I have been in the newspaper business since 1978.
Like Brian Williams, math is not my strong suit. But my calculator tells me that is 42 years.
With the exception of Sept. 11, 2001, I'm not sure I've ever encountered a day quite like yesterday.
Remember, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks took place in a pre-internet world. There was no Twitter. No Facebook. We prepared a complete package for the next day's print edition.
Today, we deliver news by the minute.
And yesterday, it seemed the headlines were rolling in every five minutes.
Such is life amid the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak.
Gov. Wolf upped the ante considerably about 2 o'clock when he announced the unprecedented move of shutting down all schools in Montgomery County, the epicenter of the state's coronavirus outbreak.
He also urged all non-essential businesses to shut down.
In the meantime, the sports world was imploding.
Remember the way it looked when they blew up the Spectrum a few years back. That's what the world of sports looked like yesterday, as one headline after another cascaded over the landscape.
First came the news overnight that the NBA was suspending its season after a player confirmed positive for the virus.
The rest of the sports world followed suit - the NHL shut down.
March Madness became March Sadness as the annual college hoops tournament was scrapped.
Major League Soccer shut down operations. Forget that home opener for the Union in Chester Saturday night.
The PIAA curtailed its winter sports tournaments.
Wall Street was in a nosedive not seen since the great crash of 1987.
Out in the communities, grocery stores looked like someone had just predicted the storm of the century. Shelves were stripped bare. Toilet paper for some reason was a hot commodity.
This will pass. Life eventually will return to normal.
But for now, it's a new world out there.
Now wash your hands.
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