"December will usher in the perfect storm, which will have nothing to do with the weather. Christians will still celebrate the birth of our Savior, even if it is very non-traditional this year. Some how, some way, most of us will get through this, and come out on the other side."
Guess what is coming? And coming soon. Christmas? That is part of it. What we have coming is a perfect storm. Not the weather kind of storm - rather this will be the perfect confluence of three major items - and they will all hit in December of this year.
The "surge within a surge" is already starting. That is thing # one. The number of fatalities and hospital admissions due to Covid is nothing less than staggering. For many, the party came on Thanksgiving weekend. Now comes the hangover. For some, Thanksgiving was a just a nice time to be with friends and family. They were fortunate. For others, it became an unwanted "spreader" event. The medical experts, should we choose to listen to and/or believe them, tell us the worst is yet to come. If we gather at Christmas like we did at Thanksgiving, January could be a cold, dark, nightmare.
Thing # two is Christmas. The medical experts are already warning us about having too many people gathered, and in particular, people from outside your household. My guess is, just like with Thanksgiving, some will gather as they do every year - and hopefully, it will end up being a "nothing burger". For others however, some will get sick once Christmas is over. The older folks could get very sick. Some loved ones could die. It is a measured risk all families will need to evaluate.
Thing # three is the first tranche of vaccinations. They are here, and the roll out is right around the corner. The trials to date have been very promising. Minor side effects are usually a headache and chills. But without the longer duration trials that the FDA sanctions, questions of length of efficacy, and potential long term side effects remain.
What does this mean? Just like gathering around the Thanksgiving or Christmas table with friends and family, getting vaccinated is a measured risk. That being said, enough folks have had it with lockdowns and isolation, so that who is first, second or third in line to get the shot, might end up looking like a WWE cage match.
One final thought which goes back to thing # 1. Our local hospital, the one both of our kids were born in, has grown to be a very large health center. At the start of the pandemic, and up until recently, it has been in great shape with available beds and staff. No longer. It is stretched "to the gills", and is in "red flag" territory. The hospital my youngest daughter works at (downtown), which is a huge facility, has recently gone from a handful of beds remaining, to zero beds. And at most hospitals, people are dying in the ICUs from this horrible lung disease, with alarming regularity.
December will usher in the perfect storm, which will have nothing to do with the weather. Christians will still celebrate the birth of our Savior, even if it is very non-traditional this year. Some how, some way, most of us will get through this, and come out on the other side. My hope, my prayer, is the coming vaccines are the panacea we all believe the will be.
No comments:
Post a Comment