Or, more accurately..it’s bad news, good news.  The bad news is that cases of COVID-19 are increasing rapidly in our region.  And while hospitalizations aren’t at the critical point yet, they are ramping up.  Cherry Valley Country Club has had a few cases of employees testing positive and, as such, they’ve shut down in-club food and beverage services for a 14 day period.  This means we’re back on Zoom this week and the following week is Thanksgiving so there’s no meeting scheduled.
We’ll reassess after Thanksgiving whether we stay with hybrid meetings (Cherry Valley plus zooming people in) or go back to all virtual until things settle down.  Unfortunately, it’s a little too frosty in the mornings to meet under the pavilion at Van Horne Park like we did over the summer.  My fervent hope is that the infection numbers stay low enough to allow us to continue our in-person meetings.
 
The good news is the recent reports of successful vaccine trials to combat COVID-19.   It sounds promising and there is reason to believe that it is the light at the end of this long crazy tunnel.  But, even with a proven vaccine in hand, there are still a lot of logistical hurdles to overcome before we can mark the problem “solved” and things go back to “normal”. 
 
So, buckle up.  The ride will be bumpy for the next few months but let’s make the best of it.  Let’s look for new opportunities to serve the community, as well as, ways to raise money in this COVID environment.  Let’s not have the attitude to just sit it out and wait for things to get better.  While we can’t do things in our usual way, let’s do what we can and keep moving forward.
 
Remember, as Rotarians, we are people of action.
 
Rotarically Yours,
Zoltan Nagy
President
Rotary Club of Montgomery/Rocky Hill (NJ)