Pandemic Points of View, a Collection of Covid-19 Stories from Idaho County
Recently published and on sale now at the Museum of St. Gertrude's gift shop and online at https://historicalmuseumatstgertrude.org/shop is Pandemic Points of View, a Collection of Covid-19 Stories from Idaho County. This is a fundraiser, with all proceeds from the book benefiting the museum. A museum’s work is to gather the history of our community, and Idaho County’s response to the pandemic certainly merited documentation. The stories were gathered and/or written by the museum’s director, Carla Nuxoll Wilkins.  
The stories include that of a Grangeville doctor who spent four hours a shift trying to find a hospital willing to take critically ill patients. A woman who nearly died from the disease. A restaurant cook who lost her sense of taste and has never fully regained it. The factors that caused Blackmer Funeral Home to struggle with a space crisis. People from cities flocking to rural Idaho County to buy guns and ammunition. Employees quitting over mask requirements as their employer worries whether they will be able to keep the grocery store open. People struggling with long Covid. 
There are “silver lining” stories of people whose found the pandemic to be a time of rest and family togetherness. One former Cottonwood woman moved back to Idaho from Seattle to work remotely which eliminated her three-hour daily commute. The pandemic also necessitated innovation like using eighteen hundred feet of rope to section off church pews to keep people distanced. 
These local community stories offer individual points of view and include those of medical professionals, educators, churches, service industries, and the monastery. Along with some Letters to the Editor, news articles, and Facebook posts, the narratives capture the stories from people who were navigating as best they could through an unprecedented and life-threatening pandemic. 
The Museum at St. Gertrude hopes you’ll support this fundraiser and enjoy reading about how your neighbors navigated the pandemic.