So now we know what we are up against.

The federal government is preparing for up to 200,000 dead Americans and at least another month of social distancing.

The United States now has fully mobilized its national power against the coronavirus and President Donald Trump is preparing the nation for a long and difficult challenge ahead.

Out in front are the usual leaders: the first responders and the military. But this time, they are joined by legions of health care workers, delivery drivers, warehouse employees, takeout cooks, bank tellers, grocery store clerks, power plant employees, linesmen, tradesmen, butchers and farmers.

They are the reason why all the white-collar workers can sit safely at home and “Zoom” to their virtual meetings.

Earlier this week, I talked to a 17-year-old student from Northern Lehigh High School who was packing groceries at the Weis Market in Schnecksville.

He was there the previous week, too, making small talk while ringing up the sales. I wonder if he realizes how important he is to our national response.

The health care workers bear the biggest burden. Reports of overworked and exhausted caregivers are all over the news, and the effort is only beginning to ramp up.

Yes, we need more surgical masks, hospital beds and mechanical ventilators, but delivering more stuff to coronavirus hot spots seems like a solvable problem. Keeping our health care workers safe and sound for the long haul will be a far greater test.

For now, our urban counterparts are experiencing the worst effects of the epidemic, but that could change quickly.

We’ve already learned one of the first Pennsylvanians to die of coronavirus was a man from Heidelberg Township, and at least one employee of the Northwestern Lehigh School District has tested positive for the disease.

Still, I can’t help but think of that old song by Hank Williams Jr., “A Country Boy Can Survive.”

I’d rather be hunkered down in New Tripoli than anywhere else right now.

We will get through this. The coronavirus is bad, but it’s not the worst we have seen.

In 1919, the United States was devastated by the Spanish Flu. It killed an estimated 675,000 Americans out of a population of 105 million, including a disproportionate number of young and healthy people.

Our great-grandparents experienced a reality much crueler than our current worst-case scenario.

Ten years later, we endured the Great Depression. A lot of people want to compare our present economic situation with the 1930s because of how fast the unemployment rate went up or how quickly the stock market went down. There is no comparison.

During those dismal times, at least 10 percent of the workforce was unemployed for more than a decade and the stock market did not recover for 25 years.

We emerged from Depression to fight World War II. More than 400,000 Americans died in the service of their country, winning an existential struggle against a horrific foe and saving the entire world in the process.

Then, our soldiers came home to a polio epidemic. In the 1950s, at least 200,000 Americans caught the disease and thousands of children died or became paralyzed.

It wasn’t until Jonas Salk developed his vaccine that the outbreak subsided.

Through the 1970s, another hundred thousand Americans died fighting wars in Korea and Vietnam.

And who among us over the age of 30 doesn’t remember 9/11? The events of that day had a far greater impact on our national psyche than anything the coronavirus has thrown at us so far. We are still fighting those battles.

I do not point out these tragedies to minimize the suffering victims are experiencing, trivialize the scale of the crisis or call into question the current response. Statistics are no consolation for the sick.

But, although this virus is new, Americans have been through difficult times before. And with the help of God, we’ve always prevailed.

So, whether your role in this crisis is to heal patients, pack groceries or stay at home with your family, I hope you approach this time of trial with the proper perspective.

Check on your neighbors. Humble yourself before God. Pray.

And, together, we can write another chapter in our amazing American story.

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Editor’s note: Kevin Dellicker is a resident of Heidelberg Township.