Among the more consistent events over the last weeks has been the steady downward trend of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from COVID-19 in Arizona, and many other places. The projections today suggest that the peak incidence of new cases per day may have occurred in the prior weeks.
This does not mean the pandemic is over. There are states and cities where the upswing is only just beginning. It does mean that the models used to project viral spread may have rightly portrayed a worst-case scenario, which then set the stage for highly effective physical distancing and self-isolation (Shelter in Place), especially in public spaces, that has greatly deterred the spread. For this, the many lives spared, and the health system buffered from too large a load of frightened, ill citizens, should be cause for gratitude and celebration.
As many have noted, the second crisis to be dealt with is the economic pitch headlong into the gutter which seems to be roaring at us. None of the economists predicted the 2008 housing loan collapse and the global recession triggered thereafter. It raises concern just how accurate the current predictions of economic fallout of averting the COVID-19 pandemic will prove to be.
What is highly accurate, however, is the will, commitment, compassion, and love of community that is palpable. Likely, even more palpable due to the physical distancing and Shelter in Place orders that have been followed. As eager as we all are to get out of this dark tunnel to discover just what kind of world we are re-entering, let’s not lose for a millisecond the longing we feel to be the socially interacting creatures that we are, and have been on too-long a fast from the joy of it all.
