A plea for cooperation
Coronavirus case numbers are rising, deaths are spiking and hospitals are approaching capacity
Wash your hands. Avoid gathering with people outside your home. Practice social distancing. Wear a mask. From the start of this pandemic, the guidance has generally been constant. In our ninth month of dealing with the coronavirus, however, most people are as tired of hearing it as officials likely are repeating it.
Yet, we find ourselves at a precarious point. Case numbers are rising, deaths are spiking and hospitals approach capacity, even as vaccine distribution ramps up and the end of the pandemic appears within sight.
Gov. Ralph Northam on Thursday announced tightened restrictions in Virginia, following similar moves by neighboring states, including North Carolina, which on Wednesday, announced a stay-athome order.
These are unlikely to change behavior. People who have been following the guidelines and taking every precaution will continue to do so. Those who flout these restrictions and thumb their nose at the virus will persist in their recklessness. Never the twain shall meet.
That’s the trouble with these edicts delivered by the governor, who has generally done well throughout the pandemic to telegraph his decisions and explain the reasoning behind them. He could do better, of course, but his experience as a medical doctor has served the commonwealth.
But is anyone listening anymore? Not just to the governor or other public officials, but to anyone advising them to act responsibly and hold on a little longer?
Health care workers are pleading with the public to follow the guidelines and help them fight the virus. They are working exhausting shifts and dealing with the horrors of this disease in a personal way that most cannot imagine.
One can only imagine what they feel to see people gathering in large groups, angrily protesting the facemask mandate or, as happened recently in Campbell County, passing resolutions ordering local law enforcement to ignore violations of the governor’s health measures.
What must they think to devote months to fighting this disease only to have their local officials make that work more difficult? It’s a tribute to health care workers’ dedication that they remain at their posts, when giving up must seem so tempting.
There is more than enough pain and anger out there. People are hurting — financially, emotionally and spiritually, as well as physically. This has been a brutal year and the suffering is likely to get worse before the situation improves.
But we know the way forward. It’s been clear for months.
If you want to visit family and friends safely again, you must avoid seeing them now.
If you want restaurants to reopen, you should wear a mask whenever you’re out in public.
If you want schools to resume — even though they should be conducting in-person education as much as possible now — wash your hands and practice social distancing.
If you want to get through this pandemic, to be free again to live your lives as you see fit, you should stay home as much as possible for the next few weeks.
Others have cited the “marshmallow test,” a psychological study on delayed gratification conducted at Stanford University, as a useful example at this critical hour. In it, researchers told children participants they could have one marshmallow now, or two marshmallows after a period of waiting.
It’s an exercise in patience and self-control. And those are precisely the qualities Virginians must now demonstrate in abundance.
We’re all feeling the fatigue of the last few months. The uncertainty and the fear and the frustration of it all. These are real and valid emotions, and they feed the rationalization that cutting corners for a little gratification and a moment of respite from this pandemic won’t hurt anyone.
But we all need to do our part and hold on, just a little longer, to get through the next few months. The governor’s restrictions are less important than the choices individuals make for themselves and their families now. Please act accordingly, for everyone’s best interest.