The Ziff Law Firm teamed up with Turtle Leaf Cafe, Jubilee Foods and Save-A-Lot to provide 150 free smoothies to frontline medical workers in April.

The great folks living in the Twin Tiers have listened to the medical experts and stayed home for months, making personal and professional sacrifices to protect themselves, their family and friends, and ultimately, everyone else from the pandemic.

I have been so impressed that the vast majority of our community members have heeded the call for social distancing and face mask use.

Many local businesses — Thai Elephants in Watkins Glen, Rye Bar and Restaurant in Elmira, and Aniellio’s in Corning to name just a few — quickly implemented pick-up services and enhanced hygiene practices to continue safely serving their customers.

It has also been nice to see more families hiking together in the Finger Lakes National Forest, the Catharine Valley Trail, the Lackawanna Trail and other local outdoor areas.

As for our Ziff Law Firm, our team has quickly adapted to remote work, Zoom calls and other uses of technology to keep working during the “NY On Pause” period. Slowly but surely, NY courts are adapting new practices to permit the courts to reopen. We are already planning for our office reopening in Phase 2 in June when we will be implementing a host of enhanced hygiene practices to help protect our clients and team.

But …

Let’s not let our guard down too soon.

I know after about two months of mostly being locked in at home, we’re restless. I’m restless. We all want to get out in the sun and eat a great meal in a great local restaurant with our friends and catch up face to face. Zoom and Facetime are great, but it’s so much better in person.

But not yet.

Yes, support local businesses by ordering food and other items and pick up your purchases safely, with a mask. Remember, you are protecting yourself and others when you wear a mask or face covering of some kind.

People are still getting sick and they’re still dying all over NY and PA and across the country. We have done a great job of fighting off the pandemic in Schuyler County and it’s not time – yet – to declare victory.

We seem to have the pandemic under control in our county, and that’s been some great news amid all of the suffering we’ve seen across our great state and country.

But let’s keep it going – let’s stay apart and wear our masks and keep listening to the medical experts. If we stop behaving responsibly now, we will suffer the consequences.

Thanks for reading,