2020: A rollercoaster of Covid realities

At the start, it was as if no one really knew how or whether to panic. So they cleared shelves of toilet paper and anything that could be used to kill germs on surfaces.

As the state ordered places to shut down in order to quell the spread of Covid-19, it continued to only slowly seep in just how radically things might change in a pandemic world.

Adam Bailey, owner of Cloquet bar The Jack, was like anyone else trying to navigate just what was happening. "Uneasy," he told the Pine Knot News in early March. "If this lasts just a couple of weeks, we'll be OK. If it's a few months, things will get hairy."

Things got hairy.

• By the end of March, the state was reeling from the fact that more than 600 people had contracted Covid-19 and there were a handful of deaths. That compares to this week, when in one day more than 1,200 people are testing positive. Through Jan. 5, there have been 427,587 cases in Minnesota and 5,528 deaths.

• But Carlton County remained relatively untouched, albeit ready. County officials girded for the worst. Medical facilities put plans together and equipment. Places that could find a way to serve customers through grab-and-go means did so.

• It was novelty when the Pine Knot News interviewed Giorgio Petri, a former exchange student in Cloquet who lives in Italy, in late March. He talked about what at the time were some of the most extreme measures in the world to keep people home as the virus ripped across the country. He said lockdown living wasn't as intolerable as one might think if the goal in the end is to keep everyone healthy. But he had a warning for those here who might not have felt the import of the pandemic. No one should "underestimate the danger," he said.

• It would be May before things loosened up. State officials thanked Minnesotans for helping to "flatten the curve" by keeping infections down and not overwhelming hospitals and medical resources. In-person dining and drinking was allowed, and a bit of normalcy settled in on Carlton County for a good part of the summer (sans large gatherings). It wouldn't last.

• On March 5, the coordinator of the CAT-7 public access channel, Eric Lipponen, was dismissed by the city. The station would go dark until later in the year and its future was in limbo until the city formed an agreement with the Pine Knot News to manage the station.

• The gestures to keep people calm during a pandemic began small. In Kettle River, the Christmas tree was lit to boost spirits. On March 24, a customer at B&B Market left money in an effort to "pay it forward" for someone who might need some food as the economy remained uncertain. It started a flood of donations at the store that continue today. Teddy bears were placed in windows for children to point out as people took to the outdoors in droves, taking walks to ease cabin fever. Churches moved services online or to radio frequencies for parking lot services. On April 8, Gordy's Hi-Hat opened as a carhop-style restaurant for the first time in its 56-year existence.

• Families and groups entertained people online with music. Dozens of people pitched in to make masks en masse.

• Covid cases were reported at Minnesota's correctional facilities in early April, including those in Moose Lake. Plants in Cloquet were hit as well.

• The unemployment rate is staggering. About 17 percent of people of working age in the county filed for unemployment. In the seven-county region, there were 30,000 claims compared to the usual 1,000 per year.

• By mid-April, most summer events were being canceled, as were spring sports at local schools. The schools were readying for distance learning to the end of the year and seniors lamented in the Pine Knot News about the rest of the year being "lost."

• By May, the federal government was distributing stimulus checks. Testing was being done in Cloquet by car. Schools made plans for drive-up, walk-up and drive-in graduation ceremonies.

• On May 22, there were 70 confirmed Covid cases in Carlton County.

• Derek Randall was named chief of police in Cloquet on June 2, in time to take part in a Cloquet vigil protesting police brutality and racial injustice in light of the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

• John Engstrom was hired on June 8 on a one-year contract by the Carlton school board to replace superintendent Gwen Carman, who left to lead a district in southeastern Minnesota.

• Not only did the Black Bear Casino & Resort reopen on June 15, it went smoke-free as well.

• Wright celebrated Wrong Days in mid-July, one of the only festivals to take place in the county. Some recreational sports were back on track as well, giving kids some outlet in a bleak summer.

• In August, all county schools planned for in-person classes to begin the year. None of them would stick to that model, with most back to distance learning by November.

• The Cloquet City Council made chickens legal again in the city, passing an ordinance Oct. 19 allowing backyard operations.

• While the pending Nov. 3 general election loomed, cases were exploding in the state and the county. There were new stay-at-home orders, with people advised to not gather for Thanksgiving and eventually all holidays through the end of the year. Since October, deaths in the county have mounted as well.

• As for the election, the county leaned Democratic and mostly incumbents won reelection. The county went the way of the state and eventually the country as Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump in the galvanizing federal race.

• There was a slow ebb in cases as the most strange of years closed. Vaccinations were being rolled out but no one is really safe until everyone gets one, likely not until the end of summer.

• By the end of the year, 9-year-old Alice Swanson got a Christmas wish granted, albeit two years after she wrote about it to Santa in a 2018 letter published in the Pine Knot News. Saddled with five brothers, she wanted a sister. Brandon and Bekah Swanson came through this year as they welcomed a baby girl into the world on Dec. 27.