I would like to pass along this article from The Washington Post:
At dinner parties and game nights casual American life is fueling the coronavirus surge as daily cases exceed 150,000.
Yesterday, 163,405 people were newly diagnosed with COVID-19 in a single day. That’s a 73% increase from the daily cases average two weeks ago.
Yesterday, 1,171 loved ones died from COVID-19 in a single day. That’s a 33% increase from the daily loss of life average two weeks ago.*
Hospitals are pushed beyond capacity. This is difficult for COVID-19 patients, of course, but it also ends up impacting people with other health emergencies. And it delays necessary surgeries that people need.
When we meet and gather indoors (a task that is understandably desired) it is dangerous because these kinds of gatherings are fueling this spread. It’s difficult to sacrifice this, especially as it stretches on, but we need to keep making wise choices.
This is difficult to grapple with, but it’s not overdramatic. It’s true:
Sometimes people connected to us end up dying — people who weren’t even at the dinner party.Sometimes people connected to us end up experiencing long-term disability (a higher percentage than people who die) — people who weren’t even at the game night.
This is tough, but we are in a tough collective situation. It requires tough individual actions.
ur collective mental health is waning too, which is no small thing. How can we support ourselves and each other and making these necessary choices, but also feeling connected?
We’ll have to be creative in choosing what is much less risky.
But first we have to believe this:
What we’re doing is risky.
*My numbers come from the New York Times daily COVID-19 accounting:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
