A Tale of Two Countries in One, with the Same Problem

Much of my family lives in Texas, while I and my brother both reside in Maryland with our spouses and children.  The state of Maryland has shut down most venues for public gathering, restricted restaurants to take out only, and prohibited assemblies of ten or more people to stem the curve of infection.  The state has testing sites, but you must exhibit symptoms to be tested. 
In Texas, in the Houston area, anyone who wishes to be tested can be.  I don’t know why one state has access to anyone and the other limited, but in Texas, masses restarted last weekend. I have to hope my home state is right in its implementation of policy, because they just bet the lives of all who might be compromised on that plan.  We’ll know in fourteen days or so, if they guessed right.   I hope they did.   

My mother called to tell me how happy she was to receive, and I sat wondering, am I afraid, or is my home state being imprudent?  My mom falls into the vulnerable class of people most affected by Covid19 because of her age.  I admit to mixed feelings, because I want normal, I want people to be able to get haircuts and go to movies and I miss mass. I miss all the things that would have crowded up my schedule and our lives and now aren’t and I know, I’m not alone.  

I wonder what is the right course and don’t envy those in position to recommend policy.  I look at the numbers for Maryland, for DC, for Virginia, and for Texas.  Right now, for every three thousand or so we test in Maryland, a thousand are found to have the disease.  While the number hospitalized has decreased, and the number released from the hospital have increased, until the initial diagnosis statistic starts dropping and stays dropped, we won’t be out of this.  I wonder how many false starts we’ll have as a nation because we want normal, and I also wonder, how long can we as a world, bear this isolation. 

Driving out for necessities, the world reveals, it is not waiting, it wants something other than staying at home all the time and what feels like a listless slog from day to day and meal to meal.  We want celebrations and fairs and sports and ordinary people watching. We want to have places to go and people to see and the distinction between work and home to once more be distinct.   On the internet, we see evidence that people are driving, going to parks, and pushing against the regulations, and also arguing against them.

The problem with these demonstrations is, it won’t be only those who protest who pay the consequence of this pandemic. In this circumstance, carelessness or playing fast and loose with interpretations can lead to someone going to the hospital or worse.  It sounds alarmist, because the reality is alarming.  This is a Kobayashi Maru scenario in which it will be a test of our nation’s character as to whether we exercise good will because we value the health of all, or we admit to the triumph of the will over the public good, because we value liberty more.  It is not something that squares neatly with our values as a nation, because we value both liberty to do and go as we will, and profess to be not merely a nation but a united nation that values the public good.  We don’t always live up to the ideals of our nation, both as individuals, and as a nation, and here is a time when we as a nation are wrestling with what will define us for generations to come.   Will we sacrifice for others, or will we opt to sacrifice others?