By and large, Americans have responded in spectacular fashion to the coronavirus. At significant if not enormous personal cost, they have hunkered down, kept their distance from others and closed businesses and schools. People are washing their hands and observing good hygiene, which not only stems coronavirus but also strains of the flu that could lead many to be hospitalized. The idea is to try to limit the spread of disease so that our hospitals are not overwhelmed with elderly people or those with weakened immune systems. We do not want to put doctors in the position of triaging patients, deciding who can get care and who cannot. Federal, state and local governments seem to be working together. Private industry is stepping in to help, in some cases rush-producing products. The best medical minds in the world are racing to develop a vaccine or treatments that might knock the virus down. Congress is working on stimulus plans to keep businesses going until this crisis is over. In the meantime, we urge readers to support businesses in Rhode Island and the region by purchasing gift cards, placing takeout orders with restaurants that offer the service, and going online to make purchases from local stores. We’ll know more about where we stand as the days go by. One of the most important things we can do is avoid panicking and keep our spirits up. While there is no way to be certain that Communist China is telling the truth, it reported Thursday that new cases of the virus had fallen to zero, suggesting that the disease burns itself out at some point. The Times of Israel carried an interesting interview last week with Prof. Jihad Bishara, the director of the Infectious Disease Unit at Petah Tikva’s Beilinson Hospital. “I’ve been in this business for 30 years,” Prof. Bishara said. “I’ve been through MERS, SARS, Ebola, the first Gulf war and the second, and I don’t recall anything like this. There’s unnecessary, exaggerated panic. We have to calm people down. “People are thinking that there’s a kind of virus, it’s in the air, it’s going to attack every one of us, and whoever is attacked is going to die,” he said. “That’s not the way it is at all. It’s not in the air. Not everyone [who is infected] dies; most of them will get better and won’t even know they were sick, or will have a bit of mucus.” Unlike some other recent pandemics, coronavirus does not appear particularly dangerous to the young or those in good health. Thus far this season, the death toll from the flu far exceeds that of the coronavirus. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy was firing on all cylinders before the sudden shutdowns of the last two weeks. If businesses can survive during this period, and be ready to throttle up when this is over, it is almost certain that we will be in for boom times. This is not like a war that kills vast numbers of people and knocks down buildings and supply chains. They key is to stay calm, practice good hygiene, avoid mixing in crowds and help each other out. While a rough ride may (or may not) be ahead, every day we move closer to the end of this.