We have never seen anything like this. Never.

The NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships. March Madness. The Big Dance. Cancelled.

ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, AAC , Ivy League, Atlantic 10, Big East basketball tournaments. Cancelled.

The NBA season. Suspended.

The NHL season. Suspended.

The Major League Soccer season. Suspended.

Baseball Opening Day. Postponed two weeks.

Spring training. Shut down.

College baseball, lacrosse, tennis, rowing, other spring sports. Cancelled.

The ATP Tour, the men’s pro tennis circuit. Suspended for six weeks. No BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. No Miami Open.

The PGA Tour. Suspended for three weeks. 

The Masters. Scheduled April 9-12, postponed.

Rhode Island hockey and basketball state tournaments. No fans.

Massachusetts high-school hockey and basketball championships. Cancelled.

The iconic Boston Marathon. Postponed to the fall.

The Boston Celtics. Self-quarantined because last Friday night they played the Utah Jazz, two of whom have tested positive.

Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida. Closing until the end of the month.

Broadway. Lights out through April 12.

Italy. Closed for business until further notice.

United States. Off limits to European air travelers for 30 days.

The S&P 500, Dow Jones, and NASDAQ stock market indexes. Crashed, the worst in 33 years.

Schools, colleges and universities. Closed, closing or resorting to remote instruction.

Cruise ships. Docked.

The impact of the coronavirus will be significant. Illness. Death. Inconvenience. Shortages. Lost wages. Business failures. Lost retirement funds. Lost revenues.

Based on what has happened in China and Italy, and on the advice of medical and public health experts, we had little choice but to take these dramatic steps now to slow the advance of this novel coronavirus. We may be too late.

In times like these we usually turn to our leaders for guidance. The Trump administration has failed dramatically in this regard, especially in providing testing kits and a unified, coherent message. Congress could do better than it has. Fortunately, state and local leaders have taken charge in their communities. Hand sanitizer in short supply? New York Governor Andrew Cuomo displayed bottles of sanitizer produced by state prisoners. The product is being distributed free.

Sports often seem like life and death, when in fact they are entertainment. The shows are on hold for now, but they will return. In the meantime, let’s put our differences aside, bench the partisanship, rally together and do what it takes to deal with this public health crisis.