Draft for MN

April 4, 2020

In response to the coronavirus, officials across the region have essentially canceled April, and May is still in jeopardy. With residents shut in at home, public spaces remain eerily quiet and businesses shuttered. The resulting calm masks a parallel reality as those on the front lines are scrambling to prepare for a surge of infections with no clear ending.

Meredith Nierman, Director of Photography

Cashier George Wallace, center, works while standing behind a plastic shield Thursday, March 26, 2020, at the checkout in a grocery store, in Quincy, Mass. Grocery stores across the region and country are installing protective plastic shields at checkouts to help keep cashiers and shoppers from infecting each other with the coronavirus. (Steven Senne/AP)

The streets surrounding Fenway Park, normally bustling with tourists, are quiet on March 26, 2020, just days ahead of what would have been the Red Sox home opener. (Meredith Nierman/WGBH News)

Linda Vieira, 70, assistant site manager for the Meals on Wheels program in Lowell, Mass., delivers meals on March 27, 2020. She oversees 15 drivers and delivers 60 meals on weekdays to homebound elders. For Meals on Wheels providers in the state, the coronavirus outbreak is creating both unprecedented demand for their services and unique challenges for their operations. (Meredith Nierman/WGBH News)

People leave a food distribution center in the East Boston on Friday, March 27, 2020. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has ordered all schools in the state to remain closed through April, so the schools are attempting alternate distribution for meals. (Michael Dwyer/AP)

The marquee of the Paramount Theater in Boston displays a message about social distancing on March 27, 2020. The theater, along with other arts institutions in the region, closed as a precaution against the spread of the virus. (Meredith Nierman/WGBH News)

A woman wears a protective mask while sitting with another person in the Seaport District in Boston on March 27, 2020. (Meredith Nierman/WGBH News)

APTOPIX Virus Outbreak Targeting New Yorkers

Members of the Rhode Island National Guard look for passengers getting off from a train from New York as it arrives Saturday, March 28, 2020, in Westerly, R.I. States are pulling back the welcome mat for travelers from the New York area, which is the epicenter of the region's coronavirus outbreak. (David Goldman/AP)

Medical personnel wait to screen people arriving at a special COVID-19 testing site in Boston, Saturday, March 28, 2020. The drive-thru testing site is only open to qualified first responders who meet the state criteria for testing. (Michael Dwyer/AP)

Two women keep their distance while talking in Piers Park in Boston, Saturday, March 28, 2020. (Michael Dwyer/AP)

A woman takes an online yoga class in her home in West Newton, Mass. on March 28, 2020. As yoga studios, gyms and other exercise facilities across the country have closed as a precaution against the coronavirus, many people are turning to online streaming classes to stay active. (Meredith Nierman/WGBH News)

Coronavirus Pandemic Causes Climate Of Anxiety And Changing Routines In America

South Station is nearly empty on March 29, 2020 in Boston. Ridership has declined sharply due to coronavirus-related school closures and people working from home. In response to the virus, the MBTA has reduced service and enhanced cleaning protocols. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Rev. Peter Gower celebrates Mass from the front door of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Johnston, R.I., as worshippers listen over the radio from their cars in the parking lot, Sunday, March 29, 2020. (David Goldman/AP)

A highway sign along Route 93 southbound in Wilmington, Mass. on Monday, March 30, 2020 urges out of state visitors to self-quarantine for 14 days if they plan on staying in the state. (Charles Krupa/AP)

A woman passes inspirational signs sharing positive thoughts during the coronavirus outbreak, outside of The Common Man restaurant in Concord, N.H. on Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (Charles Krupa/AP)

A worker cleans and sanitizes a pump at the Speedway gas station in Concord, N.H. on Tuesday, March 31, 2020. Speedway announced that they would increase the frequency of cleaning commonly touched surfaces at their stores due to the coronavirus outbreak. (Charles Krupa/AP)

Gov. Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, left, Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders and the media practice social distancing during a press conference on coronavirus at the State House's Gardner Auditorium on March 31, 2020. (Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe)

Palettes of N95 respirator masks are off-loaded from the New England Patriots football team's customized Boeing 767 jet on Thursday, April 2, 2020, at Logan Airport in Boston, after returning from China. The Kraft family deployed the team plane to fetch more than one million masks for use by front-line health care workers. (Elise Amendola/AP)

Members of the Massachusetts National Guard erect a medical field hospital at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. on April 2, 2020 in preparation for the expected influx of patients due to the pandemic. (Nicolaus Czarnecki/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)