Eclipse Tips

(Written by Dave Hire, Marketing And Office Coordinator)

If you’ve been following the news, you know two things…Taylor Swift attended the Super Bowl, and a total solar eclipse will occur on Monday, April 8. If you want to use fancy science words, Defiance will be in the “Path Of Totality”. Our friends at the Defiance County Health Department have compiled a list of tips for not only viewing this event, but dealing with various side effects, so to speak, that may happen in the days leading up to the big day. (Shout out to Jessica West from the Health Department for bringing us all of this information!)

Some of these reminders are things you were taught in school, like “Don’t stare at the sun”. To expand on that, the Health Department recommends you only look at an eclipse with eyewear specifically designed for the job.

Now, about those side effects…A lot of them deal with traffic, allowing yourself plenty of time to get somewhere, and buying groceries and gas by the Thursday before the eclipse. There’s also a chance that cellular and internet service might go wonky, so credit card transactions might be affected, as well as services like PayPal and Venmo. In other words, you might be paying cash for a lot of things.

One more thing (and this is good advice any time): Only call 911 in case of emergency. Your local police, sheriff’s department, and State Patrol are the people to call for things like non-injury minor car accidents.

The Defiance County Health Department has all the eclipse information you need on their website. Here's the link: Eclipse Defiance County 2024 - Defiance County General Health District (defiancecohealth.org)

However you view the total eclipse on April 8, be safe and remember the next total solar eclipse that can be seen anywhere in the United States will be in August of 2044 in Montana and the Dakotas. As far as the next total eclipse in Defiance, let’s just say we’ll all be really, really old.