'The biggest thing we would like is to know: what's in store for us?'

Mar. 6—On March 6, 2020, east Cobb resident Bill Lemann spoke to an MDJ reporter from his cabin on the Grand Princess cruise ship.

Fearing a novel coronavirus first identified in Wuhan, China several months earlier may have found its way onto the ship, passengers had been told two days earlier to go inside their cabins and stay there. A military helicopter crew had lowered test kits onto the 951-foot ship by rope and later retrieved them for analysis at a lab as the vessel remained at sea off San Francisco, under orders to keep its distance from shore.

"The biggest thing we would like is to know: what's in store for us?" he said as the ship sailed in circles about 55 miles from the San Francisco coast. "I could deal with just about anything if I know how long I have to put up with it."

Exactly 365 days later, there is a general sense — one that public health officials have cautioned against — that Americans might not have to put up with the coronavirus much longer. President Joe Biden said there will be enough vaccine for every adult in the country by the end of May. Financial firms predict tremendous economic growth this year.

Exactly 365 days later, we can see what was then in store for us.

In Cobb County: Roughly one in every fourteen people have caught the virus, officially known as SARS-CoV-2, according to the state Department of Public Health. The disease it causes, COVID-19, has sent more than 2,800 county residents to the hospital. Of those infected, 1.5%, or 861 people, have died.

Those include Judy Williams, a member of the Cobb County Planning Commission. At the commission's February meeting, a bouquet of flowers rested on the dais, where she would have been if not for the virus. The dead include former Cobb Board of Education member Johnny Johnson. On Facebook, his daughter-in-law asked friends to send voice messages that nurses at the hospital could play for him in his hospital room as he fought the virus. The dead include at least three Cobb County School District educators. They include former Marietta Daily Journal society editor Maggie Willis. They include a one-year-old boy.

In Georgia: 823,000 infected, more than 15,000 dead.

In the U.S.: 28.5 million people infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than 515,000 dead — greater than the combined U.S. battlefield deaths in both world wars and Vietnam. In January, based on average 24-hour fatality counts, it was as if the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, had happened every single day.

Around the world: 115.3 million people infected, according to Johns Hopkins University, and 2.5 million dead.

Twenty-one people on the Grand Princess cruise ship tested positive for the coronavirus. About 500 passengers were quarantined at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Cobb. The former Radisson Hotel within the Franklin Gateway corridor was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to quarantine others who had been exposed to the virus.

One week after Lemann first spoke to the MDJ, President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency. A day after that, March 14, 2020, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp followed suit. Fifteen Cobb residents had been infected by the virus. At least one had died.

Kemp would soon issue a shelter-in-place order telling Georgians to hunker down at home unless they had to buy food or medicine or attend to some other critical need.

Schools were also ordered to close. The Cobb and Marietta school districts distributed laptops to students who needed them to make sure they continued learning, and meals were delivered by school bus to make sure hungry children had food.

Within a few weeks, the school closings were extended when Gov. Kemp ordered colleges and universities, and later K-12 schools, to remain virtual through the rest of the fall semester.

Students got a break amid their first exposure to virtual school, as Cobb County School District and Marietta City Schools ensured no one's grades would be negatively impacted by the pandemic that semester.

Marietta High School students danced in prom dresses and pajamas in front of their computers and TVs in a virtual prom. High school graduations were postponed until July, where fewer graduates participated, but those who did wore masks and were seated six feet apart.

Both districts tiptoed into offer in-person learning again. Last summer, they gave a choice to families on whether to attend class in-person or virtually while holding off welcoming in-person students until September and October. The return to campus was phased in by grade level. Private schools, many of which opened in August to small, spaced-out classes, saw an increase in applicants over the summer.

As for the shelter-in-place order, the economic impact was, of course, devastating.

According to information released by the state Department of Labor, more than 25,000 people in Cobb County filed for unemployment benefits in March 2020, a 2,000% increase over February and a 2,500% increase over March 2019.

Fast-forward several months, and unemployment in Cobb remains high. The department's most recent unemployment report includes data for December 2020. That month, 7,398 people filed for unemployment benefits — a 2.5% drop from November's number, but still 561% higher than it was in December of 2019, when only 1,118 people had filed for benefits.

Congress stepped up, approving the CARES Act, which provided incredible fiscal stimulus to help Americans weather the storm. It included $1,200 checks to all Americans making $75,000 or less, an additional $600 per week in unemployment benefits and more. Cobb County, with almost 800,000 people — more than some states — received $132 million in aid, which it could use to combat fallout from the pandemic.

County leaders said they have heard people describe Cobb as a model in how to spend the money. The Board of Commissioners set aside $48 million to create a county-level business relief program that paid employers to hold on to their workers. About $10 million went to rental and mortgage assistance. Some went to schools and to the county's six cities. Some went to establish a stockpile of personal protective equipment. Some went to hazard pay for first-responders. Last month, a second round of federal stimulus money hit county coffers. This time, it came with strings attached, and all $22 million will go toward rental assistance.

Early indicators suggest the county's business community has taken a hit. As of January, commercial property tax collections were lagging compared to years prior. At the same time, residential property tax collection was, if anything, doing a little better than usual. Compounding this financial mystery is the fact that taxes collected on the sale of cars in unincorporated Cobb County have done very well despite unemployment figures, according to the county's finance director, William Volckmann.

Volckmann said the Cobb tax assessor's office expects modest growth in the tax digest. Some revenue streams are down but, all told, the Great Recession-style economic fallout Volckmann had prepared for did not come to pass.

Life has yet to return to normal. According to mobility data published by Google, travel to "retail and recreation" is down 16% compared to baseline. Grocery and pharmacy trips are down 11%, transit stations are down 49% and workplaces are down 9%. Travel to parks is up 49%.

According to Apple's mobility trends report for Cobb County, since January 2020, walking is up 43%, driving is up 8% and use of transit is down 41%.

In an interview Wednesday, Wellstar Health Systems infectious disease specialist Dr. Danny Branstetter said he is confident the coronavirus is here to stay, much like seasonal influenza.

Nevertheless, he is hopeful the country will soon reach herd immunity, snuffing out the virus' ability to turn a single infection into a community outbreak, and that people in Cobb can enjoy a sense of normalcy soon.

— The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.