As we wait for a vaccine to immunize us against COVID-19, it seems we have become inoculated to the horror of death. That can be the only explanation as coronavirus cases and related deaths skyrocket in West Virginia and throughout the nation.
At some point, COVID deaths became such a standard part of our daily reality that we now look at the numbers of the deceased with a kind of echo of despair: We know, logically, that it is a tragedy, but we no longer experience the sharp sting of repulsion, the empathetic pang of loss. It’s understandable, to an extent. We cannot carry the grief of 978 West Virginians’ deaths, almost 300,000 Americans’ deaths and over 1.6 million global deaths. The weight of it would crush us.
But we must also remember that behind these numbers are real people. Flesh and blood humans who are now gone, with friends and family left behind to mourn them. Our actions have real consequences, the worst of which is death, the least of which is thousands of businesses closed and millions of jobs lost.
At this point, it feels like the only solution to stop this avalanche of COVID-19 fatalities may be to shut everything down while we wait for a vaccine to become widely available. We know that sounds scary, and, yes, we have seen the economic catastrophe caused by earlier partial shutdowns. But in West Virginia, we saw our cases plateau during our shutdown. We also see Australia and New Zealand with virtually no new COVID cases caused by community spread. Both countries implemented strict lockdowns early, led by bipartisan government efforts cooperating at the state and federal level and health experts at the helm. Both countries also gave significant help to individuals and businesses to survive the economic fallout. Australia and New Zealand created financial safety nets that allowed people to stay home. And the numbers of cases and deaths shows their approaches worked. When calculated as a percent of the population, 4.96% of Americans have/had COVID-19; 0.04% of New Zealanders; and 0.11% of Australians. Australia had a total of 908 deaths as of Monday, according to numbers from Johns Hopkins. New Zealand only had 25 total deaths.
A closed business can be resurrected; a deceased person is gone forever.
This is the decision we must make as a country: Do we prioritize lives by preventing COVID-19-related death, or do we prioritize livelihoods by keeping businesses open? In absence of a coherent national response — like the ones in Australia and New Zealand — it falls upon individual Americans to make choices that protect our communities. But to make the safest choices, the most compassionate choices, we must not let ourselves become desensitized to the horror and tragedy of death.
Too many people have shrugged their shoulders and said “I’ll take my chances with COVID. I’m pretty sure I’ll survive.” And they may. But the people they infect may not. To those who are confident they have nothing to fear from COVID, we have a request: When you choose not to wear a mask in public or not to social distance or to attend a gathering without the appropriate precautions or dozens of other risky behaviors, please ask yourself, “How many people am I willing to kill with this choice?”
