This viral infection and our response seem to me to be full of irony.  So, here goes just some observations and questions.   

My wife is a non-practicing nurse, retired, and unable to work BUT if she was, I would truly be concerned for her heath.  I saw on the news that over 50 medical doctors in Italy have died due to the virus.  A friend wrote that when a potential patient arrived at a Kenya hospital thinking he had the virus, the staff retreated since they had neither the equipment nor protection. 

I stand in awe of those serving and am so thankful for them.  I am grateful for the actions of our government.  I am fearful that if the virus spreads into the countries of limited resources, we will see a catastrophe the likes of which we have never seen. 

I have always been impressed by hearing the prayers of my African friends and colleagues.  I asked about that one time and was told, “We have to pray.  We have nothing else.  The electric is unreliable, water only comes through the municipal pipes once or twice a week, the roads are bad, corruption is rampant, health care is largely sporadic and unavailable to many of us.”  I pray when I take my daily five mile hikes.

Questions: A few of many, that I would like to ask…

1.       Once infected, are you immune to further infections?  Do we know?  For how long?

2.       What about those taking care of those infected who are at home?  How do they protect themselves? 

3.       Government bailout:  Why should a corporation even receive a bailout?  Government deciding which corporations receive grants and loans sounds a lot like government control.

4.       Is Canada, Denmark, and the UK wealthier than the United States?   Canada is providing C$1,800 per family per month for at least 16 weeks.  Denmark and the UK are providing 75% of wage earners salaries.  I know $1,200 is a lot of money for some, but it really is not much. 

5.       When I visit Meijer it does not seem like much of a “lock down” to me?  When I visit Alger Hardware and Care Link I am met at the door with a questionnaire or refused entry?  Where is common sense?  We need thousands of examples of people practicing common sense solutions.

6.       This is a world crisis, but our news media seems to focus pretty exclusively on us.  What can we learn from South Korea and Singapore for example?  What is happening in other parts of the world?  What is the US doing to help other countries…if anything?

7.       What about our prison population?  High density military quarters? 

8.       I would love to hear more of our faith leaders speak out!  Where are they?

9. I can’t help wondering if Universal Health Care would not have done a better job dealing with this pandemic rather than our present ad hoc system? 

 I want to end this with a quote from Martin Luther, sent to me by a friend

A response from Martin Luther to a plague in the 1500s “I shall ask God to mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and people where my presence is not needed in order to not become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence”  sounds like good advice coming from the CDC nearly 500 years later.

Isaiah 26: 20 “Come my people, enter your chamber, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the wrath is past.