PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Welcome From
President Eric Nuñez
On March 4, 2020, I was on the phone
from home calling in for my Teledoc
appointment for my second round of
steroids and inhalers for a three-week stint with
bronchitis - the worse I had ever experienced, (No
it was not Coronavirus, I have recently had the
antigens test all came back negative). I remember
two things I was concerned about, missing work,
and hoping I would not have to miss another
one of my 12-year-old daughter’s softball games.
Shortly after, her games were cancelled due to
bad weather and the league suspended play until
March 30th. By this time, the Governor of California
and the President of the United States
had declared a state and national emergency, respectively.
What we didn’t know then, but we all
know now, was that everyone’s season was over for
2020 and missing one of my daughter’s games
became the least of my worries.
Like you, I recall the Governor’s “Stay at Home” Executive Order
and the term that was used – “essential services and essential
workers” suddenly both were a blessing and a curse. For those still
gainfully employed they were increasing their risk of being infected
to serve the public: food, pharmaceuticals, groceries, gasoline, and
hardware supplies. And all around the globe our doctors, nurses, respiratory
technicians, and the healthcare providers in general, were
this Century’s newest heroes fighting this invisible but deadly enemy.
Just as sudden as the declarations of emergencies were announced, the
absence of toilet paper and disinfectant products from our grocery
store shelves became the norm. We went from allowable sized gatherings
of 250 to 10 then to phrases such as “Safer at Home.” The
term social distancing and handwashing for 20 seconds were all the
new rage for combating the Coronavirus as was singing portions of
songs that represented an approximation of 20 seconds for those
would rather sing than count. The term PPE became a common
phrase when previously only used in military, law enforcement, fire
services, and medical profession parlance.
The media focused, as one might expect, on the worst of the worse,
but the truth is the worst was behind hermetically sealed doors of
an ICU, where no one could enter not even family members. The
demand for ventilators for our most ill became priority number one
and the global pandemic of Novel Coronavirus had now transitioned
into daily briefings from the President, governors, mayors of megacities
and county health directors. The virus was given a nickname
“COVID-19” and updates on the number of infected and dead
started to resemble of the evening news during Vietnam.
The entire educational system shuttered their doors and started
to engage in distant learning formats as our children, like us, were
getting on Zoom calls to somehow continue to get necessary
work done. Meetings, conferences, business trips, birthday parties,
weddings, graduations, vacations, sporting events, concerts,
reunions, religious services, you name it, were all put on hold and
in almost all cases - cancelled.
Like the drop in the stock market, our 401k’s, deferred comp
accounts, and other investment vehicles became victims of shuttering
our economy. Unemployment went to the double digits at record
highs and yet as people, we still held on to our hope. Some of our
bravest and most patient citizens were the ones who were not considered
essential and as a result saw their businesses and employment
slowly unravel as they applied for Paycheck Protection Program
loans, unemployment benefits, and waited for federal stimulus checks
that provided sustenance at best, if they came at all.
Through all of this we began to see communities unite with postings
on social media of automobile parades celebrating birthdays, graduations,
and weddings. Most were led by patrol cars flashing emergency
lights. We saw first responders lining up either on foot or in cars in
front of hospitals expressing their collective support and gratitude
4 CALIFORNIA POLICE CHIEF | www.californiapolicechiefs.org