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| (L) Mask burning in Boro Park - (R) Heshy Tischler (Metro) |
The reason for that is very simple. COVID is as of yet not a fully known entity. It is perhaps one of the most complicated viruses ever encountered. New things seem to be learned about it on a daily basis. Most of them not good. And even those that might seem good on the surface might have negative repercussions that far outweigh the good.
To the best of my knowledge/recollection. We know the following about COVID.
It is one of the most contagious viruses on earth. Most people that are infected with it do not have any symptoms at first and yet are still highly contagious. Some never get any symptoms, and some will get vey sick after a few days of no symptoms. A turn for the worse can happen very suddenly. You can feel fine one moment and in the next moment you will need a ventilator.
It appears that very young people that contract the virus do not get sick at all. But are still contagious.
We also know that about 50%of those infected never get any symptoms – never knowing they had it unless they were somehow tested. Which in most cases they are not. They are very contagious.
People with compromised immune systems, pre existing conditions, and the elderly are at greater risk for serious illness and death. Beginning at about age 50 the risk increases. The older one is, the weaker their immune system is. A 70 year old is in far more danger than a 50 year old. A 90 year old is in far more danger than a 70 year old.
We know that – even though the most vulnerable are older people or have underlying health issues, COVID infected people can become seriously ill and die at any age – even if there are no underlying health issues.
We now know that this is not strictly a respiratory disease. The virus can affect the entire organ system… and shut it down.
We now know that in many cases there is permanent damage to ones heath in a variety of possible ways – including brain damage. That can happen to anyone at any age.
We know that in there has been 1.6 million deaths worldwide from COVID so far. And the numbers seem to be growing exponentially. All of us know people – some of them prominent community leaders - that have gotten very sick and in some cases have died. In some cases even those who were careful to follow health guidelines.
We now know that this virus is airborne and can last for several hours in the form of tiny aerosol droplets. Which can travel up to 30 feet in the air and stay there for a substantial amount of time.
It is for these reasons (and probably a few more that I couldn’t think of at the moment) that all public health professionals insist that we adhere to the guidelines they recommend to prevent getting infected. Even though they are not foolproof, they do reduce the chances of getting infected substantially.
The primary rule governing this is to stay away from other people as much as possible since there is no way of knowing whether they are infected and contagious. And to wear a mask that covers the face and nose whenever one is unavoidably around other people – even if they are 6 feet away. (Which we now know is not always enough distance because of aerosol droplets.)
With all of this going on, I do not see how anyone can be cavalier about this disease. And in some cases completely ignore it.
I know the arguments. One of the more frequent arguments being the following. Since most people that get it don’t die and mostly do not even get that sick – if at all, why must we all suffer these inconvenient rules? If they get affected – so what? The vast majority will do just fine. Let the vulnerable among us be careful and let the rest of us get on with our lives!
The problem is with the word ‘most’. What is an acceptable risk? How many people are we willing to sacrifice on the altar of convenience? Even if all vulnerable people are quarantined or isolated from everyone else, with a disease that is as contagious as COVID there is absolutely no way of knowing if any of the rest of us are going to be added to the list of over 1.6 million people that have died from it so far?
How is that an acceptable risk in anyone’s mind? If not for COVID, they would all still be alive. Do we just say that this is a risk worth taking? Let a few of us die a horrible death so that the rest can live without being inconvenienced?
Then there is the argument that we all live with risks that are far more likely to end death than with COVID. Even if that’s true, since when is adding more risk to our lives a good idea when taking preventative measures which are not that difficult.
There are however decent arguments to be minimally lenient about risk. Such as going to work in order to provide for one’s family... or children going to school, …or going to Shul. Should all such activity be banned order to maximize our safety?
The answer there is no. While it is true that some risk is associated with those things, they are too valuable to abandon. So they should be allowed. But not without minimizing as much as possible the dangers associated with them. Which means following the guidelines designed for each.
That is why people have gone back to work, and schools and Shul have reopened. In each case precautions were put in place to minimize the risk. wearing a mask, being as socially distanced as possible, creating pods in schools… all have been determined by health experts an acceptable method of minimizing risk in those situations.
The all too obvious problem is that far too many people are not willing to follow the rules for reasons that are selfish. in some cases completely abandoning them as noted on Rabbi Slifkin’s blog.
That has given rise to a serious Chilul HaShem in places like Boro Park. One fellow by the name of Heshy Tischler has been inciting angry chasdic crowds to violence - telling the them to shout 'Moser' at Jacob Kornbluh - a responsible Chasdic reporter that informed the government about these serious violations. Moser? He is a hero that probably saved some lives!
This is all common sense to me. This pandemic is not over. It will not be over until infection rates are reduced to insignificant numbers. That will be aided by a vaccine when it becomes available to the public. If enough people are vaccinated and become immune herd immunity will take place. When that happens we will finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief and go back to the normal we all crave. Untll then we must hunker down – like it or not.