The Pandemic Blues, looking back, Part 2

NOTE: This column was published in early April in The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA. Many of the issues it addresses are still relevant, especially the negative effect of social distancing – as important as that is to limiting the spread of the virus -- on our collective and individual psyches and our overall well-being. 

The longer the pandemic drags on --- due in large part to millions of Americans’ refusal to follow simple health guidelines, including masking and social distancing --- the longer this pandemic will last – and the longer that we will be going without any human interactions as we used to know it, such as hugs and warm greetings of old friends and relatives.
The things that were being prayed for in April --- as outlined here before the spring festivals of Passover, Easter and Ramadan --- are also appropriate prayers for the Jewish New Year and High Holiday period, which started at sundown Friday night (Sept. 18) with the start of the Jewish New Year, and wil draw to a close at sundown Sept. 28 upon the conclusion of the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur.

A New Year’s wish: May we be able to unite and find a way out of this pandemic sooner rather than later.

That, however, is highly doubtful, given how bitterly divided our nation has become – even more so since this pandemic started. The political landscape is especially sickening and alienating, and the news gets worse every day. 

It’d take a modern-day miracle akin to the parting of the Red Sea  to bring us together, given the glee which the right and the left embrace hatred of each other --- selfish behavior that has left the majority of Americans out in the cold and helpless in the face of this pandemic, which has now killed more than 200,000 in the United States.

The April 2020 column follows:

We can all use a hug right now, but we’re not going to get it  --- except virtually, and that’s just not the same thing.
Not by a long shot.
Such is life during a pandemic, and as the calendar turned over to April, we were being told to expect this “new normal” of social distancing to last for a long while as the nation's fight against the coronavirus known as COVID-19 raged on.
Government-mandated restrictions remain in place to varying degrees, with some states having enacted tougher measures than the federal standard, which bars groups of 10 or more people from gathering in one place and recommends that people stay home, at least until April 30.
In Massachusetts, schools and all non-essential businesses are closed until at least May 4, and public gatherings have been limited to 10 people, while we're advised to stay at home. Restaurants can only do take-out and delivery orders.
That means there's no end in sight to our hermit-like existence. Most of those people who still have jobs have been working from home as much as possible, while the rest of us have been venturing  out of our homes only for a walk or jog, supermarket and pharmacy trips or to pick up take-out food. Anyone returning to the state after a prolonged absence is being asked to quarantine for 14 days, and that restriction is mandatory in Rhode Island.
Most of us have been doing the only thing reasonably possible: we've accepted the limitations because we know the lives of our neighbors, friends, relatives and fellow residents depend on it. So we've been trying our darnedest to abide by the advice emanating from our public health authorities, even as we wonder why the United States was so late to take the threat as seriously as was demanded.
While we're doing our part to attempt to contain the virus, we're feeling terribly that so many health care workers and hospitals lack so much basic equipment – notably enough of the proper masks and ventilators.
We nonetheless feel powerless to slow, stop or eradicate the virus, but --- especially with the approach of the major spring religious holidays of Easter (April 12), Passover (sundown April 8-sundown April 16) and Ramadan (April 22) --- even the least religious among us have been rediscovering prayer as a way to restore our faith in humanity and to hold on to even a glimmer of hope.
We're praying – and we're hoping – that:
*  An acceptable and effective vaccine will be found for COVID-19 much sooner than later.
* Health care workers and first responders will be able to keep themselves safe while they strive valiantly to save as many lives as possible.
* The government's leaders at all levels will mirror the action of the Senate and House, which quickly passed the $2 trillion economic aid package, and will resolve to work hard to find common ground to continue to help the millions of Americans who have been hurt by the pandemic.
* Those same leaders from the highest levels of government all the way down to the local level will vow to put the interests of the nation ahead of their own political ambitions.
* The nation's future workforce – students at all levels through college – will be able to return to traditional learning, and that their education won't be hampered because of being forced to go without the classroom, laboratory, extracurricular and athletic activities that they, until recently, took for granted.
* Community fundraisers – including road races, golf tournaments and large charitable events – will be able to be held sooner rather than later so that those non-profits and agencies don't suffer irreparable harm.
* Sporting events at all levels, including summer baseball games, will be able to be enjoyed again by fans – though no leagues should return until and unless it's positively safe to do so. That includes the NFL, whose commissioner, Roger Goodell, is so intent on going ahead with the draft at the end of April that he's threatened disciplinary action against any team that speaks out against the plan.
* The social-distancing measures in place, and our resulting isolation, won't permanently damage our psyches and level of trust in people. Already, most people I've been passing on the road while walking or jogging instinctively flee to the other side of the street and most of them keep their heads down and have no interest in waving, let alone shouting out a “hello.”
* We'll be able to get through all this without being scarred by a fear of human contact, which could very well linger long past the virus threat has abated.
In the meantime, keep on washing your hands; that practice could lead to real handshakes – and hugs – becoming normal greetings again at some unknown point in the future.