We’re all afraid. We’re afraid of  being infected with COVID-19. This pandemic has killed more than 11,000 people in the US (as I write this) and tens of thousands more around the world. Our government has had to place restrictions upon us, extraordinary, restrictions, and most people (last number 93%) were cooperating with what the government has recommended. Some people don’t believe that these social distancing and stay at home orders will, in the long run, do much to mitigate this awful virus. We’re beginning to see that it may be working. We have a way to go, but it’s possible that the worst is coming to an end.

Although the governor of New York reported the highest number of deaths overnight, he also reported that the number of hospitalizations were down significantly. What does that mean? People that had been in the hospital for a time, many on ventilators, had died. What they actually died of (underlying conditions) no one knows currently. But it’s clear that the coronavirus was a contributor to that death. that the number of people entering the hospital has decreased, significantly, is good news – for now. Data is a hard mistress to understand and it will take several more days, maybe weeks, to determine of there is a trend occurring. This seems to be the tale of all of the current hotspots around the country.  It’s now wait and see.

We forget though, I think, about those in the front lines. Those health care workers: doctors, nurses, yes even orderlies, that are risking their health and their lives on a daily basis to save others. It’s not just in hospitals, but clinics and doctors’ offices as well. No matter where any of us live, large urban or small town America, we should thank those that are giving themselves to save their relatives, friends, and neighbors.  Some of them have even died. These are our heroes. What we ask of our military in time of war is being accomplished by men and women who’s only goal is to defeat what our President has referred to as the Invisible Enemy.

There are people that want to point fingers, place blame for this pandemic on someone. That’s human nature and there will be time for us, when this pandemic has passed for all of us to reflect. Right now is not the right time. Politicizing a major health event makes those that do so look petty. They forget the many, many who are risking their lives to  save theirs, only to look to score political points. Here’s what I have to say to those politicians: We will remember.

I’ve been hearing about people in cities, around the world, going outside on their patios, decks, etc., at a certain time of the evening and clapping and shouting out for those that are the true warriors in this fight, thanking them. It would be wonderful if every city, town, and village here in America would do the same. We owe these people so much that we will never be able to repay.