Comment: How Warwick in Rhode Island, USA is dealing with the coronavirus

With Covid-19 reaching nearly all parts of the world, we received an email from our namesake across the pond - Warwick in Rhode Island in the United States of America.

As with all of America, they are now feeling the effects of the coronavirus. Here is their report on what is happening there, written by John Howell, editor and publisher of their local newspaper, Warwick Beacon.

Americans love cars You probably know they collect them. They hold cruise nights where people show off their cars and set around in lawn chairs listening to music from the 60s. They race them. They bring them to shows in trailers, because they dare not drive them. They go everywhere in them along with their dogs, cats, families and junk they can’t throw away. They eat in them, sleep in them, live in them, make love in them.

When you understand that, you’ll know a little about Warwick, Rhode Island - the first Warwick in the states so named by Samuel Gorton in 1647 in appreciation to Robert Rich the second earl of Warwick who came to his aid when the Massachusetts Bay Colony disputed his rights to land he had bought from the Indians.

Warwick has 39-miles of shoreline and 400 miles of roads. The roads are beat up. Potholes are ubiquitous and until the world was hit by a pandemic fixing the roads was a top priority of just about every candidate running for office. “Elect Jim and you’ll be guaranteed a smooth ride.” Just don’t ask where that ride would take you.

Like so many places, our governor has banned gatherings of more than five people, closed all but essential retail outlets, closed schools and implemented distant learning, locked up parks and golf courses, required out of state visitors to self-quarantine for two weeks and went after New Yorkers by stopping and interrogating those in cars bearing New York plates. Cars have done just fine in this crisis although people are being told to stay home.

With so many people out of work, commuter traffic isn’t a problem. The virus hasn’t stopped people from driving and with gasoline dropping to less than $1.83 a gallon it’s a bargain. Now people are driving to their favorite restaurant to get takeout; they go to mass in their cars (after all the churches are closed) and they even attend weddings in their cars. It hasn’t gotten as far as funerals, but then someone will surely think of that.

Something else about Americans that you probably also know: they love their coffee and donuts. Cars and coffee go together. Just about every corner on every major intersection has a Dunkin Donuts. There’s always a line even during a pandemic.

Warwick also fits the donut description. It’s a city of 83,000 people with a 1,200-acre hole in the middle. You can’t drive across it. There’s no tunnel under it and there’s no bridge over it. It’s the state airport. So, to get from one end of the city to the other, you have to drive around the airport. It also in part explains why Warwick doesn’t have a conventional center. The city is a collection of neighborhoods most of them bearing Native America names - Conimicut, Apponaug, Pawtuxet and Potowomut - malls, big box stores (magnets for car-loving people), colleges and the state’s second largest hospital.

In addition to cars and Dunkin Donuts, Warwick has some wonderful people. COVID-19 has brought out the best in many. There are those who transformed their basements into production lines to meet the demand for surgical masks; nursing home residents reading to kids on their iPads; restaurants delivering free meals to health care providers; volunteers delivering prescriptions to the homebound and Frank Picozzi who converted his truck into a digital light show. He aims to visit every Warwick neighborhood and he’s got an app on his Facebook page that tells you when he’s going to show up. His reason: it brings a smile.

It’s not to say this has been easy. As I’m sure the case is there, many are hurting and many small businesses won’t be reopening. It won’t be the same.

“Essential” businesses have been permitted to stay open including food markets, pharmacies, cleaners and liquor stores.

Oh, and least I forget, automobile dealerships.

Information on Warwick, RI: Warwick RI (named Warwick for the Earl of Warwick who deeded the land to Samuel Gorton, who was persecuted for his religious beliefs) is a city of 82,000. It has the state’s second largest hospital, a state community college campus, 17 hotels that depend heavily on the state airport that is also here. It has a shoreline community with 39 miles of shoreline.