The Pandemic Blues, Part 10: What the pandemic took – and is still taking – from us

The pandemic has taken a lot from us, as this column, first published in September, shows – and it’s still robbing us of a heckuva lot of daily activities that we once took for granted, including shaking friends’ and colleagues’ hands.
Much of the blame is twofold: The nation’s failure to have a cohesive national policy to combat the virus, and having two vastly different responses to the pandemic:
* HANDS-OFF APPROACH: This is being taken by the president and his allies, who are insisting that the virus – despite spreading like wild fires in dozens and dozens of states – is winding down. The president’s unsupported and often-repeated rhetoric that the nation is “rounding the turn” on the virus even as cases continue to skyrocket nationwide is hurting the country's ability to control the virus.
The result has been a complete lack of interest by the federal government in continuing to fight the virus, which is basically a laissez-faire approach. It was especially disheartening to hear White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows declare on Sunday, Oct. 25 that “we’re not going to control the pandemic” and only rely on a vaccine, which in reality is months, not weeks, away from being ready for Americans. That non-response is extremely sad and bodes ill for the short- and long-term health of the country.
* A NEW LOCKDOWN? On the other extreme are those health experts who want to roll back most, if not all, of the reopenings, which would not only deal a lethal blow to the economy, but also would drive the bulk of the working and middle classes, who are trying desperately to survive this pandemic, completely over the edge.
So now, nine months into the pandemic, we have a deeply divided United States of America – we’ve never “been in this all together” as the slick slogan wrongly asserts. We’ve instead been left with an either-or response by the 50 states. States such as Florida have done away with most, if not all, virus restrictions, while many governors in the Northeast, who have been overall trying to balance economic needs with virus control, are threatening to lock down again, as they constantly lecture and scold their residents --- and pit state after state instead of doing something wild and crazy: COOPERATE WITH A REGIONAL APPROACH that balances economic needs with health concerns.
WHERE’S THE MIDDLE APPROACH? What we’re missing – and desperately need – is a MIDDLE, COMMON-SENSE approach that entails keeping many restrictions in place, but allows access to many activities and daily functions with social-distancing and mask-wearing.
We won’t get that, because we lack a leader who can lead the ENTIRE COUNTRY and not just his party or supporters.
And the looming election only makes most Americans fearful of the chaos, rioting and violence that may follow the election – no matter who gets in. We had better hope and pray that somehow Americans will wise up – otherwise all that we’ve been missing, including what’s listed here, will be gone forever.
God help us all!

This column was published in the September edition of Jewish Rhode Island, a monthly published in Providence, RI

It was just a few months ago, in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when families had to come up with alternatives to big Seders for Passover. Now, with the High Holiday season approaching later this month, many of those same families will have to devise work-arounds to the traditional Rosh Hashanah family dinners and other New Year gatherings.  
That planning will be just the latest example of how much our world has been changed by the pandemic.
Indeed, after months of being deprived of what once were considered “normal” activities, it’s easy to forget just how much has been taken from us. Beyond its most tragic and chilling effects – the nearly 200,000 deaths in the United States from the disease as of early September -- the pandemic has transformed just about every aspect of our lives.
To recall just how far-reaching our losses have been, close your eyes as you dip your Rosh Hashanah challah or apple into honey and think ahead to what may be in store for us in 5781. As you pray for better days ahead, try to imagine how vastly different the last six months would have been had we never heard of COVID-19. In that alternative reality, our lives would have unfolded like this:
* Hearty Seder meals would have been enjoyed by several generations of families, meals that would have started and ended with warm hugs.
* Students would have finished their school year on time after a particularly mild winter, and remote learning would have been reserved for colleges that offer online courses.
* High school and college graduations would have taken place in May and June instead of in July and August and virtually, if at all.
* March Madness would have referred to basketball, and not to the world being thrust into chaos by a highly contagious virus.
* Area colleges would without question be getting ready to welcome their students back on campus, and many of those colleges wouldn’t have had to not only cancel the fall and winter sports seasons, but they wouldn’t have had to permanently eliminate sports such as golf, cross country, tennis, volleyball and lacrosse, thus depriving their undergrads of a key component of college life.
* Road races, including the 124^th Boston Marathon, and other major charity events would have been able to take place, and we would never have known what it means to “run” a race virtually.
* The Pan-Mass. Challenge would have gone off without a hitch this summer, and the other major event to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund, the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk in the fall, would still allow participants to cover the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon course instead of being confined to their neighborhoods as part of yet another virtual fundraiser.
 * Scores of small, independently-owned businesses, museums, theaters and restaurants would not be on the brink of collapse, a situation that has many cities in danger of turning into ghost towns.
* Our economy wouldn’t be in serious danger of slipping into a mild depression in the not-too-distant future – and our political leaders would have found things to bicker about other than trillion-dollar relief packages.
* My longtime barber, and not my wife, would be trimming my beard and mustache.
* Masked people walking into banks, stores or service stations would trigger burglar alarms instead of being viewed as a necessary requirement to go shopping.
* Taylor Swift would have been one of many entertainers to give concerts before 60,000-plus fans at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro this summer, and sports fans would have never heard of playing games in a bubble or with piped-in crowd noise.
* Pawtucket Red Sox fans would have been able to savor the team’s final summer at McCoy Stadium.
*Vacations that included out-of-state travel wouldn’t have been canceled, and during a hot summer, the seashore of the Cape, Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire would have remained popular destinations instead of becoming flash points for governors and local officials to impose tighter restrictions aimed at keeping tourists away.
* Parents would be focused on finding the best back-to-school sales instead of wondering and worrying about how safe it is for their kids to go to back to the classrooms.
* A hybrid model would refer to the latest electric-gas car manufactured by automakers, and not to a mix of in-school and online learning.
* Long-established clothing-store chains wouldn’t have had to declare bankruptcy because very few people are getting dressed up to go into work these days.
* Those of us who raised kids in the 1990s and early 2000s would still think of “Zoom” as a popular PBS show (extra credit if you know the words to the “Zoom” theme song) and would be blissfully unaware of its meaning as an indispensable online crowd-sharing platform.
Yes, we really did lose all that – and a whole lot more. It’s hard to believe we’ve been missing so many once-integral parts of our former lives.
That’s what happens when for months we’ve been forced to forgo many of the things that make us human, and government has exiled us to a virtual purgatory that has led to our isolated existence broken up by only periodic glimpses of our former “normal” lives.
As a result, as we approach Rosh Hashanah, we’re praying for our loved ones’ health and safety, as well as worrying about how many more aspects of our lives that we once took for granted we’ll lose to this modern-day biblical plague that shows no signs of going away.