If you are still reading, thank you. If you are a new reader, thank you. This is a place where friends are allowed and encouraged to share ideas. It is staggering that the world turned upside down *cue Lin-Manuel Miranda* just several short (long?) months ago and this blog was born.
As an immunocompromised person I was given special instructions early in March to begin a "precautionary quarantine" which, by the end of the week, had turned into a "medical quarantine" and by the week after that my state was put into a "shelter-in-place"order. This was followed with a prolonged 1-2 months "stay-at-home" (attempted rebrand: "safe-at-home") order that was legally lifted last month. Since then, the United States of America has used state level jurisdiction to determine how/if "the coronavirus" (then "the novel coronavirus"-now mostly referred to as "COVID-19") is controlled. This has led to our country being the biggest hotspot on the planet with nearly 2 million people confirmed positive with the virus. We still do not know many asymptomatic people are walking around unaware that they are carriers.
As we have watched from the window, there has been a monumental shift of energy in the past few weeks. At first, there was a sense of camaraderie, of an "I'll protect you, you protect me" attitude. There was cheering medical staff at 7PM around the world. What an awesome idea that at least one person was cheering, or clapping, or just rooting for the healthcare workers every hour of the day somewhere on this planet. #HealthcareHeroes
But as the days stretched into weeks, weeks to months...well, here comes the shift.
This virus is deadly, with the mortality rate in our country rising from the original 2% consistency in other countries with pervasive community spread to a whopping 5% in the USA. Our exposure to this virus has exposed much more than that though--now more than ever, POC are disproportionately affected, and racial tension is rampant with protests and marches for equality. #BlackLivesMatter
A few weeks ago, people were sent back to work after months of working from home, being laid off, or furloughed. Even in a state where I feel we have had the best leadership during the worst of times, this #ResponsibleRestart has been anything but responsible. Our economy is in shambles as we cling to the state's "rainy day fund" while the skies open up on us because of the unprecedented rate of unemployment. Sending workers back into physical work spaces with too little man-power to back up the mandated safety requirements has created the start of the spike that we were trying so desperately to avoid.
Now we are less than a month away from schools re-opening and despite being in a literal "state of emergency" our leaders are casually fielding questions about the students, teachers, and administrators who are expected back to school in less than a month. We ended the 2019-2020 school year with our state mandating exclusive virtual distance learning for all levels of education. As of today, we are ostensibly starting the new year back in the physical classroom. #NotMyClassroom
We have not found a cure. We have not found effective treatment for widespread use.
And yet.
The plan as of last week is to intentionally send all of these precious people (including my husband) back into congregate school settings with a mandate of wearing masks and having mandatory hand sanitizer locations/handwashing stations. I saw a legitimate post from a teacher asking how active shooter drills would be done with social distancing. Maybe we aren't ready to send children back into that setting. But also...this wreaks havoc on the careful, considerate plans parents and guardians have set up for their families. Does any of this apply to you or a family you know?
So...here we are. But even though we are here, we are ironically and stoically here together. Annoyed and feeling betrayed that this isn't better yet. Caught between minimizing health risks, protecting your fellow citizens, needing income, providing for kids, hearing the marginalized, protecting the minorities, feeling alone with yourself, confused in politically mixed messages...and so much more. It is understandable to see how divisive this time has been. We are scared. We are angry. We are sad. We are mourning.
Let's also remember: we are together.
This is an uphill slope, guys. Medically, racially, economically...in every way we are the authors of the next part of this narrative. This will be in the history books--we know that. When we are reading with the next generations to come, which lines of the story will you point to and say, "That was us."
I don't know about you, but so many days I feel like chucking the pen out of the window I am not allowed to open. But then, how can I truly ask the world to "fix" this situation for me? That's not how this works. It's up to us, all of us, to be the best of ourselves for each other. It's up to us, all of us, to see the best in others for each other. We live, we die, we write this story. Let the pages be filled with vile words crossed out, ink spilled on the corner when we were so enthusiastic about one thought, notes in the margins for the bits we don't want to forget because afterthoughts are better known as thoughts worth making room for; let there be redundant language of love and tolerance, parallelisms between ideas we didn't make space for before now, and always room for the next generation of authors to begin as soon as they can put pen to paper.
We can, and will, get back to that place of camaraderie. Even if it starts right here and right now, I am taking a break from typing to clap (yes, I really did) for you. For all of us to rally together and support each other like our original instincts told us to so many months ago. Take three seconds, and please, just clap your hands together; once for yourself, twice for your community, and that third one for the whole planet that is connected by so much more than this virus. People are good, people.
Prepare, don't panic.
-Allison
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