Can Americans Afford to Put Safety First?
by Francine Dash
April 2020
What if there was a serial killing gang called “C19” that indiscriminately attacked over 609,000 people, killing more than 25,000 of them, in every state. Would you go outside?
Wouldn’t you want to find out more about this gang, how it works -- if it can be defeated -- so it won’t come back to cause more harm?
These are hard times for a lot of good people, who have done absolutely nothing wrong. But these are horrible times for families of people who have died from COVID-19 and they couldn’t be there to console them as they struggled for their last breath.
Let’s face it. Our country is broken, and many of us are broke, trying to make ends meet, or at least getting the ends acquainted with each other. Some can’t pay their mortgage or rent, or buy groceries or even buy medications.
There are long lines at food banks filled with people who have or had jobs until now; and farmers who can’t get their crops to the people. There is a scarcity of cleaning and hygiene products, making it challenging to keep our living spaces ‘C19-clean’.
When packages arrive, we are now suspicious that they can be contaminated. So, we spray and handle with tongs boxes that we used to let our children play with before. This is our new normal.
So, it’s not fair to try to make any of us feel guilty about something that none of us caused. Many of us are doing our best based on what we know. But we’re having a real moment here, people.
Not just Americans in the United States, but all over the world. Who we really are will be determined by how we respond to this crisis in this moment; and history will either tell the story of how we overcame, or how we failed.
Let’s turn the page to some facts.
- By some reports, between November and December of 2019, the United States was forewarned about the possibility of a virus that may cause extreme harm if unaddressed.
- By January 2020, President Trump issued a travel ban, stopping travel from and to China, excluding essential travel.
- From February 2020 to March 2020, the virus, referred to as the “Chinese virus” by President Trump, went from being a ‘hoax’ to an ‘invisible enemy’, as more lives were lost.
- During March 2020, we start to hear of more deaths and medical professionals requesting things called PPE and ventilators to help stave off the spread of this virus; and to help those with the virus to stay alive. Quarantines and light shutdowns spread across the country.
- We also discovered new oddities about C19: A zookeeper in the Bronx Zoo infected tigers in his care; and African Americans are disproportionately dying from this virus at the highest of numbers (and no one has told us why).
- By April 2020, some people and churches gather in defiance, exhibiting a common belief that C19 is not their problem. After months of asking for leadership and direction, some governors have formed their own task forces, looking a lot like pre-succession planning groups, trying to determine when they have arrived at a safe point to begin to let their guards down and usher people back to work
- We also find ourselves in the early stages of a rift between those states and the White House, as President Trump has made it clear that he is the sole decision maker when it comes to “re-opening” our country for business. We will just have to wait and see how this all works out.
In the meantime, what do you say? That C19 gang is still out there, making people sick and killing people as I write. Do you really want to go outside and take the chance that you could be next; or is it simply that you cannot afford to put your life and safety first?
Maybe, you don’t believe that you can get sick, as there are many reports of people doing the exact opposite of social distancing, deciding instead to do things their own way. Our prayers go out to them.
But if you do believe that this “gang” is out there and doesn’t care who it kills, cover your mouth and nose and keep your distance if you must go out; or if you can find it in your budget to put your life and safety first, please stay home.