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With a viral outbreak prompting the WHO to declare a global health emergency, let's take a look at what a coronavirus is. Louisville Courier Journal

There are points in our history that we'll always remember.

For some, it was the Kennedy assassinations. Both of them. Or when MLK was gunned down. For others, the Nixon resignation. Or the Challenger explosion, or the attack on the World Trade Center.

We can now add the coronavirus to the list of events that have changed our outlooks, inexorably altered the path of our country and forced us to take stock in our own lives.

"I'm shaking," said Frank Foster, ashe held court Thursday at the big round table in the middle of Franco's Restaurant, which he opened13 years ago. He admitted feeling helpless if the pandemic spikes here as it did in Wuhan, China, and Milan.

"I wouldn't know what to do," the 78-year-oldsaid."I've never been through anything like this before."

There's a good reason he was shaking. A lot of us were.

That day Thursday was the most memorable awful day of a memorable awful week.The news was filled with dire warnings from our elected officials.

Frank Foster, right, the owner of Franco's, said he is "shaking" because of the coronavirus.(Photo: Joseph Gerth)

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That day saw the Dow Jonesplummet2,353 points the worst drop since the stock market crash of 1987. It saw schools throughout the state begin to close as we try to protect our children from catching the virus and bringing it home to sicken us and theirgrandparents.

That horrible day saw more and more things like plays and concerts events where we gather to have fun and celebrate life put on hold.

Considered impossible just a couple of days earlier, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association called off the Sweet Sixteen basketball tournaments.

And perhaps in the most stunning move of all for us, it saw the NCAA cancel March Madness, do away with spring sports altogether, and it saw most major professional sports suspend or delay their seasons.

By Saturday, Kentucky had at least 16 positive tests for the coronavirus.

Gov. Andy Beshear has consistently warned us that there will be more.

While we haven'thad any of the deaths here like in Washington and California and a few other states, it'shard to imagine the coronavirus hasn't stolen from each of us something we love whether it's learning or sports or our ability to retire. Or if it's just our peace of mind.

Mark Rucker, a 50-year-old real estate lawyer in Lexington, is worried.

About 80%of the people who get COVID-19 have mild or no symptoms, according to the World Health Organization. But older adults and people with serious chronic medical conditions including heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes and lung disease are at higher risk, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kentucky coronavirus live updates: Get the latest information here

He's in the 20% none of us wants to be in.

Rucker has kidney disease andrheumatoid arthritis, which requires him to take a steroid that suppresses his immune system.

On Monday, the news came that the first positive test for the coronavirus had been reported in Lexington. This had him especially on edge.

So on Tuesday morning, he got up and went to his kidney doctor for a previously scheduled appointment.

"I wore an N95-rated mask to my appointment for the first time ever," he said. "I did feel slightly awkward but again, being around other immune-compromised individuals just really made me think 'better safe than sorry.'"

It's scary for many people.

State officials are telling people to stay away from crowds. They're telling us to keep 6 feet between us and others. It's up to that distance that a cough or a sneeze will pose a risk to others. If you're over age 60 or in poor health, you're told not to get on a plane, and for gosh sakes, everyone stay away from cruise ships.

Employers are telling many of us not to go to the office where we can spread the disease. I'll be filing columnsfrom my recliner most days for the next few weeks; my wife will be on her computer across the room; and my daughter will probably be holed up in her bedroom.

Apple Stores have shut down. Others will likely follow.

Some people have gone overboard. Fear has caused them to hoard groceries and toilet paper.

Coronavirus tracker: How manycases are in Kentucky? Where are they?

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This will go on for weeks, if not months, as a vaccine isn't expected to be ready until later this year.

The dregs of society are trying to profiteer. One man in Tennessee had amassed 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer and was selling them for many times their original value before Amazon and eBay stopped price gouging on their platforms, The New York Times reported.

Heshould choke on a bottle of Purell.

Hoarding begets hoarding. Others started buying up everything in groceries. Pasta. Bread. Rice. Toilet paper. Hand soap. Lysol Wipes. Even fresh fruit, which one would think would rot before hoarders eat it, was wiped out in grocery stores.

At Kroger on Friday, I looked around at the empty shelves and felt I knew what it was like to live in the old Soviet Union.

Delta Air Lines announced Friday that it was grounding 40% of its flights as people avoidcommercial carriers.

For someone like Mike Goetz, deciding whether to travel or to be in large crowds could be a life or death decision. He was diagnosed with leukemia about a year ago.

Because of the virus, Goetz and his wife have decided not to fly to Palm Springs, California, this month for a family vacation they had been planning.

My hematologist said, I dont want you on a plane right now. I dont think its prudent,'" Goetz said.

Now, the family is struggling about whether to cancel his daughters March 28 wedding in Nashville, Tennessee.

"Ive had quite a few older family members inform me in the last few days that they wouldnt be coming, he said. Ive never seen such a fluid situation and things changing so quickly in my life.

Read more: Louisville stores flooded by shoppers panicked over coronavirus

Steve Hankins, of Shepherdsville, isn't going to be traveling either.

He was in Saugus, Massachusetts, on business last weekend when he fell ill.

A cough. Shortness of breath. Fever.

He awoke in his hotel room last Sunday morning and drove his rental car to Massachusetts General Hospital and asked a security guard outside where he could find the emergency room.

"STAND RIGHT HERE!" was the order.

Within minutes, someone from the ER gave him a mask and escorted into an isolation room, where doctors began working to figure out what was going on. They determined he had chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and a bad case of the flu and admitted him to the hospital.

Back in Shepherdsville, his wife was frantic.

Also: As coronavirus fears spread, these small businesses stand to lose big

Why wasn't Hankins, who travels by commercial plane several times a month and passes through airports often,tested for the coronavirus?

The fact is, there just aren't enough tests to go around. People who should be tested aren't being tested.

Only about 150 people in Kentucky have been testedbecause the federal government was slow to react to the burgeoning crises. Because of that, hundreds, or even thousands, of people may be unwittingly spreading the virus in Kentucky.

The virus has interfered with even the simple things in life.

Churches have canceled services.

People are not allowed to visit family in nursing homes unless their loved ones are near death. The rules, necessary to keep the virus away from those most vulnerable to it, are certainly increasing the loneliness and isolation that is already a problem the elderly face.

Some restaurants are empty.

On Friday, Hooked on Frankfort, a fish restaurant within 1.8 miles of five Catholic churches, had only about 15 people eating there at 12:30 p.m. On a Friday. During Lent.

College and university closures were affecting high school students who were planning trips to campuses across the country.

Elise Williamson, a 17-year-old senior at duPont Manual High School,said she learned at about 11 a.m. Tuesday her visit to Yale next month wouldn't happen. She was scheduled to go to New Haven, Connecticut, to learn about financial assistance available to her and then to attend Bulldog Days a three-day orientation program for admitted students.

They were canceling because of the coronavirus, just because of how many students would be coming there, not just from across the country but from around the world, she said.

Williamson said shes disappointed because she thought the orientation programwould have eased her transition to college life, but she said shes in a better position than many students because she was able to visit campus last summer.

Elise Williamson is a senior at Manual High School. She'll be attending Yale University in the fall and had planned an upcoming visit to the school, but it was canceled due to coronavirus precautions.(Photo: Pat McDonogh, Courier Journal)

Dive deep: With coronavirus kits limited, Kentucky is testing only the sickest patients

Law schools at Harvard and University of California, Berkeley, havesaid they aren't sending students to a program at the Appalachian Research & Defense Fund, AppalReD, that helps poor people with their legal troubles and provides an important learning experience for the future lawyers.

On Saturday morning, students at Bellarmine University packed up their belongings and loaded them into cars ordered by the school to vacate the dormitories this weekend.

Wiley Carr III needed only three bags to move out of his dorm room at Bellarmine University: One had his laptop and other class materials. One had some personal hygiene products. The third carried his trumpet.

I understand the safety precautions, Carr,23,said. But this impacts so many students.

Wiley Carr III carried a few belongings after checking out of his dorm on the campus of Bellarmine University on Saturday.(Photo: Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal)

Beshear, who's shown a steady hand warning of the dangers of the virus, has been careful to say at each press conference he's held that "we will get through this."

It's no doubt we will. But it will take its toll.

But we will be forever changed.

We'll think twice about shaking hands for a long time. We'll worry about the next new disease that comes along. And we'll worry if our government will be able to deal with it if it does.

But, as Beshear says, we will get through this.

Information for this column was also gathered by Jonathan Bullington.Joseph Gerthcan be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email atjgerth@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today:courier-journal.com/josephg.

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Gerth: Coronavirus outbreak will take its toll, but we'll get through it as we always have - Courier Journal

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