Today is the day that the Covid-19 pandemic precautions end – that is, according to the Federal Government. However, it is also a day we should consider what we need to do in case of a new kind of virus arises, for one will. It is a day when we should consider the kinds of preparations we need to make as a society.
We learned a lot about ourselves over the past three years, some of it not so nice. We learned that we are less community minded than our national mythology says we are. We learned that we responded to more of what we wanted to hear than to science and doctors. We also learned that we are incredibly selfish.
Rebuilding trust in our health institutions and planning agencies will save us when the next viral outbreak occurs. We hadn’t realized how important health care workers are nor how important it is to have the mechanisms for data collection. And we allowed the anti-vaxxers to sow fear based on pseudo-science. We didn’t need to lose over a million people but we did.
Prayer for the Day
Patient God, we know we are not what we say we are,
Focused on our own needs, the needs of others dim before us;
Transform our lives so we hear the world around us,
And help us build a community responding to others.
Open our hearts to your love and our ears to your word,
So we live as if we truly care for those who need us.
In the name of the One who came to show us your way,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen
Thoughts for the Day
This pandemic has magnified every existing inequality in our society – like systemic racism, gender inequality, and poverty.
- Melinda Gates, philanthropist
Benjamin Franklin once famously said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” He also warned, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Even if the next pandemic is inevitable, we do not need to stumble into it blindly.
- Jay Patel and Devi Sridhar, public health professors, Edinburgh
To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, do not refuse to hear me,
For if you are silent to me, I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.
Hear the voice of my supplication, as I cry to you for help,
As I life my ands towards your most holy sanctuary.
Psalm 28: 1-2