Things have been different in our world for the past few weeks. It’s only been two weeks of my state’s stay-at-home order. I’ve been working from home for three full weeks.
Communication in relatively ideal settings is challenging. Communication during situations which are less than ideal, more so.
We are learning new ways to connect with one another. We are learning how to be some sort of modern-day diaspora, albeit of a rather superficial and temporary sort.
In addition to the challenges both of life during pandemic and those that our physical separation and spiritual unity create from day to day. We experience another phenomenon. We experience a longing – a longing for all of us to reconnect in person – a longing to embrace – a longing to return to pre-pandemic normalcy.
This hope of a return to a sense of pre-pandemic normal is likely to be an elusive and illusory hope.
Nearly 20 years after the events of September 11, 2001, changes made to American society can still be seen. There was no return to September 10, 2001 – whatever that may have looked like.
What we are experiencing now with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic is merely the first wave. Unlike the rather quick events of 9/11, the events today are drawn-out. The events today are more deadly. If the deaths of just under 3,000 Americans on that Tuesday were the impetus for lasting changes in our culture, this pandemic will make that Tuesday pale in comparison.
Absent a cure or effective vaccine for COVID-19, the virus will remain contagious and potentially deadly to anyone who does not have immunity from prior exposure. Even when a stay-at-home order is lifted or if social distancing guidelines are relaxed, COVID-19 will remain a problem.
After the “flattening of the curve’, new case numbers subside, and restrictions are lifted, the effect will be a bit of a reset for our society. The virus, still among the population, will continue to pose a risk and may take hold again. This would set off another spike in cases, another need to “flatten the curve”, another need for restrictions. Over time the curves will be smaller, but there will be aftershocks from what we are experiencing now.
As a community, we must be prepared for this. It shouldn’t take us by surprise. Instead, we must anticipate and plan accordingly.
How will our get-togethers look? Will we simply extend implicit trust to others that they haven’t experienced symptoms or have been adhering to isolation and other guidelines? Will we exercise continued vigilance and diligence in the face of an unseen contagion that, for some – especially the vulnerable, exacts a terrible toll?
For those who have been comparatively cavalier in their exercising of and adherence to safety guidance, another danger exists. There’s a fair chance that those who have adopted risky behavior remain unscathed. After random chance or dumb luck have preserved such individuals, not only complacency, but hubris settles in. After all, you can run blindly across most streets and most times of the day and be just fine. The odds of there being a car directly in your path, and if there is, that it won’t stop or swerve to miss you, are actually quite low. But we still look both ways before crossing the road.
COVID-19 is just one disease from just one virus. As the world grows to be more connected, the opportunity for pathogens to travel great distances and at great speed increases. When a more dangerous virus comes around in the future, those who have brazenly thumbed their nose at “controlling restrictions” may be the first to become complicit as carriers or become victims outright. Those who have slogged through the restrictions may begin to see restrictions as no longer effective. It’s a Jenga tower. It’s a dangerous world.
The above scenarios and considerations should be part of conversations now. Just as we were caught off-guard as COVID-19 took hold in the United States, we can be caught off-guard to what lies ahead. We must keep our wits about us and not be consumed with a resumption to a state of normalcy that may no longer exist.
David A. Larson 