Less than three months ago, China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases which became the genesis of the novel coronavirus.

A month later, there were about 10,000 cases worldwide, including the first one in the United States. And now, less than a month after that, there have been more than 200,000 cases with nearly 9,000 deaths worldwide, including more than 8,000 cases and more than 130 deaths in the United States, including the first death in our area, in Northampton County.

It seems almost incomprehensible that in less than 90 days our lives have been turned upside down by a novel (new) virus for which there is no vaccine and one is not likely to be approved for use for 12 to 18 months.

Things we have taken for granted - going to classes, having dinner at our favorite restaurant, picking up a bottle of wine at the liquor store, socializing with family and friends, shopping - are on hold for weeks or months.

The simple pleasures of life - attending concerts and sporting events, taking part in church services or seeing our child or grandchild’s performance at a dance or piano recital - are no longer options.

We are in unchartered waters where fear, anxiety and panic have become our daily companions.

Sure, we have had disruptions in our lives before. When weather forecasters warned of a major snowstorm, the likelihood of power outages from Tropical Storm Sandy or other dislocating events, we saw panic buying at grocery stores, but in those instances we knew that the events were going to be of short duration.

Those of us old enough to remember faced two separate oil crises in the 1970s because OPEC put the screws on oil supplies. In 1973 and again in 1979, we lined up in long lines every other day to get gasoline to fill our vehicles - assuming we could even get any.

With this contagion, we do not know whether the disruptions in our lives will last two weeks, two months or much longer. Some health experts have warned us to be prepared for up to six months of the types of challenges we are facing today, including product shortages.

We are told to stay home. Do not go to public places. Practice safe-distancing, which means staying 3 to 6 feet away from another person. We are given daily reminders to wash our hands for 20 seconds, frequently clean surfaces with disinfectant, don’t allow anyone into our homes except immediate family and take a number of other common-sense precautions.

During my 80 years, I have lived through other pandemics - the most serious being the 1968 Hong Kong Flu virus that killed about a million people, including 500,000 or 15% of the population of Hong Kong. The Asian flu, which struck while I was a senior at Summit Hill High School in 1956-57, killed 2 million people worldwide, including 70,000 in the United States and made some of my classmates really sick.

When I was a boy, childhood diseases such as measles, mumps and chickenpox were common. Several of my friends and I had all three and were quarantined at home at various times until we recovered and could no longer spread the diseases to others. There were even quarantine placards on our windows to warn people to stay away.

During World War II, rationing was a means of ensuring the fair distribution of food and other commodities that were scarce. Among rationed goods were gasoline, butter and sugar, but, eventually, most foods were covered, and shoppers received ration stamps which they used to buy sparing amounts of these items.

But what is unfolding before us with the coronavirus is unprecedented in its reach and scope, so we will be asked to act in a manner to which we have never been accustomed. Living in a country such as ours, where we can basically come and go as we please, it is shocking for us to face a new normal for an unknown period of time.

We are being asked not to do some of the things that have become second nature - shake hands, hug, kiss, hold hands, touch our face, lick our finger to turn the page of a book or newspaper, etc.

Then there is the toll that this virus is exacting on just about every sector of the economy. It is costing people their jobs, and there is talk about a possible recession. Less than a month ago the stock market had risen to an all-time high, and the U.S. economy was booming. Now, it has fallen to 2016 levels.

This will be one of the biggest tests of what we citizens are made of. We have lived through other scary events. The Great Recession was just 12 years ago when the jobless rate soared and the country nearly went into depression. There was 9/11 two decades ago and the unsettling days and months that followed. We got through those scary times, and we will get through this one, too, with common sense, sensible precautions, accepting the sacrifices we have to make for the greater good and by following the instructions of our health professionals and government leaders. We ignore their guidance at our peril and at the peril of our loved ones.

Let us also understand that we need to conduct our lives with an abundance of caution at this critical moment. This is not a time for downplaying or minimizing what faces us. We citizens have an extraordinary track record for meeting challenges and rising up to conquer them. Let us face this challenge with the same fervor. Remember: We are all in this together.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com