Terre Haute Tribune-Star
The sunshine, warm temperatures and blooming scenery look the same. It is that enticing transformation of spring into summer.
Short sleeves, sandals, cookouts, parties, swimming pools and festivals. Yes, our senses view summer of 2020 no differently than any other year.
But this season is indeed different, despite all the invigorating, familiar cues.
COVID-19 has not magically disappeared. It is still lurking.
The pandemic has been called “the invisible enemy.” Our communities must be careful not to consider the disease “the nonexistent enemy.” COVID-19 is real, and it is still infecting residents.
The continuing infections are not necessarily the result of increased testing. Dr. Darren Brucken, the health commissioner in Vigo County, made that clear to the public one night late last week.Brucken delivered a sobering reality check.
“We had eight more (positive cases and) then three more come in later in the day,” he told the Tribune-Star. “And we’re seeing that every day — six positives one day, nine positives another, 10 the next.” Testing is only revealing the truth. “People are getting sick,” Brucken said, succinctly. (In Hancock County, more cases were reported last week than the week before, according to the state’s database.)
This reality comes as the economy reopens. That process is unfolding in phases, a week or month at a time. COVID-19 pays no attention to calendar dates or deadlines, though. A community’s only weapons against the coronavirus, at this point, are the precautions repeated over and over by public health and medical experts — adhering to social distancing, wearing face masks and thorough hygiene practices. Researchers are rapidly working to discover vaccines, but those are months from being available.
Attention must be paid to the health of children, as well. Youngsters were seen as less vulnerable at the onset of the pandemic. Now, cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (or MIS-C) are showing up in kids, attacking their organs. MIS-C tends to arise after COVID-19 cases surge, Brucken explained. Earlier this month, MIS-C cases emerged in Indiana.
A reopening of businesses, public services and facilities is not a signal that coronavirus has vanished. As residents venture into spaces that once were closed under state shutdowns, they need to act accordingly. People who refuse to wear a face mask in a store may infect multiple others. Newly infected men, women and children could then share COVID-19 with an unsuspecting loved one. Folks with diabetes, obesity, respiratory ailments and heart disease should be wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and avoiding public settings, health officials advise.
Instead, too many individuals have abandoned those preventive measures. The signs of summer may have tricked them into letting their guard down. Or, they accept the false narrative that COVID-19’s danger is exaggerated for political reasons. Or, they have become apathetic and are just tired of hearing about it.
Residents must rise above those inclinations.
“Please don’t be apathetic right now,” Brucken warned. “It’s just not the right time for that.”
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