Wednesday, January 13, 2020
How does a community measure its ability to respond to an emergency: such as a hurricane? A chemical spill? The Covid crisis? The CDC developed a “social vulnerability index” (SVI) based on 15 factors from Census tract information. Tracts can be just a few blocks or a large area depending on the population.
Massachusetts created an interdisciplinary advisory panel to prioritize who gets the Covid vaccinations first. It used the CDC SVI and the data from communities suffering from Covid. The State Advisory Panel included epidemiologists, state personnel, and religious and bioethics people, usually the last to get asked anything.
The questions raised in Massachusetts affect all of us here in New Jersey: who gets it first? The doctors and nurses? People over 75? What about the orderly who scrubs out the place? These are issues we still face and we need more than state functionaries making these important decisions.
Prayer for the Week
O God of tenderness and compassion, we are often bewildered,
For in our world we see such callousness toward one another,
And we are afflicted by our careless acts against the Earth.
Confused and unconsoled, we are uncertain of the goals we set.
Save us from our false pride that admits no wrong,
And teach us humility and forgiveness.
We ask this in the name of him who forgave us all,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
Thoughts for the Day
I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the Last Judgment. It happens every day.
- Albert Camus, philosopher (1913-1960)