cancelled.
Our genealogy classes and programs were cancelled. Other local genealogy events were cancelled (including our QC Genealogy Conference), national events were cancelled (including the NGS and FGS Conferences which were switched to virtual conferences), and with the blink of an eye, everything had changed!
The world has not seen anything of this magnitude since the Spanish Flu of 1918. How many of your ancestors were affected by that pandemic? Did they keep any kind of journal, detailing how their lives were changed? If they did, you could read first-hand how life was different for them.
Have you been journaling the COVID-19 pandemic? How has it changed your life? Your descendants in years to come will appreciate the information you document now about this pandemic.
Please stay healthy and safe … and happy researching!
