The second wave is no longer a theory. Europe is seeing record cases, and the frum communities of NY and NJ are being touched in ways many didn't think possible even a month ago. This post isn't a post-mortem on how we got here, and it's not a mussar shmooze on what we could be doing better now to slow the spread. This post is about the future.
Regardless of our personal feelings, the reality is that governments will impose lockdowns in the coming months. We saw crazy numbers over the summer coming out of FL, TX, and CA, with weeks of over 10k new cases per day in each of those states. The reasons vary, from additional testing to younger patients, but the reactions are inevitably the same: closures and lockdowns. They may work, or they may not. They may be misused and abused. They may not be followed by the general public. But they are coming, because it is the only tool that we have to prevent hospitals from overloading during a surge in cases. Given what we saw over the summer, and given what we're seeing in Europe (and our communities here) right now, a surge is coming, and lockdowns right along with it.
We were all impacted in previously unimaginable ways during the early months of the pandemic. Aside from the illness itself, we were blindsided by the closures of shuls, schools, and businesses. Without getting into the messy details, suffice to say the damage to our families, our finances, and our infrastructure are still being felt today. Again, this post isn't intended to be a post-mortem.
Chochom einov b'roishoi: we need to look to our future pragmatically. We have the gift of having a pretty good idea of what's headed our way, and we have the benefit of having experienced it in the recent past to help us prepare for it. Whether it's preparing your family or business for possible upcoming shortages, or working with your schools and shuls to create resources that were sorely needed in March and April, the time to act is now. With preparation, we can help mitigate the challenges ahead, and maybe even create some opportunities for our communities and businesses to grow.
I don't have a lot of answers, or even a lot of ideas. I just hope this post sparks positive, proactive conversations that benefit us all.
Bill Gates isn't always right, but if he is here, we should be prepared:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/bill-gates-coronavirus-fallCuomo has shown that rational thought will not be part of the equation, and lockdowns will be used in extreme ways. The election results may or may not make things worse, with national mandates in play, as well as the possibility of state governments reacting harshly to results they don't like. The WHO's memo on lockdowns possibly having negative results seems to have been a blip in the media, and will probably be largely ignored by governments who face rising numbers and potentially over-stressed hospital systems.
