On Thursday, The Echo editorial staff, alongside the rest of the California Lutheran University community, received the email from the Office of the President that Cal Lutheran would be transitioning into a social distancing plan.

 Media across the country has adapted to the ‘new normal’ by shifting into virtual interviews, editing over shared drives on the cloud and encouraging greater audience participation via social media. 

Even as a small student newspaper, we will do the same—we are here to serve our community, rain or shine.

“It’s a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week, around-the-world story,” Michael Slackman, assistant managing editor, international at The New York Times told the Associated Press last week. 

The New York Times is running a live news blog on the virus which is updated to the minute by journalists across the world. Though we are a weekly print paper, our social media accounts and website will be regularly refreshed with updates from staff, health professionals and government officials.

According to Ventura County Public Health, over 100 Ventura County residents have been tested for the virus and only one case has been confirmed positive by the CDC. In neighboring Los Angeles County there are 94 reported cases as of March 16. Our staff, like much of the student body, faculty and staff are anxious, uneasy and unsure of what’s coming next. 

The best we can do to soothe concerns is continue to provide you with the most up-to-date information about the situation in our community. 

Because The Echo is a class, we are in a unique situation. We can’t stop reporting, but we have limited flexibility in how we continue. Our reporters and editors will be conducting phone, video chat and email interviews. 

Readers will likely see more online sources integrated in the writing, more of the interviews won’t be presented in direct quotes, but we will do our best to tell human stories the way we always have. 

If you need information that you can’t find in our posts, reach out to us and we will gather that for you the best we can.