My daughter, who is in the midst of her final year of medical school at Brown University, called me about ten days ago and urged me to take advantage of special “senior shopping hours” (I’m 71) offered by certain local markets to stock up on food and household essentials.

So the day after, I showed up at 7 a.m. at my local grocery store to find a scene I can only describe as “surreal.” First, the store parking lot parking was full, with a line of people like that waiting to enter a rock concert. I walked half a block to retrieve the only visible shopping cart.

Then, I waited … in close proximity to many others … once inside, the concept of “social distancing” was again rendered a fantasy notion. Shoppers scraped elbows down every aisle, checkout lines resembled a cattle drive and tabletops, shelves — even the stylus pens to sign one’s bill — were touched, clutched and grasped like communal property. Only a few patrons donned gloves or masks. In short, what was surely a well-intentioned gesture by a local merchant to try to aid a vulnerable segment of our population in this public health crisis probably exponentially increased the danger for those in the shopping throng that morning.

To be sure, within a short time, these stores have improved their metering of shopper densities to come into compliance with social contact guidelines, but the vulnerability to everybody — and particularly our older citizens who venture into public space — is confirmed by statistics.

According to the latest studies from the Centers for Disease Control , 105 million Americans are considered to be at highest risk of serious complications from COVID-19 infection. Of these, some 76 million are 60 or older. An explosion of infections in our state would be felt more heavily than in many parts of the nation because of a pronounced shortage of acute care capacity in our health care facilities.

The Wall Street Journal just published a survey of intensive care unit capacity across communities around the nation, and found wide disparity between cities of comparable size. For instance, Eugene (one of the sample cities) possesses a capacity of only 68 ICU beds, as opposed to Lubbock, Texas, a community of roughly the same metropolitan population, which has 242 such units. Moreover, the state of Oregon ranks last in the nation in the number of available hospital beds, offering only 1.6 per 1000 residents. An additional concern is that the state’s hospitals can deploy only 688 ventilators for its entire population.

These worrisome facts should raise the warning flags across our entire community of the coming COVID-19 storm that will tax our collective resolve, discipline and reserves of compassion and active concern for our fellow citizens.

Two populations deserve and demand our conscientious attention. First are our most vulnerable citizens — the aforementioned elderly population, along with those with medical conditions that dictate extra measures of safeguards. Shop for them. Volunteer to run errands or help them to keep their living environments as clean and healthy as possible so they do not increase their level of manageable risk.

The second group are the front-line care providers, from those in senior care and convalescent facilities to those doctors, nurses and assistants in our hospitals who are the true front-line warriors in the coming battle. If we have time, resources or materials to offer, these should be the recipients of our directed action. This includes personal protective items such as masks and gloves. Especially when centralized procurement of these items does not appear to be forthcoming via governmental authority anytime soon, private hoarding of these items for that future rainy day only increases the collective danger today, because the storm is already upon us. Oregonians have long prided themselves for exhibiting a strong spirit and sense of the community welfare. That spirit and commitment will soon be put to new tests. Let us all resolve to meet the challenge of this brave new world.

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