'All Around Us Is Chaos': Inside a Rural Town Upended by the Virus

[kentuck]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/us/kentucky-coronavirus.html

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CYNTHIANA, Ky. — Closing in on a week after the coronavirus had descended on his small, rural community, James D. Smith sat behind a microphone in the WCYN studio on Main Street for his regular morning show, “Coffee Break Extra.” On his head, he wore a dark blue cap that said “mayor,” and in his eyes, the stress of the past several days.

“Everyone knows what’s going on,” the lifelong Cynthiana resident in his sixth year as mayor told listeners. “We’re keeping our hope up. We’re keeping our faith up. We’re keeping our chin up.”

Mr. Smith assured his audience that in these anxious times, he would keep the morning conversation light. And he certainly tried: His guest that morning had brought her daughter, a first grader, and he gushed about the drawing the little girl had made for him.

Still, it was impossible to stray too far from the emergency that has consumed his days, upended his city and been the talk of the town. A week earlier, a 27-year-old cake maker had tested positive for the novel coronavirus that has swept across America at a ferocious, frightening speed.