Covid casualties

2020 will go down in history—even though we would rather forget it—as the year that the fabric of society frayed maybe never to be the same.

Athletic contests from the Olympics to high school football were cancelled or postponed. Rituals that bind us together in times of joy and sadness, funerals, weddings, graduations, and especially church services, were deemed too risky to hold. Quarantine and isolation proved deadly those in congregate living situations and dangerously difficult for people struggling with psychological and addiction issues.

Education was upended. Schools try valiantly to find ways to replace the daily personal interaction with teachers that sparks achievement in so many children with “virtual learning”. Indeed, those already challenged may have been hurt the most. Homeschoolers, though, never missed a beat.

Modest local festivals that build communities also fell victim to the virus. Field Day of the Past, the iconic celebration of our rural heritage, was forced to call off its finale. Perhaps Rassawek, at the upper end of the county far from development pressures, will fill this void in Goochland culture. The rebirth of the Goochland Day tradition, which was postponed from May, has been cancelled for October.  Its organizers are optimistic that it will be held, with a parade, in May 2021.

Halloween, falling on a Saturday with a full moon, a rare occurrence for trick or treaters, will be observed with drive-through events, or not at all.

Macy’s Thanksgiving parade will be “Television only” whatever that means. The iconic ball in Times Square will “drop” over deserted streets below.

Our world has become virtual. We meet, if at all, via screens, terrified that we might catch ’rona.

Does anyone know what will end the pandemic? Governor Northam claims he is following the data and the science. The data is vague at best. Daily numbers reported by the Virginia Department of Health allegedly represent statistics entered by 5 p.m. the previous day. How old the data may be is never mentioned, or questioned, by the media. Recently, a “backlog” in death data was acknowledged.  Does that mean someone noticed data that was never entered into the VDH database? On September 23, VDH reported 29 new deaths statewide with 36 of those attributed to “outbreaks” in congregate living populations and no explanation for the disparity.

Governor Northam condescendingly wagged his fingers during press conferences warning against “letting our guard down” against the virus, yet he and the first lady test positive. Wonder when those positives will be included in the VDH daily data dump.

Seemingly unable to count and report accurately—though never mentioning how timely the numbers are—the VDH still allegedly found the time and resources to send minors in Virginia postcards guiding them to websites providing explicit information about “the birds and bees”  to the horror of many parents.

The science is ever-changing. Will a vaccine enable people return to what passes for normal even if only a fraction of the population is inoculated? Have we become so paranoid that masks will be a permanent part of our wardrobes when venturing out of our homes? If so, will that reduce the severity and spread of seasonal flu? No one really knows, but opinions flow freely over the interwebs.

Looking back a year hence will we wonder why we went along with lock downs and cancellations, or be glad we did?

Will the businesses that struggled be able to recover? Will would be entrepreneurs shy away from risk- taking to the detriment of the economy?

No one wants to get sick or infect others. Has the entire pandemic narrative been a distraction for something else?

Or, will this all go away after the election? As the days grow shorter, the year gets stranger.

Comment from reader:

Great effort, although missing one essential ingredient. We, the people must not lose sight of what we had before the Pandemic and the attempt to dislodge the government of this great nation.  The overturn of our government is not going to disappear in a puff of medications, or the evaporation of Covid 19.  We must recover our determination to be a Republic, not a shallow socialist state.  Individuals matter, whether black, white or any other color.