We’re Approaching a Tipping Point
Remember a little more than six months ago when the world almost stopped spinning and cancel-fest ran roughshod through everything?
That was a weird and unique time, one that I do not ever want to experience again. It’s also a strange one to compare and contrast to now in the sense that those were actions taken to combat, restrict and mitigate spread of the coronavirus when there was almost no identifiable cases of the virus anywhere to be found outside of New York and Washington state.
I wonder what Americans then would think of Americans now as as we have returned to much of the normal in our lives, hustling and bustling about doing the things we do despite the fact that the United States has tens of thousands of active coronavirus cases.
People read into things so I want to make clear that this is just an observation at how quickly things can adapt and change.
Ah yes, change. Things are quickly changing locally with regards to the virus as well.
The risk dial, a tool used by local health departments to assess and convey the risk for individuals to catch COVID-19 within the community, took a right turn over the past week and moved from moderate to high in much of our coverage area. According to local health departments - Southwest and Two Rivers - there is a high risk throughout the region.
That might be a small blip on the radar for some, but it is significant in that many schools and businesses have their daily operations tied in some part to the community risk dial.
Perhaps more importantly, we’ve seen a constant upward trajectory in case counts as of late, something that had been foreign to this area for long periods of the pandemic. Maybe that’s why the pandemic seems a bit fraudulent to some - southwest Nebraska has been hit with it, but not to the same degree that other areas have.
With the uptick in the risk dial, we have our indication from the health departments that things are changing and not for the better.
Like the Catechism says “What does this mean?”
Notice that every release from a health department, medical professional or a story about coronavirus has the same paragraph about “please wash your hands, keep six feet of distance and wear a mask when you are around large groups of people, especially indoors.”
Folks, that sentence has been copied and pasted into oblivion over the past few months, but there is a reason. They would really like us to do it.
While I do not think that forcing business closures is on the list of options, no one wants to see us roll back restrictions and regulations. No one wants to see activities and events cancelled again. But this is the path we are on right now in much of the area.
I spoke with six different school superintendents this week. Each one said they have a plan in place and they are all confident that in-person instruction can continue. But activities? There are mixed opinions on what their life expectancy is. Winter activities? That’s growing even murkier because they’re all indoors.
Futher more, we are inching closer to the holidays. Do you want to feel confident in getting all of your family together without endangering grandma and grandpa? I have not and will not be a dooms
I have not and will not be a doomsday salesman with regards to the pandemic. But I also will not be a denier of public risks. We have some responsibilities here and if we’re going to shirk them, then some of our opportunities will go away, too.
Things are not going great, but there is time to make a correction. Please do what you can to help out.
