COVID-19, A Personal Journey

ALL POSTS PRIOR TO 2021 HAVE NOT BEEN REVIEWED NOR APPROVED BY ANY FIRM OR INSTITUTION, AND REFLECT ONLY THE PERSONAL VIEWS OF THE AUTHOR.

A friend's mother has gone blind due to COVID-19. Other friends have been hospitalized. A few colleagues I've shared dinners with, enjoyed conversations with at various conferences, and accompanied on visits to the U.S. Congress, have died.

Me? Sheltered at home. Old bears and pandemics don't get along. Yet, the risk still exists. My wife, Cathy, goes to the grocery stores during hours when there is far less traffic (and wears a mask). My daughters visit, and even though they are also hunkered down for the most part, every contact they possess is also a potential chain to which my wife and I may be exposed. (To their credit, when they fear they may have been exposed, my daughters stop their visits, for 14 days.)

I read of 20% of Major League Baseball games being cancelled, due to COVID-19 spread among some teams, despite millions of dollars spent to ensure players' safety. I read of 6,000 college students catching COVID-19 in recent months, despite mitigation efforts. I read scientific research demonstrating just how transmissible COVID-19 is, and just how dangerous (mortality risk, and damage to one's health) the infection can be. And I read that there is still much we don't know about COVID-19.

I see the stress evident - among family members, among my students, and among my clients. Fear. Anger. Anxiety. Depression.

Yet, I know there is hope. More and more Americans are understanding that wearing masks and practicing social distancing is a personal responsibility, and a responsibility to each other. Three major Phase III trials are underway, and more are to come, with a hope for a vaccine by late 2020 or early 2021. Hundreds of therapeutics are under investigation, and a few have already been approved for use - thereby slightly lowering the mortality risk.

Each week brings new insights. Ideas are received from my students. I learn of "best techniques" for online and hybrid learning, and I work diligently to implement them. Plans for the Fall semester continue to be adjusted.

As a nation, the United States has seen more deaths from COVID-19 than that seen from the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf, and Afghanistan wars combined. And more deaths will come, before we defeat this.

We will prevail. Not undamaged. Not without grief. Not without remorse over actions that could have been taken to lessen risks to our fellow citizens, but were not.

We will prevail. And, confronting this challenge will change us, as a nation. Perhaps in ways we don't fully understand at present.

We will prevail. Embrace hope. Reach out and assuage another's fear, or grief. Guide others when appropriate. For together, we can persevere.