This has been a hard week. The passing of Ellis Marsalis smacked me in the face with the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic’s power.

Mr. Marsalis was 85, but to know that he endured this nasty, sneaky virus was hard to take. What’s even worse, is that he had spoken to OffBeat writer Geraldine Wyckoff a few days before and he was fine. In fact, he had just spoken to one of his sons a couple of hours before he died.

This is nothing to be trifled with.

Alex Lewis, another friend with whom I served on the French Quarter Festival board for many years, shockingly died the same day as Ellis from complications of the virus.

I worry about the many musicians who have conditions that will predispose them to a potentially bad outcome if they catch the virus. I worry about the artists and writers and culture bearers.

Getting back to so-called “normal” is at this point, sort of a pie-in-the-sky. Normal to me means seeing live music in bars, music clubs and restaurants, going to second lines, festivals, parades, sporting events: all the communal things we do as New Orleanians that celebrate our culture.

But now we can’t even get near each other.

When will we be able to do that again?

Will people really think it’s okay to get into crowds again to attend a festival or a concert, or even to enjoy live music again anytime soon? A month? Two months?

I had a Zoom meeting with a few colleagues last week and a rep from Live Nation was included. Live Nation is not even thinking of any concerts until maybe June. I heard today that the marketing staff at the Saenger Theatre is furloughed until June as well. It’s not coming back quickly. It’s just not.

Frankly, I’m tired of hearing you-know-who tell us all that we have to get back to work as soon as possible, because it will be “worse” for all of us if unemployment figures go up. I find that infuriating.

Listen: there’s no need to be negative. But there is a need for us to be patient, because until we can stop people from contracting the disease, so that our rates of infection and death go down; we have testing for every person in the US; and a working vaccine, we’re not going to anywhere close to the “normal” we’re used to.

I was involved in a serious car accident when I was in my twenties. Now anyone in their twenties is not a patient person, and I wasn’t either. But when you’re confined to a hospital bed because your body has to heal, you learn to be (a) “patient.”

We’re in that phase now. We’re learning, we’re waiting, we’re adjusting and we’re going to be okay. It’s just going to take some time. Patience is a virtue and will get us all through this mess. Trust me: been there, done that.