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The quiet little town The story of Cochrane during the Covid-19 outbreak and the coming together of a community.

Less than halfway into March of 2020, the residents of Alberta were struck by the very real possibility of a pandemic and many cities stood still from the uncertainty of what was to come next.

Days after news broke of the COVID-19 Virus, the small town of Cochrane, approximately 30 minutes West of Calgary, fell into a period of unprecedented quietness. No one knew what was happening next.

After it was announced that schools and all non essential businesses were to close, many residents of the town succumbed to the panic and streets were left as empty as the stores.

As the days went by, the town started to come together again and people were out support people, knowing they all faced tough times ahead.

This is the story of a small town in the first few days facing a pandemic.

Historical downtown stands virtually empty as all on essential businesses in Cochrane have been ordered to close.
Walking down main street Cochrane, many buildings have their closed signs up and messages of hope posted in their windows.

Despite the mandatory closure of non essential business that came into effect on March 27, 2020; the Cochrane community spirit is still finding ways to thrive and shine a light on these tough times.

The Cochrane Movie Hous hosted a drive-through style food drive on Saturday, March 28, 2020 where the people of Cochrane could drop off food donations in exchange for popcorn bags.
The food drive saw over 320 cars drive through its parking lot and over 400 bags of popcorn were made to give back to the community. In total, two trucks worth of food donations were given to the Cochrane Activettes food bank.

With the closure of many facilities, including the many churches in Cochrane, businesses and organizations have begun to provide their services online. The Alliance Church is just one of the churches providing an online Sunday morning service for its followers.

These Sunday morning services are an essential piece in many peoples routines; the efforts on behalf of the Churches and other businesses in Cochrane to provide a sense of normalcy, have been greatly appreciated by the cooped up public.

From April 3rd until April 14th the Cochrane Emergency services drove through the communities of Cochrane for the residents to show their appreciation. These events came to fruition through the ideas of the many Cochrane communities who wished to show their appreciation to the emergency service workers in Cochrane.

A young boy shows his support for the front line workers in Cochrane on Thursday, April 9, 2020.

The neighbourhoods of Cochrane held a solidarity at 7 every couple days so Cochranites can show their support.

Organized events like this are just some of the many things the people of Cochrane are doing to inspire hope in communities and keep people together in a time where we have to stay apart.