by Lynn Mandaville
We, as a nation, are sitting in a precarious place this holiday season.
Hanukkah has begun, and, though the Christmas season began just after Halloween, we’re in the thick of it now as we count down to the big day.
I say we are in a precarious place, because, despite warnings and strong suggestions to avoid large Thanksgiving gatherings, some have let down their guards against COVID-19 and are now part of that spike in numbers of cases and, sadly, deaths as a result.
Were people just so sick of the sickness that they decided to take a chance that it couldn’t happen to them? Did they overestimate that their loved ones had isolated successfully, as they had done, and no one was a possible asymptomatic carrier?
Who’s to know?
But with the advent of the Pfizer vaccine, will people continue to take a chance against COVID over the Christmas holiday and gather again indoors with extended family groups?
Again, who’s to know?
Until two weeks after Christmas and New Year’s we really won’t know the extent to which Americans decided to flip a coin where coronavirus is concerned.
I know that right now, in our zip code in Chandler, AZ, our positivity rating has increased by 22% in just two weeks. Our daughter-in-law reports her hospital, as a whole (NOT ICU beds), Banner Desert, is at 180% capacity. Therefore, we have chosen not to modify our personal strategy of isolation for the foreseeable future.
The introduction of the COVID vaccine offers most of us the hope of returning to life as we knew it in the Before Times.
We need to be careful, though, not to assume those old behaviors too soon.
This week’s news showed the first 3 million doses being shipped out of the Pfizer warehouse in Kalamazoo. A second batch of 3 million will follow on its heels for the second dose to be given to those who receive the first round.
But that represents only 1% of our population to become vaccinated against COVID-19. Another 290 million people must wait their turn to get the shots. Herd immunity won’t occur until 70% of the population becomes immune to the disease, either through exposure or vaccination. And we are far from that milestone right now.
Parenthetically, there is a great portion of our population that won’t be able to take the vaccine right away, or ever at all. Children under 16 are excluded from this initial roll-out, as are people with severe allergic histories, and some with underlying conditions which prohibit them from taking the vaccine. They will rely on the rest of us receiving the vaccine to obtain the herd immunity that will protect them.
I get that there is some resistance to taking the vaccine right away, if at all.
Black and Hispanic people have a cultural aversion to the medical community (due to such atrocities as the Tuskegee experiments) that has to be overcome for them to embrace vaccination.
Some people, like myself, are skeptical of the safety of this first generation of vaccines. Because our outgoing president pushed too hard for rapid release of vaccines before the FDA formally put their stamp of approval on it, I fear not enough testing and collection of data has been done. I’ll feel safer after several million doses have been administered without significant side effects.
That being said, I will get the vaccine when my turn comes, probably mid- to late 2021.
The timing of the vaccine is a nice coincidence with the season.
Christians are celebrating the birth of Christ the Savior, the Light of the World.
Jews are celebrating Hannukah, the Festival of Lights, when a day’s worth of oil lasted eight days.
And a majority of Americans who voted for a change in administrations for the nation, are celebrating a metaphorical bringing of light into the White House after four years of lying, subterfuge and ineptness.
Light that brings truth, exposes flaws and faults, and fosters a warming of hearts and minds in the depths of a winter of our souls.
May the light of this season mark a dawning of renewed faith in our republic, our democratic process, in science, and in knowledge.
And may it shine upon us all equally.
Peace and Shalom.
