There is still a pandemic among us.
People continue to be infected.
People continue to be hospitalized.
People continue to die.
People continue on with their lives.
As we progress into the longer, brighter, warmer days of summer and businesses reopen we may fall into a sense of security: Life appears to be returning to normal, things must be OK. That way of thinking could be what contributes to our biggest setback. The pandemic battle cry of our time was “Flatten the Curve,” an appeal to behave in a way that slowed the spread of the virus while medical professionals adapted to a fast-moving public health threat.
Over time the real and potential strain on hospitals has abated while social distancing and mandated closures have been in place. Testing, however, in the initial stages of the pandemic was lax and it was difficult to gauge how many were infected with COVID-19 and how many were not. And when. But as testing grew it provided new information and while, naturally, the number of positive results increased, the rate of infection appeared to reach manageable levels. And now we are in a state of return. State and local authorities have gradually relaxed the orders that kept people at home and out of work. With each passing day we see more people in restaurants, more people at parks, more people shopping. You also see more people fudging the social-distancing guideline of six feet of separation or wearing a mask in public. We see more people behaving as though life is getting back to normal, when normal was going about your daily activities without risk of contracting a virus that medical experts don’t completely understand. The need to carry on with life and a sense of normalcy is great. We need to work and to interact to survive. But we also need to move ahead cautiously. We need to still work together in the understanding that the new normal is different. There is still a pandemic among us. People continue to be infected. People continue to be hospitalized. People continue to die. Proceed with caution.
