I have made a habit these last few weeks of walking down Goodwin to Queen to check out the cars lining up for the Covid-19 mobile lab at the Bristol Hospital. Some days the lines are longer than others, but the lines are there.

Not an alarmist by nature, I try to get answers to the questions I have about coronavirus. If not power, knowledge, is, well, knowledge, a way to gain a handle on a situation and proceed from there.

Toward that end, I will provide some links further down the page with sources I have found helpful.

Among the most helpful sources, however, is one that I came across at our monthly writers retreat, and this source is not a link but a Bristol resident.

Dondrea Garrison, a physician’s assistant working in primary care, is that resource. Dondrea is the person I talk to on this podcast–not a fancy podcast, with a big introduction and music, but a serviceable one, a timely one.

The podcast is unique in one way: it embeds an earlier conversation with the more current one. The original interview with Dondrea took place on Feb. 29, during lunch at the writers retreat. We started talking about cornoavirus, and Dondrea piped up. I grabbed my recorder.

This recording is included in its entirety in the first section of the podcast. I fact, Dondrea and I listened to the interview before we started talking about updates.

What follows the initial conversation is another 18 days later, on March 18. Dondrea and I talked over the phone. There is more give and take than the original.

I hope you find what she has to say as significant as I do. And, yes, much of it is what you might hear everyday as you follow new developments. What is different, however, is that here is a person who lives among us and who has the expertise to break things down in a way that we all can grasp and act on.

Disclaimer: Dondrea is speaking as a private citizen. For medical advice, please contact your primary health care provider. That said, the podcast is do not pretend to cover the material exhaustively. The onus, the responsibility for educating ourselves is on us. Check out the links below for more information.

Overall, there is no cause for alarm, if we stay informed and do what the health professionals ask us to do. There are no guarantees about who will be infected and how that will affect them and us. We know that some populations who are infected are only mildly affected while others whose health has been compromised are at higher risk of more serious complications and even death.

When I do have to run to the store, however, I am encouraged by the civility I witness, just as I am from the overall reports that come daily through the news. People are amazing, and many amazing things are being done right here in Bristol during these extraordinary times–people watching out for each other, our city government doing its best to anticipate and deal with unprecedented events.

Regarding questions about the podcast, Dondrea said she would be happy to follow up this podcast with another addressing people’s concerns. Please send those concerns to the following email address: dfortier@bristoledition.org.

Below find links that provide constant updates and credible information about Covid-19 and the coronavirus pandemic:

The Centers for Disease Constrol and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/

The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/coronavirus?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

Note: any of the articles linked from the NYT page still require a subscription. However, the page contains useful current information.

The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/category/what-you-need-know-coronavirus/