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These are unprecedented times for the world of football, sport and indeed the world as a whole.
While we might have faced greater adversity and deadlier pandemics in the past, there has been nothing quite like this COVID-19 phenomenon in terms of the overall impact both at a medical level and in global reach.
At the time of publishing the outbreak has spread to 123 countries around the world, with over 130,000 people documented confirmed to have the illness and unfortunately nearly 5,000 who have succumbed to the Novel Coronavirus or from other associated complications. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that a significant portion of the seven-plus billion world population is in one way or another affected by this pandemic.
There are multiple international and national resources available on the internet that can help prepare you for what the COVID-19 onslaught brings.
The World Health Organization; in the United Kingdom - NHS; in the Republic of Ireland - HSE; in the United States - CDC and your respective State Government pages; in Canada - PHA Canada; and your respective Ministry of Health websites in other countries.
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While here at Royal Blue Mersey we strive to provide you with news, analysis and opinion on all matters Everton, we are also happy to utilize this platform for whatever aids humanity at this time of adversity.
To that end, feel free to reach out to us, via Twitter, via Facebook or even using the comments section below if you have any questions, requests or anything regarding.. anything, really.
I am incredibly proud of the hardworking staff of RBM for all they do here, and I'm sure many of you readers appreciate their work, wit and wisdom as well. We are going to take a break from the site this weekend to spend time with our near and dear ones, and would like to urge all you faithful readers, commenters, lurkers, wags and tweeters to do the same.
We will return on Tuesday with some fresh posts - thank you all who have already chimed in with suggestions - and resume this offseason-within-the-season then. Until then, unless there's major breaking news it's unlikely you'll see any new content here.
Thank you all for reading and for your support. Take care of you and yours.
Sincerely,
Calvin
PS - #COYB #UTFT
PPS - I’ll leave you with this thought.
The thing is if shutdowns and social distancing work perfectly and are extremely effective it will seem in retrospect like they were totally unnecessary overreactions.
— James Hamblin (@jameshamblin) March 13, 2020