OMAHA — The former rail route known as the Field Club Trail is a beautiful, popular pathway here. Wide and meandering with nearly two miles of paved trail through historic neighborhoods and verdant forests, this connective artery has allowed people to explore midtown for some 25 years. On a recent warm afternoon, with everything newly green, the trail looked like heaven for everyone enjoying nature’s splendor after a long and disheartening winter.

Not for me, though. When I passed the trailhead on my way to the local grocery store, armed to the teeth with hand sanitizer, the sight of large groups of people enjoying the area brought me to tears of frustration and anguish. My father, an immune-suppressed patient battling a rare blood cancer, recently got a T-cell transplant in a hospital. I cannot visit him. The coronavirus would be so devastating to him that his doctors have tested him three times. To us, this non-social distancing is deeply, painfully personal. The threat is right there.

But it seems those revelers don’t see the clear and present danger of being in large groups. I know my “Nebraska Nice” neighbors aren’t terrible or stupid. I’m sure they’ve been watching the news, and they’ve likely stocked up on canned goods and started obsessively washing their hands and worrying about what this means for our vaunted college football team in the fall.

It’s not really the fault of outdoor enthusiasts just trying to enjoy a little sunshine in midtown Omaha. Instead, look at the glaring lack of leadership in Nebraska, starting with our governor, Pete Ricketts, who has not yet ordered the state to shelter in place, one of five states to hold out. I wonder what Nebraska could be waiting for.