For the greater good

As we continue to deal with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic we must keep in mind what is at stake. This is a deadly disease, just look at the corpses piling up in Europe and New York if you doubt it. All ages are at risk. Here in Humboldt we have been blessed to have only a handful of cases. This is due to our remote location and the amazing cooperation of locals heeding the shelter in place orders. This has flattened the curve of infection but not eliminated the virus. COVID-19 is still out there and as we relax the quarantine more people will become infected. More people will die. Until there is a vaccine we are all at the same risk as before the shelter in place orders. We have succeeded in delaying this epidemic but it is not over. It is so important to respect the social distancing recommendations and wear a mask when within six feet of someone not in our household.

This is our new normal. As businesses reopen these new social conventions are necessary. I have watched as people protest these restrictions as a taking of their constitutional rights. We will not protest our way out of this crisis. It’s not the government that is requiring these restrictions, it’s the science. The only way forward is to slow the transmission of the virus. By protecting yourself and others we can make it through until the vaccine is available. This will take a long time, perhaps more than a year. We all want businesses to reopen as soon as possible. As we do, please respect the recommendations from our local health experts, wear a mask in public, wash your hands and keep your distance from others. As the saying goes “We are all in this together.” We are not restricting your life and business because the government is exerting its dominion over you, it’s for the greater good of all of us. I want to live. Don’t you?