Holidays another difficult COVID test
This week has brought some of the first unreservedly good news on the public health front since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. With the first doses of the vaccine being administered to front-line health care workers and the most vulnerable, there is finally tangible hope of a brighter future. No one should underestimate how important this news is to our country’s future.
This development comes as Connecticut and the rest of the country are facing some of the darkest times since the pandemic hit in March. It underscores once again that no one can afford to let down their guard, and that better times will not arrive without hard work. There’s hope today, but the worst of the crisis remains upon us.
Gov. Ned Lamont this week said the early December COVID hospitalization rate has been generally stable, but that a major test would arrive with Christmas and New Year’s, traditionally times when many people would gather with family and friends. If we are to emerge from this month with a chance of maintaining relatively stable rates of hospitalization, we must exercise caution in coming weeks.
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Not everyone aren’t careful. listened to exThis isn’t pert advice news that about maintainanyone wants ing social disto hear. It has tance at been an exceptionally difficult year, and everyone deserves a chance to relax with the people they care about. But the consequences for doing so could be deadly.
“The next two weeks will tell us a lot,” Lamont said in reviewing the latest numbers, which showed hospitalizations at the highest level since April and the number of COVID-related fatalities topping 5,400. Connecticut remains by the numbers one of the hardest-hit states in the nation, largely driven by the spring peak but rising again now as the weather gets colder and people move activities indoors.
That’s what makes the coming weeks so dangerous. Christmas and New Year’s are traditionally celebrated with loved ones, but not, unless you’re in Times Square, typically outdoors. The virus spreads more easily inside, and with the biggest snowfall in years possibly on the way this week, there will be fewer chances to be anywhere but indoors in the near future.
So we need to again update our holiday traditions. It’s not what anyone would have wanted, but that’s been true for so much of this year unlike any other. Video conferencing on Christmas Day will be just one more first of its kind.
There will be a day when we can all get together and spend time, in person, with those we love. We aren’t there yet, and it will take time before the vaccine is available to everyone who needs it. But that day will come.
It has been an exceptionally difficult year, and everyone deserves a chance to relax with the people that they care about. But the consequences for doing so could be deadly.