Christians, Mother’s Day and the Pandemic

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and that led me to reflect on the sadness in many homes at the loss of so many mothers and the grief experienced by so many mothers at the loss of their sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, as a result of Covid.  My hope is that these family tragedies do not repeat themselves and that we will be free from Covid in the coming year.  We can rid ourselves of this scourge if we keep these things in mind as our human duty in the days ahead.

The pandemic is not over. I wish it were.  We would all like to be free of the constraints we have been living under for the past 15 months.  The vaccinations against Covid, the social distancing, the handwashing and other sanitation procedures, and the mask requirements together have substantially reduced the number of identified cases of the infection, but they have not eliminated the disease and now is not the time to reduce our efforts and to put our guard down and act as if the infections are over. 

Here are some facts that everyone needs to keep in mind:

     [1] Vaccinations are very effective (approximately 94%, by comparison to the flu vaccines, which are only 50% effective) but they are NOT 100% effective.  That is why people who have been vaccinated can and do get sick, can have Covid and not have symptoms, and can be carriers without knowing it.

     [2] Masks do not keep anyone from getting Covid.  They are helpful in reducing the spread of droplets by the wearer but they do not protect the wearer from infected people except to the extent they reduce the danger of infection from coughs and sneezes.  The attitude of anti-maskers that they are not concerned about getting infected and if others are concerned they are free to wear masks is ignorant and uninformed.

     [3] Getting together in groups is still unsafe unless all or most of the individuals in the group are vaccinated, the group is meeting outdoors, social distancing is maintained, and masks are worn.  Infectious disease specialists have said that it is reasonably safe if 3 of those 4 safety criteria are met. 

     [4] Singing, shouting, yelling or cheering are quite effective in spreading Covid particles, which is why choral groups and athletic events are particularly dangerous. 

     [5] As long as countries such as India and Brazil lag behind in vaccinations and disease prevention Covid will continue to be dangerous and new variants of Covid will proliferate and appear in the U.S., some of which will prove lethal regardless of one’s vaccination status. It is in America’s best interest to encourage the availability of vaccines to third world countries.

     [6] Covid is not a political issue, it is a very serious and deadly public health issue. It is an embarrassment to Christians everywhere that fundamentalist Christians have hitched their wagon to the Trump Jackass and have been taken down the trail of anti-vaxxers and science deniers, with the result that they have created irrational public resistance to vaccinations that could inhibit herd immunity and negatively impact the health of all of us.

     [7] Failing to do all of the things we can to prevent the spread of Covid (masks, vaccination, social distancing, washing hands) is like saying we have fixed most of the leaks in our boat so we need not be concerned about a few small leaks as we row across the lake. 

You are invited and encouraged to send commentary to your friends and enemies.  We need everyone clear about these issues. 

 

 

 

Is Trump Challenging Mother Nature To A Duel?

Thomas L Friedman’s brilliant article outlines a dangerous flaw in Trump’s reopen strategy:

I try to ground all my thoughts on how to deal with this pandemic in the logic of Mother Nature and the laws of natural systems. If you don’t — if instead you start your analysis with politics or ideology, or the fact that you’re just tired of being locked down so what the hell, let’s throw back a few with the gang at the local bar and the virus be damned — you’re actually challenging Mother Nature to a duel….

All that registers, all that she rewards, is one thing: adaptation. She doesn’t reward the richest or the strongest or the smartest of the species. She rewards the most adaptive. They get to pass along their DNA….

For all these reasons it’s clear, or should be, that the holy grail every nation needs to be looking for is what Dr. David Katz, a public health expert, argued from the beginning of this crisis: a “sustainable strategy of total harm minimization.” That means a strategy that would save as many lives and as many livelihoods as possible at the same time….

We need to reopen and we need to adapt, but in ways that honor Mother Nature’s logic, not in ways that court a second wave — not in ways that challenge Mother Nature to a duel. That is not smart. Because she hasn’t lost a duel in 4.5 billion years.

Read the whole article in The New York Times [here]

Opening Up Safely

After being confined to our homes for so long as our economy suffered, our personal finances were devastated, our hopes for graduation and our entry to the world of work were dashed,  our health care workers and our elderly grandparents and occasionally our younger friends were killed, we are now beginning to experience the freedom of leaving our homes and venturing out again into the world of work and fun.  Let us not forget the lessons learned with such patience and endurance and hardship that our safety and the safety of our friends, neighbors and relatives require us to follow diligently the protocols for safety—to wear a mask, wash our hands, keep our hands away from our face, and stay at least six feet away from others. [AGB]