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AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott on April 8 announced a partnership between the Texas Military Department and Prestige Ameritech to increase production of personal protective equipment for health care workers.

We knew this could happen; in fact, we knew this WOULD happen. We have a history of epidemics and pandemics dating back to the Antonine Plague in Roma circa 165-180 CE, with no less than 19 in the record up to the ongoing novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak, which results in the dreaded COVID-19 disease. We have a history of crowding into urban centers, fleeing rural settings as if our lives depended on it, leaving the wide open spaces, and low population density areas for the petri dishes of city life where social distancing is virtually impossible, disease-ridden vectors flourish, and diseases are transmitted with alarming efficiency and speed from human to human.

In 1952 I was in the 2nd grade at Radhost School. The attendance or enrollment had dwindled down somewhat so the two-room school house was condensed into one room. There were about 30 students total and they consisted of grades 1 to 8. Therefore, one teacher had to teach and control all of these kids in one crowded room.

During This Pandemic, Expect Healthcare Changes