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Editorial: COVID-19 will not defeat us


It will take more than a virus to defeat Americans, but for the time being it certainly feels as though we are under brutal assault by an alien army that cannot be seen and is detected only through rigorous testing. We are being pummeled by a disease for which there is no known cure and, as in war, the outcome will be determined by our collective willpower to succeed.

First and foremost, we must give up social contact, something that is anathema to most human beings. But that is precisely how COVID-19 wins. It spreads when we share the same space with infected people, some of whom may be asymptomatic.

The country must grind to a virtual stop. No visiting restaurants, bars, movie theaters, or bingo parlors. Church services are on hold, as are weddings, quinceaneras, anniversary celebrations, myriad festivals and sporting contests. Even funerals must be postponed, a fact that has left Italy with untold dead whose families grieve alone.

The fight is a numbers game. Disrupt the steady upward toll of infections and you spread the impact over not just weeks but months. In Uvalde, our hospital has approximately 21 available beds and 12 ventilators. You can imagine how quickly those resources would be overwhelmed if the virus gained a foothold without us taking drastic measures to contain it.

Worst-case scenarios in the U.S. call for 50 percent of the population, more than 150 million people, to be infected, resulting in over a million dead. In that event, hospitals would be overrun and doctors forced to decide who gets the last available ventilator and who dies. No one wants to make that decision.

The countries that have fared the best – China, where it all started, and South Korea – have taken the most draconian measures. Those populations have been placed under the equivalent of martial law, unable to leave their homes except in the most dire circumstances.

Western democracies, particularly we Americans, don’t play well with authoritarian dictates, but we are going to have to bend our will to the greater good. Every day that goes by without slowing the rate of infection is a day that moves us closer to a larger calamity.

Living as we do in a rural city, we may feel isolated, protected from a virus that seems to belong in another world. But it is here. Ten days ago Texas reported seven cases. As of Friday, there were 161 confirmed cases and three deaths. One of those infections occurred in Medina County – our next door neighbor.

Our hope is that each of us will make daily decisions that add to the eventual demise of this unseen enemy. Practice social distancing, shop judiciously (which means no hoarding of products like toilet paper or sanitizer), and if you, or any of your family members, feel any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, seek medical advice. America will certainly survive this rare pandemic, but the timing of that victory depends on the decisions made today by all 327 million of us.

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