The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will go down in world history as one of the most important events of the 21st century. Our children’s children will learn about it in history class. College students will write essays on it.

And one of the first place future historians will look to understand what happened are the newspaper stories being written today.

The story of this time is not the story of a little invisible bug.

It is the story of parents fighting to work from home and homeschool their children at the same time. Of high school seniors weeping because they’ll never get to walk up on stage for their diploma. The story of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and others who went headlong into danger so others could be safe. The story of politicians making unprecedented decisions in an unprecedented time. The story of businessmen and businesswomen simultaneously struggling to stay afloat and giving to their community.

It is the story of people all across America, making history just by staying home.

To tell that story, Ogden Newspapers, the Wheeling, West Virginia-based owners of The Alpena News, have formed a COVID-19 reporting team that will dive deep into the effects of the pandemic on the lives of everyday Americans.

The team includes reporters from across the country, including The News’ Lifestyles editor, Darby Hinkley. Other reporters are from Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kansas. The stories generated by the team will appear across the dozens of newspapers Ogden owns.

Because Michigan’s story is America’s story, as is the story of Kansas and Ohio and West Virginia and beyond.

It’s your story.

And telling it is an essential business.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)