None of us has ever seen a story move this fast as our communities cycle through new realities at exponential speed. But what if you somehow missed it? What if you were merrily row, row, rowing your boat, gently down the stream, while the rest of humanity was being propelled up shit creek without a paddle (or ample supplies of toilet paper)? That’s just what happened to a group of friends who embarked on a twenty-five day trip through the Grand Canyon. By the time the trip was over, the whole world had changed. (Of course, they’ll quickly catch up. At the current pace, the world will change a few more times by the weekend.) Charlie Warzel in the NYT: They Went Off the Grid. They Came Back to the Coronavirus. “As we’ve prepared for the outbreak, one of the hardest parts has been figuring out how to process what will be our new normal. It’s an endless series of hard choices. How much to pay attention to the news, how much to ignore it. How much to be hopeful. How much to fear. For weeks, the rafters didn’t have to make those choices. And they appear grateful.” (They were rolling on the river. Now that they’re home, it’s time to ride the rapids.)

+ What’s the news people paddling ashore are getting today? The president has invoked the Defense Production Act to use private companies to help bolster supplies of vital equipment, US and Canada closed the border, Wall Street plunged again, global cases pass 200,000. Here’s the latest from NYT, WaPo, and BBC.