The Limp of Fear

 

Centers for Disease Control

Copyright © 2020

by Ralph F. Couey

For much of the eight or nine months of this Pandemic, we've been taken on a road full of twists and turns, and even double-backs.  For several weeks, it was growing exponentially, then came a time when we all thought the thing was almost whipped.  Then, it came roaring back.  People were told many contradictory things about the best way to protect themselves, and there were those who were convinced that the whole thing was a gigantic conspiracy, and refused to undertake any mitigation at all.

Early this morning (late yesterday evening, Hawai'i time), a bombshell broke out of the nation's capitol.  The President of the United States and the First Lady had contracted COVID-19.  Early this evening, we were told that he had been airlifted to Walter Reed because of some breathing issues.

There was, of course, the inevitable well wishers and gleeful haters who spoke up and flooded social media.  I'm not going to get into that, mainly because, as I've written previously, I'm pretty much disgusted by both sides.

The point here is that the President is one of, if not THE most well-protected person on the planet.  He is surrounded by multiple layers of security, and subject to immediate displacement into any one of a number of secure bunkers, or a convenient jet.  Any attempt to violate that security and do harm to the President is likely to result in the violent death of the assailant.  

But despite gates, locks, police, Secret Service, electronic surveillance, dogs, the most advanced home surveillance system ever conceived, and sheer odds, the virus scored a direct hit.  

If this can happen to someone so comprehensively protected, are any of us safe?  Perhaps not.  The NFL announced that two teams, the Titans and Vikings, would have their games at least postponed because of significant outbreaks on those teams.  That threat hangs over the entire league like a hungry vulture.

For some, a question like this is sure sign of raging paranoia.  And as the saying goes, "it's only paranoia if they're really out to get you."  

For me, I've never been concerned to the point of mindless panic.  I followed the rules as best as I could.  That plus the insight gained through the information generated by the Hawai'i Emergency Management Agency, of which I are a part, has helped me to understand a little bit more about the nature of the situation we face.  As winter closes in, there are very real concerns that the world will be hit by a double-edged sword, COVID and influenza.  

A virus is a living thing.  It eats and reproduces like any other life form, happy to continue it's odd little life.  That it's activities pose a serious, even fatal risk to humans doesn't ever concern it.  Yet, when people think of the Novel Coronavirus, they seem to anthropomorphize it into the scariest of evil villains.  Maybe it would be easier if it would cackle maniacally as it went about it's job.  At least we'd have something to point at.

There is a story about a band of Cheyenne Native Americans who had contracted smallpox.  As the people sickened and died, the warriors donned their battle gear and paint and galloped their horses around the village, daring the disease to come out and fight like a man.  It is that same frustration that a lot of us feel these days.  You can swat a mosquito, or squash a cockroach.  But you can do neither to a virus.

Except for one chillingly close call, our path through this mess has been unremarkable.  Because we are both in critical jobs, we haven't lost income.  We haven't been infected, and none of our friends and family have been either.  But other people are, and their stories are disturbing.  For the elderly, who we call "Kupuna" her in Hawai'i, it's been very hard.  Families have tried very hard to keep them isolated from any danger, and those who live in care homes haven't seen, talked, or hugged their families in person since February.  Here, we had a spike in cases that accompanied the first attempt to open up the economy, which led to a second shutdown.  Judging by the traffic, nobody really took this one seriously.  Now, the numbers have fallen to a level where businesses will be allowed to cautiously open again.  Thanks to the imposition of an aggressive testing program, tourists will be allowed to come here and bypass quarantine as long as they have a negative test within 72 hours of their flight.  This is important.  Hawai'i, especially O'ahu, lives or dies on tourism dollars.  Normally, about 30,000 visitors each day climb off airliners from all over the world, bringing their money with them, and their return will pour badly needed revenue into the coffers of state and businesses.  

But for the wary and afraid, the concern is what they might also be bringing with them.  Or taking back home with them.

The future in this context is a dim and shapeless thing.  We'd like to think that science can kill this thing once and for all, and we can go back to that warmly-remembered state we called normal.  But an increasing number of scientists are of the opinion that we may never be rid of the Corona Virus and its associated illness, COVID-19.  This may be the proverbial limp we have to take with us into the future.  

The thing is, this is just one virus.  There are billions more out there giving nightmares to vigilant scientists and researchers.  That we would suffer a pandemic of some kind was one of those almost inevitable outcomes.  It's happened before, and it will happen again.  And you know what?

There's nothing we can do about it, but wait and hope.

Sounds dark? Sounds scary?  Welcome to the 21st century.  

The real challenge here is that we humans have a distressingly short span of attention.  Part of the rebound in infections of late has more to do with the fact that folks are fed up with being shut in and shut down.  "Normal" is such an attractive state of being, that we're willing to risk health and life to get it back.  This "Pandemic Fatigue" has birthed a lot of deniers who, by refusing to comply with any mitigation measures, put themselves and those around them at greater risk.  Some of them have paid for their delusion with their lives.

This is an enormously difficult time, one that will demand the better natures in all of us.  We all walk with a certain amount of fear, but we still have each other, albeit six feet apart.  Let's not forget that we need each other to get through this thing, and hopefully to discover together a brighter day on the other side of a very dark valley of death.

The Beatles sang, "All You Need Is Love."  Jesus commanded, "Love one another as I have loved you.  By this, shall all know you are my disciples.

Sounds like good advice.