April 11 Marks Covid-19 Anniversary

By Robin Gregg

It’s been a year since Lewis County Press initiated our Covid-19 Contingency Plan at Monroe-Ralls which meant a remote working business environment for everyone.

Monroe-Ralls reporters and the sales team began to work remotely from our homes on April 11, 2020. This also meant an entirely new adventure for not only our team but our customers, readers, followers, and team interactions.

When the choice came down from LCP, our parent company, we were certain it would only be for a couple of weeks, or maybe a month or two tops. Little did we know what we were in for over the next year. Everyone had laptops; iPads and smartphones to conduct everyday business. We were obligated to conference calls and/or used Zoom for meetings and collaborations. This plan has worked out well and we plan to continue to utilize these types of communications.

COVID-19 and the lockdowns had a business effect as well, and one of the ways Monroe-Ralls dealt with that was some individuality which was, at least from my perspective, better than the alternative.

Businesses were limited to the number of people in their stores at one time and Restaurants were closed to dining in, but some offered order out or curbside services. Our office locked our doors to minimize exposure. After all, we had to be healthy to share breaking news and events that were happening. We utilized live Facebook feeds to cover events for those who were not leaving their homes or were on COVID-19 quarantine/isolation.

All of this has revealed to us that we are extremely flexible and can work remotely efficiently. This also showed us a new perspective of working in media.
To say that in the last year has been uninhibited is an understatement. COVID-19 impacted every surface of all businesses: staffing and safety; workflow; content and coverage; audience, revenue, and advertising; production, printing, and distribution.

As the pandemic still looms around us, we are slowly getting back into the groove of branching out and working more so in the whelms of media.