Subtitle: An Ever-Pandemic Age?
In a recent post (A Coronavirus Chronicle #6, May 1, 2020), I pondered the thought of another who wrote of a “post-pandemic age.” I concluded, writing: “I wonder whether we, the human race – now standing, indeed, for years, having stood, perhaps unawares, on the threshold of a worldwide new-normal – ever will live in a post-pandemic age.”
I am not a virologist.
I am not an epidemiologist.
I am not a biostatistician.
Nevertheless, as an intense observer of life and human nature and as an inveterate questioner, I ask:
As the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and the COVID-19 (aka SARS-CoV-2), each and all, are members of the same novel coronaviral family, is it possible that we have yet to meet all of their equally highly infectious siblings or relatives?
If so, then, adopting an oceanic metaphor, is it possible that SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 are successive waves, portending others yet to lash (crash onto) our human existential shore?
If so, then, as 9/11, though a historical (that is, past) event of grave tragedy, led to ongoing changes, indeed, restrictions in our living, along the ever-present fault line of individual liberty and communal safety – for example, how we travel, how we build and secure our private residences and public establishments, how we conduct (indeed, insure, that is, regulate the risk of) commerce, how we allocate and manage our federal budget (remember when there was no Department of Homeland Security?) – is it possible that there are more regulations to come, for example, continued, even periodic orders for social distancing and quarantine and, when a vaccine becomes available, the necessity of bearing proof of immunization?
I don’t know. Therefore, in terms of a slangy acronym, I’m not IJS (I’m just saying), but rather IJA (I’m just asking).
occasional observations of mind and heart, soul and spirit 
That’s a great question. As many agencies are starting to look at how to bring employees back to work safely… lots of changes are coming and likely here to stay. For example, I’ve already seen plans for limits in elevators to 4 people, one in each corner standing on a line and no one standing in the middle. Limiting how many people can be in the break room at the same time & staggering breaks. For buildings with multiple stairwells on different sides of bldgs- one will be only for going up and the other only for walking down so that no two people pass each other… corridors will be one way if possible like grocery store aisles.. and once those things are enacted they will likely be permanent.
Keep asking those questions. Life as we know it is a thing of the past I think. I received a lot of emails this afternoon about the security officer killed at a Dollar store after asking a woman where her face mask was. That won’t be the only instance of that either I don’t think. I spent a lot of time calming some of my former trainees down. Scary stuff!! ALL OF IT!!
❤️❤️
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Loretta, I agree with you that “lots of changes are coming and likely here to stay.”
In this regard, I was talking with a friend yesterday who is working on a local task force to design rules of re-engagement for reopening churches for in-person worship. One of my observations to her is that in many (if not most) of the various protocols that I’ve read the subtext of the methodology(logies) seems predicated on an either-or premise. That is, either the enterprise (be it church or commercial establishment) remain closed or reopen (that is, go back to the pre-pandemic normal). I further observed: “I don’t see much in the way of saying, ‘There may be a new set of normals, for we won’t be able to go back to the way things were.'” I said none of it as criticism, for this work is extremely hard for many reasons. Among them, no one size can fit all, whether a church community or a business. At the same time, she assured me that this – the old days are gone – was at the center of the group’s realization and work…
I share all this because I see in what you’re writing a conscious awareness of life being different, very different going forward.
Now, as for the shooting and killing of Mr. Munerlyn at the Michigan Family Dollar store – Lord, have mercy. As I read the story, apparently words were exchanged between Mr. Munerlyn and the daughter of the woman whose son has been charged with the crime. An argument is no (never a) justification for violence. Still, I wonder with all the tension and unrest in individuals, families, and communities due to the pandemic, is it possible that folk, on the verge of states reopening for business, are standing on a sharper razor’s edge of anxiety and anger than the norm. Our whole world – metaphorically and literally – has changed overnight. Some of us, being human individuals with our very personal histories, worldviews, attitudes, etc., can handle change more easily or, at least, with greater facility and flexibility. All this said, Mr. Munerlyn’s death is tragic and wholly unnecessary.
In this, carry on in the comforting of your former trainees. And, as you do it, please, take care of yourself.
Love
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I’ll be so interested in how we are going to do church! And everything else for that matter. I can tell you I won’t be going many places at all fro a while!! Not worth it to me!!
❤️
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Yes, amen, by every means, take the greatest care of and for yourself.
Here, in Spartanburg, as our Governor, Henry McMaster, has lifted the restrictions of several of his COVID-19 related Executive Orders, in an effort to re-open the state’s economy, we have seen folk gathering in groups, thus, not practicing physical-distancing, not wearing masks or protective gloves (and, otherwise, going back to the old norms of public life). Yes, it is understandable, yet, we believe, unwise, not to mention (but I will!) unhelpful and unhealthy. I pray not to see a spike in infections and deaths, yet I, sadly, expect that to come.
Be well, stay well, and love always
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