It’s time to hole up.
Not out of fear, but out of prudence and responsibility.
This covid isn’t anything we can’t handle, but it’s not something we should play with either, and we shouldn’t let political pissing matches or pig headedness get in the way of good common sense.
And good common sense says it’s time to protect our families, our jobs, our hospitals and our communities.
And we do all those things by stepping back and hunkering down, by staying at the house and keeping the virus away from our loved ones.
Again, that’s not an act of submission to the politicians and stethoscope wearers, it’s an act of individual responsibility and self-reliance. It’s the smart thing to do, a duty owed by spouses to one another and parents to children. We are to take care of our own – of our blood or of our community, it is a moral obligation – and we must do this now to responsibly take care of our own.
At this stage of the fight with the virus, sick people and hospitalizations are rising faster than they ever have. That trend is very likely to continue and intensify. The seasonality of the virus – it comes during the winter and goes during the summer – and the echoing of Halloween and Thanksgiving, are combining to set us up for ever more sick people and even greater stresses on hospital capacities.
Yes, nearly a half a dozen vaccines are on the way, and that is a happy miracle. But the true impact of that won’t be felt until next fall, when a broadly vaccinated or immune population will stave off the surge of a year from now. Relief likely comes with spring, as April slides into May and the new season brings a falloff in transmission.
But until then, we’re kind of on our own.
Yes, various governors will have various plans and there will be arguments about schools and restaurants and businesses. The new administration may have a new approach and each night the evening news will bring us one more briefing, plan or lecture from officials high or low.
But it’s not really about them, it’s about you. About us. About how the free people of the United States choose to live. Recklessly and ill, or prudently and well. We each are in charge of and responsible for ourselves. We are the masters of our lives.
And with freedom comes responsibility.
And we each have to take care of our own. And recognize that our personal and family choices will do more than any government mandate to protect our health and determine our role in the next five or six months of this pandemic.
At this point, across the country, it seems that the virus is significantly transmitting in small, at-home gatherings, and in large retail settings. It’s when we have people over, and when we go shopping. That’s when we face risk, and sometimes that’s when we let down our guard.
Fortunately, both situations are largely within our control, and we can use our freedom to mitigate the risk and avoid catching or passing the virus.
Small, in-home gatherings are simply family and friends who come over, or who we go to visit. We naturally believe these innocent visits are harmless – because they always have been, and because they can be socially very positive. But in state after state now, this is where the dragon is coming into our lives. It is undeniable that no matter how healthy we think our friends or relatives are, risk walks with them through the front door. And risks walks with us when we go through their front door.
So we stop those visits until spring.
We hole up. We call, we Zoom, we call some more and send some texts. Heck, we could even write letters. But we don’t go visiting, and we don’t have visitors over.
Including at Christmas. Including on New Year.
We took the hit on Easter and Mother’s Day, and we can do it again.
And we recognize that going shopping is something that should be done intelligently, purposefully and rarely. For the rest of the winter, shopping cannot be a social or recreational activity. It cannot be a family activity, we’ve got to go solo. We should make lists, we should go no more than once a week, and hopefully less than that. We should get our groceries and other necessities in a virally defensive manner. Stay away from other people, slather on the disinfectant, don’t linger. Get in and get out and get home.
Especially at the so-called big-box retail and grocery stores, where square feet and people come in high numbers.
In most parts of the country, that’s where people are getting sick, in their homes and at the stores.
When somebody is shooting at you, you duck. When the house is on fire, you get out. When there is a burglar, your rack the shotgun. And when there is a virus about, you hole up and hunker down.
Not because you’re afraid, but because you’re smart.
Not because you’re compliant, but because you’re free.
Not because you are weak, but because you are strong.
You are in charge of you, and you can do much to determine your fate and your impact on loved ones and others.
So sit this one out. Go to work, go to school, but otherwise keep yourself away from people. Keep your germs to yourself.
If more of us do that, we’ll come out the other side of this fine.