As we celebrate Spring and the hope that life will begin to return to something like normal, we are hearing from our scientists that we may be in for another surge of COVID-19 cases. The Director of the CDC shared her concerns last week about a fourth wave of cases. Clearly it is happening in Europe. How do we weigh these competing scenarios? More people are getting vaccinated, but the number of cases and variants may be escalating. Which scenario will dominate?
Let me start with the good news. More than 70 percent of our seniors have been vaccinated nationwide, and all the vaccines are showing strong efficacy. That is an astonishing and hopeful number. The President says that there will be 200 million vaccinations by the end of his first 100 days, which is only a few weeks away. Where I live, all the residents of my community have been vaccinated, and we are beginning to be able to eat together, exercise together, and visit in each other’s homes. All three of my adult children have been vaccinated, and I have been able to hug at least one of my grandchildren who lives nearby. All that is good news. Very good news.
So where is the doom coming from? Sadly, the number of new cases is increasing in some states this week and it seems to be disproportionately among younger adults. It is these adults who wanted to have a spring break, and while they got a break, it wasn’t what they expected. Their disregard for wearing masks and keeping some social distance collided with the new COVID-19 variants, which spread faster and more easily. We were all holding our breath to see if spring break would result in an upsurge of cases. Unfortunately, that seems to be true. No more Trump era “everything is fine and it will all be over in a few weeks” says the CDC. This time we are hearing the truth and it is painful. If we don’t pay attention to this, we will certainly experience the same surges as in the rest of the world.
Certainly we are all tired of being locked up, wearing a mask, trying to stay distant from those we love and even those we don’t! But according to the scientists and doctors, this is absolutely not the time to let down our guard. In areas of the U.S. where mask wearing is not prevalent, cases are climbing. Masks work. Distancing works. Not to understand that is incomprehensible to me. To make it a political issue is not just stupid, it’s dangerous. We must double our efforts to do the things we know work and talk to our family and friends about the importance of vaccinations. I am hopeful we will overcome.
Thank you for your posting. It is inconceivable to me that we still have to keep repeating this same information week after week and month after month.
I agree. I almost didn’t write this post, but then I see people walking around without masks and it just makes me mad, as well as sad.
I agree it’s like everyone has gone deaf,blind and most certainly dumb. I wish someone would or could come up with a way to through to these people.
Let’s all hope maybe these vaccines will help.
Stay safe and well
What would persuade a person to get a vaccination? You would think they might do it out of care for others, although that doesn’t seem to be working too well. How about taking them to an emergency room or ICU ward and showing them people with COVID-19? Probably not practical. Using family and local leaders or pastors might help. At the end of the day, what makes me saddest is the apparent lack of concern for others and the selfishness of some Americans. How do people justify harming others like this? Do they just not believe it?