Apparently Donald Trump still thinks he can magically dismiss the virus that has killed 200,000 of us. He still thinks it will go away.
Dr. Aaron Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute, offers a succinct summary of where we are and what we have to look forward to amidst the pandemic.
The approval of a vaccine may be the beginning of a real coronavirus response; it certainly won’t be the end.
It is much more likely that life in 2021, especially in the first half of the year, will need to look much like life does now. Those who think that we have just a few more months of pain to endure will need to adjust their expectations. Those thinking that school this fall will be a one-off, that we will be back to normal next year, let alone next semester, may be in for a rude awakening.
... We still need to figure out how to live in this new world, now, and that means embracing, finally, all the strategies for fighting the virus that many of us have resisted.
... Colder weather will force us indoors, closer together, removing the benefits of being outside. Influenza is coming. Those drawing comfort from the fact that many countries in the Southern Hemisphere had mild flu seasons need to recognize that those countries were also engaging in the behaviors that controlled the spread of the coronavirus. It’s a mistake to assume that we will reap the same rewards without committing to the same sacrifices.
... This is a marathon, not a sprint. Both, though, require running.
One thing is sure: we can't find security alone, whether as self-reliant individuals or little family pods. Moving beyond the pandemic is something we have to do together, as a community. That's hard, but nothing else will succeed.
This has been such a large, prosperous country that we could sometimes delude ourselves that rugged individualism was enough. The virus proves that's not so. We will have to adjust, to learn new virtues.
1 comment:
Under the current administration I don't see adjustment, just continued confusion particularly by his cult.
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