It’s been almost eleven months since state authorities began shutting down the old world we once knew. We were overwhelmed at the number of people dying from this disease last March and April, but even though th e rate is not as high as it was then, the number we have lost continues to rise. We are now past 471,000.
Grim, to be sure although the vaccine rollout continues and we pray that the numbers will level off. The underserved continue to be underserved, however. People of color and poverty are getting sicker and dying at a higher rate. Still.
Why aren’t older persons of color getting vaccinated at the same rate as older whites? Some of it’s in the method of getting on the list. Who has internet and who doesn’t. It was the same with the testing in my county. As I sat in my car for almost two hours I looked around—very few persons of color. I had scheduled my test on the internet. We need phone banks to take the calls and get the underserved served.
Prayer for the Day
Questioning how we live, we come to you, O God,
And ask how is it that so many are ill and have little help?
But often we do not want to hear your response
For we know the answers spoken through prophets.
Write a new covenant on our hearts, O God,
A covenant of justice for those we have neglected.
In the name of him who calls us to justice,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.
- Martin Luther King, martyr (1929-1968)
We treat healthcare as a commodity and not a right, which has led to poor social responsibility and fiscal irresponsibility, very far away from its roots as a social service.
- Kat Lahr, Professor in health care management
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
So the mountains would quake at your presence –
As when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil –
To make your name known to your adversaries,
So that the nations might tremble at your presence!
Isaiah 64: 1-2