Schuylkill County Administrator Gary Bender is looking forward to visiting Atlantic City with his wife. He usually makes the trek six times a year - something the pandemic has stopped.

He enjoys walking along the beach while his wife goes to the casino.

“I don’t know when we are going to be back to normal. I just don’t,” he said Wednesday.

The 70-year-old shared his personal experiences and talked about the county’s effort to confront the crisis during this historic year filled with so much grief and lack of normalcy for the country and the world.

The World Health Organization on March 11, 2020, declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. Life has not been the same since.

Changes

Bender said the pandemic has resulted in experiences he’s never had.

“You lost that closeness,” he said.

He didn’t gather with family for the holidays, the first time he didn’t celebrate Christmas with his children.

“That was a weird feeling on Christmas Day. It was just my wife and I,” Bender said.

It’s also the first time he has missed work two days in a row in his professional life. He stayed off work because he was wasn’t feeling well. A rapid COVID-19 test was given, which was negative. He plans to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

“If you’re sick, you go to work,” a mindset which has changed due to the pandemic.

Eating out has also been curtailed. He’s dined in one restaurant since the pandemic.

Bender said COVID-19 and its danger has stolen the life we knew.

“We as human beings are very socially oriented,” he said.

Being so socially isolated “is not healthy,” he said.

He’s prepared to wear a mask into 2022.

“I think next year, even when flu season hits, people are going to be wearing masks. I think the governor has sort of ingrained it to us,” he said.

Wearing a mask isn’t what he enjoys, but admits it has become “second nature.”

Health concerns have prompted positive changes in hygiene through washing hands more frequently.

“People are more diligent now,” he said.

From a county perspective, Bender said the county is dealing with the pandemic threat the best it can.

He believes the county took “all the steps that were necessary to take.”

Early on, staffing levels were changed to deal with the threat of the virus. Employees later returned to work.

“Bit by bit we opened up,” he said.

Courthouse

President Judge William E. Baldwin also issued administrative orders regarding courthouse operations and visitation. Cleaning and sanitizing are done at the courthouse. The county also purchased air purifier machines for county buildings.

When the first case was diagnosed in September, Bender said his first concern was “is this going to be something that is going to be rampant through the courthouse?”

He spoke to the state Department of Health. Contact tracing was done and people were notified.

“When this hit last year, there was a lot of fear out there among the employees that if you got this disease you were automatically going to be on a ventilator. There was a lot of misconceptions. Some people were saying it was just the flu,” Bender said.

He commended previous and current human resources employees for their role in combating the virus on behalf of the county. Employees and elected officials have also been helpful, he said.

He doesn’t believe people were infected in the courthouse.

Schuylkill County Clerk of Courts Maria Casey has previously expressed concern about how notification was given to county employees.

“I think we did an excellent job with it,” he said of confronting the pandemic.