Personal leadership in war on pandemic

Ultimately, the success of reviving the economy won’t be determined by directives from presidents, governors, mayors or first selectmen. It will be dictated by personal choices.

The clock is ticking quickly to May 20, when Gov. Ned Lamont is allowing offices, restaurants, personal services and retail to open with restrictions.

Everyone wants to get back to business as usual, but that won’t happen in the near future. Back in mid-March, when Lamont shut down dining in restaurants, there were 41 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Connecticut, with no reported deaths.

On Monday, Lamont gave the latest update: Fortyone more deaths brought the total in the state to 3,008.

It’s easy to lose context when so many lives are being lost every day. If the coronavirus didn’t exist and a mysterious strain claimed 41 lives in the state overnight, we’d be imploring the governor to take drastic actions.

Even as he revealed the latest grim toll, he shared this insight: “Shame on us for under-estimating, perhaps, what could have happened. Could we have done everything sooner? I think so.”

Just because Lamont has waved the flag for some businesses doesn’t mean they should rush to open doors. This is where individual choices will be made. If you are a manager or business owner, wait until you have the right precautions in place. Make sure your employees are comfortable as well. If you are a worker, think about everyone around you.

Our eagerness to get back to business is tempered by simple realities. Masks and gloves are still elusive. The United States is the world leader in deaths related to the pandemic (more than 80,000). Nations such as South Korea, Germany and China saw a spike after relaxing regulations.

It’s human nature to seek other people. We want to be in a crowd, screaming lyrics at a concert, melting on the beach, laughing together in a movie theater.

It’s also a natural instinct to rebuff setbacks. It’s rare to see a Major League Baseball pitcher hold up the ball and proclaim, “Yeah, I’m done.”

So we need to continue acting against our impulses in the weeks ahead. If an employee can continue working from home, they should be encouraged to do so. Our climate and traffic will be all the better for it anyway.

We stand behind the governor’s declaration to ensure store owners, customers, workers and the like “feel safe.”

But we would edit him just a bit. His constituents can’t just feel safe, they need to be safe.

That won’t happen if poor personal decisions are made. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has become a trusted voice of reason regarding the coronavirus, warned Tuesday that “consequences could be really serious” if the economy reopens too quickly.

Similar mistakes triggered the second wave of the so-called Spanish Flu a century ago.

This moment in history will be defined by how we exercise the freedoms that define us as Americans.

If the coronavirus didn’t exist and a mysterious strain claimed 41 lives in the state overnight, we’d be imploring the governor to take drastic actions.