whats the total number of os in:
chronicle editorial board march 22, 2020 updated: march 22, 2020 4 a.m.
offices emptied, classes ceased and shops shuttered. bridges cleared, trains had seats and cable cars stopped climbing. in a city known for cuisine and carousing, restaurants faced acres of empty tables and bars echoed with a last call for the ages.
as a potentially catastrophic contagion bore down on america and the world, the bay area led california and the country in learning a new way of working together: keeping apart.
over the past two weeks, san francisco mayor london breed and other local officials were among the first in the state and nation to shut down any congregation of people as large as a concert and then a wedding and then a happy hour, ultimately urging nearly 7 million people in six counties to avoid contact beyond their households for at least three weeks to slow the spread of the coronavirus. gov. gavin newsom followed close behind with ever-stricter advice, recently acknowledging that school closures — much like the rest of this mass disassembly — could go on for months. even president trump belatedly began to sound a little more like west coast officials than, well, himself, broadly discouraging business as usual to save lives and promising a trillion-dollar stimulus to stem the economic damage.
like the remarkable shelter-in-place orders declared by six governments acting in unison across this often fractious region, soon followed by others, the signs of an emerging national and nonpartisan consensus for a concerted response offered cause for cautious hope. this country has been all too halting in recognizing the danger of the pandemic, portending a painful struggle ahead. but we might yet preclude the worst possible consequences of the pandemic with the public will to abide by the expert consensus and avoid all unnecessary contact — “social distancing” as a social movement.
this necessity will have vastly disparate consequences depending on our wealth, station and circumstances. for some, it means little more than taking a laptop home and putting up with a few more distractions from work. for others, the strains of child care and the cessation of business threaten livelihoods. doctors, nurses and other essential workers will be called on to risk their health and that of their families for the sake of others. and far too many in our region and state face this shelter-in-place order without the basic protection of permanent shelter.
for those who have already lost their jobs and seen routine burdens such as rent payments and grocery shopping suddenly become daunting, all the commentary about dwindling 401(k)s, industry bailouts and recession metrics seems a distant distraction. for many of them, the great depression ii has arrived.
truly national crises and responses have been rare in our modern history; 9/11, the wars that followed and the great recession took much from some and little from others. but while work, play, school, travel, commerce and camaraderie are a lot to give up for a few weeks or months, americans have sacrificed much more for longer. those who remember and took part in the last such collective struggle, world war ii, happen to be among those most at risk today.
the current crisis and the national mobilization needed to meet it defy most comparisons not only in scope but in kind. the general public is being asked to do less, not more, against an enemy that is invisible to the eye and largely unnoticeable until it’s too late. even in its throes, it will hardly affect many of the young and healthy even as it poses a mortal danger to the old and physically vulnerable.
our capacity even to comprehend the threat depends heavily on science and expertise, assets that have been all too doubted and diminished in our country and era. the trial ahead should at least revive national respect for knowledge and institutions.
likewise, in a region that gave us the technology to increasingly separate ourselves from each other, from social media and smartphones to personal transportation and delivery on demand, this new abnormal has thrown the human will to connect into sharp relief. working, shopping and communicating from home may be easier than ever for most of us, and more useful than ever at this moment, but forgoing contact with family, friends and even strangers remains contrary to our nature. that undervalued imperative should also regain its rightful esteem when the pandemic passes and we see each other again.
on that day, which will come, we can count on clasping more of our loved ones if we take this seriously and respond accordingly now. our resolve and resilience will be tested again in an unprecedented way and on a massive scale.
our history shows we can and have done more.
and so we rise once more to the challenge of our time.
user
In that passage, there are 326 occurrences of the letter "o."
assistant