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The U.S. set two disturbing records on Wednesday with more than 200,000 new coronavirus infections reported nationwide and 100,000 patients hospitalized in just one day. This brings the nation’s total to 14 million coronavirus cases and 272,000 fatalities since February. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said yesterday that the next three months are “going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.”
We are running out of adjectives to describe this crisis: Staggering, sobering, harrowing, and heart-wrenching are just a few that come to mind as we enter deeper into a dark winter of suffering, loss, and hardship. But even as we wait for the arrival of at least two highly effective vaccines in the spring, we still possess the agency to mitigate the worst of this crisis. Right now the United States most needs drastic changes in individual behavior and changes in political leadership and policy.
A recent study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington found that if nearly all Americans were to wear facemasks when they leave their homes, we could save well over 100,000 lives, and perhaps more than half a million, through the end of February. As we have long argued, wearing a mask and practicing social distancing is a matter of discipleship, a Matthew 25 and Golden Rule imperative. And the bold leadership of pastors and faith leaders could be a game changer in depoliticizing mask wearing and persuading people to do what is right. But this message needs to be more boldly preached from the pulpit, taught in Sunday school, and reinforced through personal relationships — all of which can be done virtually.
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