opinion

Doug Jones: Our community with so much in common comes together in the time of coronavirus

On Saturday, March 7, while I was headed home from an event in Marshall County, alarms were going off because the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. had just reached 400. Six days later, Alabama reported its first case.

As I write this a few weeks later, the U.S. has surpassed China and Italy as having the most confirmed cases, and the number of cases in Alabama alone has exceeded 500.

As a prominent infectious disease expert said recently, “this is the big one that folks have predicted for a number of years.” Clearly, he is correct and we need to act accordingly.

The spread of COVID-19 has interrupted American life in unprecedented ways. We have seen record unemployment claims, schools shut down, and businesses forced to close their doors.

So many people are sacrificing their daily routines and time with their loved ones to self-isolate for the good of their communities. Folks have lost their jobs or had their hours cut and just don’t know how they’re going to pay the bills this month. And to date, over a thousand Americans have lost their lives to this horrible virus.

What will be in your check?: See how much you could get in a stimulus check with our calculator

But we’ve seen neighbors helping neighbors, schools and restaurants providing meals for people in need, churches opening their doors as testing facilities, and corporations stepping up to the plate to provide employees with paid sick leave and childcare.

We’ve also seen how truly important health care workers, emergency responders, sanitation workers, utility employees, teachers, pharmacists, grocery store workers and so many others are to our society.

This national crisis is a reminder of how we have so much more in common than the things that divide us.

We also saw that happen in the United States Senate, too. After some tough negotiations, we unanimously passed a robust, bipartisan economic relief bill that will provide direct payments of $1,200 for adults who make $75,000 or less and $500 for kids, over $150 billion for hospitals and health care providers, suspension of student loan collection, emergency small business grants, funding to help state and local governments, increased unemployment insurance benefits by $600 a month, and extension of unemployment compensation to folks who are self-employed, part-time, gig economy, or furloughed workers.

Gov. Kay Ivey: Help us help you. It's time to show our 'Alabama Resolve'

The package also included my bills to protect renters from being evicted during this crisis, to require insurance companies to cover coronavirus treatments and vaccines, and to help small businesses continue to make payroll for employees. It’s not perfect — no bill is — but it’s very good for working people in Alabama and across the country.

At the end of the day, we can’t stop this pandemic with legislation. Preventing the spread of COVID-19 will depend on each of us and how we practice social distancing, personal hygiene and self-quarantining.

'Stay at home': What Alabama's 'non-essential' business closures mean for you

President John F. Kennedy once stirred the country to action with his clarion call to “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Individually and collectively, we must heed JFK’s call and do all we can for our country and our fellow Americans by strictly following the advice of health care experts. We are facing this crisis together, and together we can overcome it.

U.S. Sen Doug Jones, a Democrat, can be reached through his website jones.senate.gov