Our COVID Choice - Walk the Next Hill or Climb Another Mountain

 by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

As of today, the United States’ new COVID-19 cases are up 11% over last week. New York, Michigan, and Pennsylvania are leading the charge up yet another statistical hill of misery.

If you want a glimpse of our immediate future, check out the trends in Europe right now. They always seem to lead the way. Europe is up 17% over the prior week for new cases. France is up 82%; Spain is up 59%; Switzerland is up 50%; the Netherlands is up 49%; and, Portugal is up 46%.

We don't have to wait for those numbers to arrive here before taking more precautions again. We have relatively cheap in-home rapid test kits. We have masks to wear in congregate settings. We have an ample supply of vaccines and booster shots, even for all but our youngest children. We know how to take precautions if we were not so damn tired of having to live like this. Collectively speaking, we can take precautions and climb the next hill with relative ease, or abandon precautions and face scaling a mountain of new cases.

I will do my part to make things as easy as possible and hope everyone else agrees to do the same.