Running head: COVID-19
Covid-19: A Pandemic’s Impact
Brittany Horne
HLSC 530 Analysis Critique
Liberty University
Author Note
This author refuses to fall into the gender-neutral web of the politically correct and makes no
apologies for the use of the terms man or mankind, as these terms are not an affront to women.
This author also ardently believes any attempt to translate the Bible using gender-neutral terms is
an insult to Christians.
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Abstract
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give
without pay.” (Matthew 10:8 English Standard Version) It is difficult to get away from the
Covid-19 coverage; it is on everyone’s mind and everyone’s lips. The pandemic traveled across
continents and oceans, in a matter of weeks, from its onset in China to its arrival on America’s
shores. The world stopped traveling, working, worshipping, participating, …as if someone hit
the pause button. As Covid-19 grew, a select league of essential workers, part of America’s
critical infrastructure, stepped up to care for the sick, provide for those in lockdown and manage
a crisis that mutated by the moment. A meme on Facebook put it succinctly,
When the Covid-19 horror is over, and we go back to our normal lives, never forget that
during the crisis, we were not desperate for lawyers, actors, athletes, or reality T.V. stars.
We needed teachers, doctors, nurses, shop workers, delivery drivers, and countless others
who we usually take for granted. (Conservative, 2020)
Add to the meme, first responders, railway workers, janitors, grocery store employees, charity
groups, the military, and many others. Always in the background. Seemingly as invisible as
Covid-19, except for the fact that these essential workers are saving lives while Covid-19
sickened and killed.
Keywords: Covid-19, pandemic, critical infrastructure, essential workers, preparedness
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Covid-19: A Pandemic’s Impact
Benjamin Franklin wisely said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” (Forbes,
2015) Providing snippets from the long history of pandemics as they track through the ages is
necessary, to focus on the challenges Covid-19 is placing on America’s critical infrastructure and
its essential workers. The nation’s emergency management system is in place; preparedness,
prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery protocols, all ready for implementation.
Appearing ostensibly adequate to manage the Covid-19 crisis, from the perspective of critical
infrastructure and essential workers, but are they? At this moment in time, as Covid-19 continues
to write its history, this author examines the naïve judgment calls, lack of transparency,
mismanagement, and dependency on foreign governments for critical supplies. There is no doubt
that much will be learned by the time Covid-19 runs its course. Covid-19 will be thoroughly
investigated and analyzed, and experts and wannabe experts will write reams. What is known at
the onset and affirmed with accuracy is that emergency management, with all of its inadequacies,
is critical to America’s safety and security. Conservative economist Howard Ruff (n.d.) summed
it up best, “it was not raining when Noah build the ark.” As America relies on its emergency
management protocols and responds to the crisis. However, in recovery, it must apply the lessons
learned from Covid-19 in anticipation of the next pandemic.
Pandemics Change History
A prescient warning from (Deuteronomy 28:59 New International Version), “The Lord
will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe
and lingering illnesses.”
Athens, 430 B.C., the Peloponnesian War, saw the first recorded evidence of a pandemic.
(History, 2020) As man became more mobile, gathering together in cities, establishing trade
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routes between nations, and fighting wars, pandemics ravaged, taking lives, and changing
history. (History, 2020) The Cyprian Plague of 250 A.D. where “city dwellers fled to the country
to escape infections,” saw the disease spread from northern Africa into Europe. (History, 2020)
History reveals pandemics are silent, stealthy killers that have no borders. The Justinian Plague
of 541 A.D., named the Bubonic plague, spread by rats and fleas and pillaged throughout the
Mediterranean. This bubonic plague credited with "creating an apocalyptic atmosphere that
spurred the rapid spread of Christianity." (History, 2020) Then came, leprosy, the bacterial
pandemic of the 11th century, “believed to be a punishment from God,” led to the ostracization of
victims with the building of hospitals dedicated to treating the afflicted. (History, 2020)
The Black Death beginning in 1347, saw the second wave of bubonic plague, moving
west from Asia, entering through Sicily, and ravaging Europe. And, blamed for killing “one-third
of the world population,” or 50 million people. (History, 2020) Impact of the Black Death on
populations resulted in a truce between waring England and France and halted the Vikings battles
in Greenland and their explorations of North America. (History, 2020) Explorations by the
Spanish in 1492 brought smallpox, measles, and bubonic plague to the Caribbean and throughout
the Americas, decimating the native inhabitants. In 1520, smallpox ravaged the Aztec Empire
leaving them unable to resist Spanish colonizers and incapable of crop production, which led to
the eventual collapse of the empire. (History, 2020)
The next wave of bubonic plague, suspected of being carried by dogs and cats, began in
London in 1665 and caused the death of 20 percent of the population. (History, 2020). In 1817,
cholera, spread by feces-infected water and food, began in Russia. This disease was the first of
seven cholera pandemics that consumed India, Europe, Africa, America and even made its
presence as far away as Indonesia. (History, 2020) Even with the development of a vaccine in
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1885, the pandemic was not halted, which experts considered active until 1960. (History, 2020)
As measles is now preventable by vaccines, it seems unthinkable to put measles in the category
of pandemics. Still, when brought to the small island chain of Fiji in 1875, one-third of its
population died. (History, 2020)
The first flu pandemic crossed from Russia into Europe than across the oceans into North
America and Africa in 1889, killing 360,000. Then in 1918, the Spanish flu or avian-borne flu
originating in Madrid, Spain, moved swiftly across Europe than globally (History, 2020),
resulting in “100 million deaths.” (Koek, 2016) The waning of the pandemic, in the summer of
1919, was attributed to herd immunity. (History, 2020) The Asian flu began in 1957 in Hong
Kong, spread to the rest of China, into the U.S. and then Europe. The second wave of the Asian
flu, in 1958, killing 1.1 million people globally, even with the development of an effective
vaccine. (History, 2020)
The 1980s brought HIV/AIDS to the U.S. A disease that initially mimicked the flu. Still,
with subsiding symptoms, carriers remained “highly infectious” with a disease that destroyed the
“t-cells” in the body. AIDS had its origins from a chimpanzee virus in West Africa in the 1920s,
moved to Haiti in 1960, then to the U.S. mainland. Worldwide, 35 million deaths are attributable
to the AID virus. Although there is no current cure, life-prolonging treatments are available.
(History, 2020)
Appearing in 2003, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome [SARS], with origins in China,
passed from bats to humans, eerily similar to Covid-19. SARS spread to 26 countries, but with
minimal infections and only 774 deaths. (History, 2020) Quarantine efforts contributed to the
containment and eventual demise of SARS. “China was criticized for trying to suppress
information about the virus,” again similar to what is said about Covid-19. (History, 2020)
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Experts believe SARS was a “wake-up call” to the global community on how pandemic
outbreaks should be managed. Lessons learned from SARS and applied through emergency
management protocols allowed the U.S. to control H1N1, Ebola, and Zika. (History, 2020)
Timeline Covid-19 China
Covid-19 began in Wuhan, Hubei province China, around the end of December 2019.
(Hauck, Gelles, Bravo, & Thorsen, 2020) Currently, there is no credible information to identify
precisely how the virus came about. Some media reports have linked the virus to a seafood
market, Chinese media blamed the U.S. military, while others point to incompetence or accident
at a Wuhan virology laboratory. (Hauck, et al., 2020) The first death in China occurred on
January 11, 2020, with the first known case outside of China reported in Thailand on January 13,
2020. By January 14, 2020, Hauck et al. (2020) noted, “according to internal documents obtained
by Associated Press, “top Chinese officials” were warning of an imminent pandemic. The virus
was migrating worldwide and would eventually arrive on U.S. shores.
Timeline Covid-19 USA
Although no cases of Covid-19 were reported in the U.S., as of January 17, 2020,
intelligence information led the CDC to preemptive screenings at key international airports in
San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York with Atlanta and Chicago following shortly after
that. (Hauck, et al., 2020) On January 21, 2020, a Washington state resident tested positive for
Covid-19, one week after having returned from Wuhan.
The World Health Organization [WHO], responsible for tracking global medical issues,
put out a Tweet on January 23, 2020, and “declined to categorize the coronavirus as a global
health emergency, saying there is no evidence of human-to-human infection outside of China.”
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(Hauck, et al., 2020) Lacking awareness by the WHO, of the severity of the virus, led to a loss of
funding from the U.S. on April 15, 2020. (Whitehouse, 2020)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allery and Infectious Diseases
[NIAID] and the face of Covid-19 for the U.S., made a regrettably naïve statement on January
24, 2020. Dr. Fauci announced, “We don’t want the American public to be worried about this
(virus) because their risk is low.” (Hauck, et al., 2020) The WHO, still stressing confidence in
China’s handling of the crisis, declared a global health emergency on January 30, 2020. On this
day, the first case of person-to-person transmission was reported in Chicago, while the CDC
maintained, “the immediate risk to the American public is low.” (Hauck, et al., 2020) One day
later, on January 31, 2020, President Trump in apparent defiance of the CDCs position, “declared
the coronavirus outbreak to be a public health emergency,” with the “first quarantine order issued
by the federal government in over 50 years.” (Hauck, et al., 2020) Concurrently, President Trump
suspended entry to the U.S. by all foreign nationals who had visited China in the previous 14
days. The first two deaths in the U.S. from Covid-19 occurred on February 6, 2020. (Hauck, et
al., 2020)
On February 11, 2020, the coronavirus was officially named Covid-19 by the WHO. The
WHO finally acknowledged that the virus posed “a very grave threat for the rest of the world.”
(Hauck, et al., 2020)
Based on data collected from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern
Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as of May 3, 2020, the CDC (2020)
reports the total confirmed cases of Covid-19 at 1,122,486 and the total deaths at 65,735. As total
confirmed cases continue to rise, most attributable to the increase in testing, the total number of
deaths has slowed, but predictions still exceed 100,000 deaths. More confirmed cases and deaths
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will be mount until Covid-19 runs its course or until a vaccine is found and made available.
(CDC, 2020)
Pandemic Threats into Future. Psalm 91:1-6(New International Version), in part, has
much to teach about pandemics into the future, as it counsels:
I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ You
will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that
stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
Previously in 2017, Dr. Anthony Fauci opined that the new Trump Administration would need to
prepare for "the pandemic outbreak of infectious disease," and the devastating threat pandemics
pose "to public health and the economies of countries worldwide." What a prophetic warning
given the impacts Covid-19 is currently waging on the world stage. Not many would have read
Dr. Fauci’s (2017) report nor made a note of his recommendations that the government to
continue to invest in research and development into “vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics” and
other countermeasures. With global lockdowns, previously unfamiliar, such as social distancing,
personal protective equipment [PPE], and respiratory ventilators, became the lexicon of
politicians, healthcare professionals, and the media. Fauci (2017) noted that in 1960, experts
believed the availability of antibiotics, vaccines, and PPE meant contagious disease would not be
a serious future threat. Fauci (2017) cautioned of the failure to learn from the history of
pandemics. Reminding the disease has a propensity to re-emerge with new and more deadly
strains, that could strike where the disease was previously eradicated. Fauci (2017) stressed the
importance of:
global surveillance systems
transparent and honest communications
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reliable public health care infrastructure
collaborative basic and clinical research, with the establishment of technology platforms
for the development of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics
a stable and pre-established funding mechanism for use in public emergencies
Critics on all sides of Covid-19 will point to the lack of transparency on the part of China, the
WHO, and the CDC. As well as the mixed that messages come from the Trump administration,
state and local governments, and Dr. Fauci himself.
Critical Infrastructure
The Presidential Policy Directive 21[PPD-21] identifies 16 critical infrastructure sectors
“whose assets, systems and networks, whether physical or virtual,” that if disabled or destroyed,
would be detrimental to national “security, economic security, national public health or safety, or
any combination thereof.” (CISA, 2020) See Figure 1 – Critical Infrastructure (CISA, 2020a)
Essential Workers
The U.S. government has been proactive in its efforts to protect essential workers by
providing guidance and implementing safety practices, for any worker who believes they have
come in contact with a person suspected of or confirmed with Covid-19. (CDC, 2020) Essential
workers from the government sector include employees in; federal, state, and local law
enforcement, 991 call centers, fusion centers, government, and private-sector hazardous material
responders, critical infrastructure janitorial, and custodial staff, and contract vendors or other
workers. And, those who support food, agriculture, critical manufacturing, information
technology, transportation, energy, and government facilities. (CDC, 2020)
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Figure 1 - Critical Infrastructure (CISA, 2020a)
CISA (2020b) has issued the latest guidelines Version 3.0 to its “Essential Critical Infrastructure
Workforce, [ECIW]” intended to help federal, state, local, and tribal leaders, so the 16 critical
infrastructure sectors can continue to operate during the Covid-19 shutdown. Version 3.0 of
ECIW is extensive and provides specific guidelines per sector and state. (CISA, 2020b). In brief,
ECIW advises that whenever possible, remote work should be permitted. For essential workers
who must carry out their duties in person, employers should establish shift schedules to separate
critical staff. CISA (2020b) basic “stay at home” guidelines for essential workers include:
sick workers or workers with sick family members
if anyone in the household has tested positive for Covid-19
elderly workers or workers with underlying medical conditions
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follow best hygiene practices
Emergency Management
Prevention
The history of pandemics reveals pandemics do not recognize borders. According to the
U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction [UNDRR], “the greatest single driver of disaster risk is
weak governance,” and lack of commitment to investing in prevention and preparedness.
(Financial, 2020) The shortages in PPE hit essential workers the hardest, posing a threat to their
safety as they stood on the front lines, initially wearing bandanas while working to keep a society
in lockdown. (Yglesias, 2020) Evident was the government’s failure to have adequate PPE,
medical equipment, and therapeutics in stores, to fight Covid-19. Blaming the previous
administration for not topping up depleted stores is not a valid excuse. DHS, FEMA, CDC, FDA,
and other agencies should mandate the replenishment of any depleted supplies during and
certainly immediately after the event ends. Pandemic preparedness requires national and local
strategies for reducing disaster risk. (Financial, 2020)
Regulatory Environment. One lesson the U.S. learned early on in the crisis is that
dependency on foreign entities for critical supplies is not prudent and detrimental to the supply
chain. The Trump administration did pivot quickly, invoking the Defense Production Act [DPA]
to seek assistance from private manufacturers, who re-tooled factories to manufacture needed
supplies. In response to DPA, the manufacturing sector required regulatory relief, to meet the
unprecedented urgency for PPE and other supplies (Yglesias, 2020) This crisis brought to light
how excessive red tape is hampering the industry. A careful evaluation is needed once the crisis
is over. A determination of what regulatory relief, including liability waivers in emergency
production, should be made permanent or what other relief should be implemented. Experts have
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suggested that the CDC, regarding the production of PPE, should relax its requirement that
products be inspected by the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory [NPPTL].
Thus, allowing manufacturers the option of contracting with private and university laboratories
to provide product testing or choose to stay with NPPTL. (Yglesias, 2020) Options create a
competitive atmosphere resulting in cost reduction. Simple common sense, ingenuity, and
flexibility is needed in the emergency management of any crisis
Mitigation and Preparedness
In Matthew 10:1 (New International Version), we read that our Lord gave his disciples
the authority to drive out impure spirits and sent them out to heal every disease and sickness.”
Mitigation and preparedness are the keys to the effective management of a pandemic. We must
remember, it was not raining when Noah built the ark.
Mitigation and preparedness go hand in glove with prevention. When reading about
preparedness, the word most bandied around is “resilience.” Koek (2016) stresses the importance
of resilience in emergency management, and specifically with disease outbreaks than evolve into
pandemics. Koek (2016) advises it is all about “detecting potential pandemics, then mitigating
and containing them,” attributing the concept of resilience to the Ebola outbreak of 2014. Again,
history is a teacher. Ebola caught the nation by surprise, leaving emergency hospital workers
unprepared, with no “rapid plan of action” in place. (Koek, 2016) A robust health care system
performs well, “provide sustained, equitable access to essential services for all without financial
hardship.” (Koek, 2016) A resilient healthcare system responds to emerging threats, adapt to
existing conditions, and use innovative solutions to address unforeseen challenges. (Koek, 2016).
Cooperative and collaborative efforts by federal, state, local, and with partnering countries result
in better management of resources to ensure health workers and medical equipment, supplies,
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and medicines are available where they are needed. Essentials workers in the transportation
networks are called on to assure timely deliveries. Also essential to life-sustaining and life-saving
measures are “quickly leveraging collective expertise and delivery practical and cost-effective
solutions.” (Koek, 2016)
The Spanish flu of 1918 revealed the fear of rapid spread and high mortality rates of
pandemics. Covid-19 brought with it the same fear. Experts point to the nonpharmaceutical
public health options available to reduce transmissions and mitigate the effects of the pandemic.
(Fong, Gao, Wong, Xiao, Shiu, Ryu & Cowling, 2020) These options include social distancing,
reducing social contact by closing public events, encouraging good hygiene practices, and the
use of face masks. (Hollingsworth, Klinkenberg, Heesterbeek & Anderson, 2020). However, the
U.S. chose the more aggressive Chinese model of mass quarantine and shut down of all but the
16 critical infrastructure sectors (See Figure 1., Critical Infrastructure, CISA 2020a) and
associated essential workers. (Hollingsworth, Klinkenberg, Heesterbeek & Anderson, 2020).
Experts suggest personal responsibility, and individual behavior does more to control the
spread of Covid-19 instead of the draconian measures taken by many western democracies,
including the U.S. (Hollingsworth et al., 2020). A case in point was made on May 7, 2020, when
the state of New York, hardest hit by the virus, provides statistics that “shows that 66% of new
admissions were from people who had largely been sheltering at home.” (Higgins-Dunn &
Breuninger, 2020) The second-highest number at 18% comes from nursing homes that fall into
the target vulnerable group. (Higgins-Dunn & Breuninger, 2020)
An earlier study by Hollingsworth et al. (2011) suggested that "there has been no
quantitative analysis" of when interventions such as social distancing or quarantine should be
initiated. Additionally, the earlier study also "acknowledged that planned levels" of intervention
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with "anti-viral treatments or pre-pandemic vaccines" would determine whether social distancing
is required. (Hollingsworth, et al., 2011) Anti-viral medications are used with some success in
Covid-19, but the development of a vaccine is still some months off, according to President
Trump's task force. (Whitehouse, 2020a) For the moment, the government with continue with
lockdowns in critical hotspots, and slowly move in other places to open up the economy and get
people back to work. (Hollingsworth, et al., 2020) The government must develop further
mitigation strategies in the event of recurrence of Covid-19, hopefully, with a more measured
approach that does not require another complete shutdown of the country.
Response
As Covid-19 spread, emergency managers and President Trump’s task force anticipated
the potential that hospitals would be overrun with patients. (Whitehouse, 2020a) Proceeding to
reposition to naval hospital ships, one on each coast, in the event they needed to take non-Covid
patients, freeing up beds in hospitals for Covid-19 patients. Additionally, the President’s task
force engaged the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Defense [DOD] to build
temporary hospitals in critical locations across the country. (Cronk, 2020) Samaritan’s Purse, a
faith-based non-profit organization, built a temporary field hospital in N.Y.'s Central Park, aiding
one of the hardest-hit areas in the country. (Samaritan’s, 2020) Healthcare workers from across
the country moved to Covid-19 hotspots to assist in treating the ill and dying.
Chestnutt (2015) opines the response to pandemics mandates "their own unique technical
considerations," where management and response to the pandemic fall to the healthcare sector,
ignoring other areas of "security or the impact on the economy." Reflecting on the response and
recovery from previous pandemics, in 2015, Chestnutt recommended a robust pandemic plan in
the following functional areas: "1) surveillance and laboratory, 2) triage and patient care, 3)
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infection control measures, 4) anti-virals acquisition, storage, distribution, 5) vaccine acquisition,
storage, distribution, 6) mass fatality management, 7) mental health, 8) mass care and logistics,
9) communication and public education, 10) command, control and continuity of operations."
(Chestnutt, 2015) This robust pandemic plan is implemented in locations where Covid-19 is
hitting the hardest.
A study by Blendon, Koonin, Benson, Cetron, Pollard, Mitchell, Weldon, & Herrmann,
(2008) found from a national survey, on severe pandemic influenza, the public would respond
positively to “mitigation interventions,” if the impact on their income and job was not “severely
compromised.” Given that as of today, news reports indicate that since the onset of the shutdown,
33 million Americans have filed for unemployment. (NBC, 2020) Surely, American jobs and
income have been severely compromised. The government needs to move prudently to reopen
America and get workers back to their jobs.
Recovery
Recovery from Covid-19 is following several tracks. Testing will continue and will add to
the figures of confirmed cases. Most of the infected will recover. The elderly or those with
underlying medical conditions, identified as Covid-19s, most vulnerable populations will recover
or sadly will die. In time, essential workers will return to the obscurity they held before Covid-19
until the next crisis arises.
Chestnutt (2015) notes recovery must focus on the “whole of society approach”;
otherwise, the existing emergency management system is weakened. For shortened recovery
time, each affected sector must work to minimize the health impacts, as well as the economic
implications from Covid-19. The challenge will be to engage communities, politicians, and
competing for interagency priorities to overcome obstacles and find a balance that works to
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contain any future outbreaks. Recovery plans that are sustainable into the future. For those whose
livelihoods have been decimated by the economic collapse, assistance should be provided,
allowing them to transition into new business opportunities. (Chestnutt, 2015)
McDonald, J. (2020), opines in part, “when the pandemic has passed, remember the
people who mattered most during the crisis, the emergency personnel, doctors, nurses and others
who worked when we couldn’t, who cared for those who suffered and who kept us supplied with
essentials.”
Recommendations
Covid-19 has many lessons to teach America. This author believes citizens are ready to
put American interests and concerns ahead of the interests of the WHO, the U.N., China, and the
rest of the world. One thing we should never doubt is President Trump’s commitment to every
citizen, as he recently said, “I will never hesitate to take any necessary steps to protect the lives,
health, and safety of the American people. I will always put the well-being of America first.”
(Whitehouse, 2020)
President Trump is holding the WHO accountable for their mismanagement and
complicitous behavior with China. The U.S. funds the WHO with $400 million to $500 million
annually. Until the WHO is investigated and can provide accountability and transparency for its
obvious bias, cover-ups, and failures, including correcting structural, organizational issues and
implementing reforms, no more funding should flow from the U.S. to the WHO. (Whitehouse,
2020) In the interim, any funds that would go to the WHO funds are better spent to build up the
country’s reserves of PPE, medical equipment and devices, and to finance research on
antibiotics, vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics, as Dr. Fauci recommended in 2017. These
measures will ensure essential workers never have to be without the necessary supplies they need
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to do their jobs in any crisis. The U.S. should never again find itself in a position where it relies
on China or any other country for critical products…products that are easily be manufactured in
the U.S. Design develop and build it in the USA.
One last observation on the handling of Covid-19, this author believes the total lockdown
of the country was unnecessary. The President’s advisors should have protected the most
vulnerable populations, the elderly, and those with underlying medical conditions. The balance of
the community may have gotten sick, but they would recover and build herd immunity. That
aside, the President's advisors had prepared no exit strategy for the country to come out of a
complete lockdown. Time will tell how this lack of planning will affect the recovery of a
damaged nation.
Conclusion
Our lives are in the hands of our Lord as he reminds us, “Nevertheless…I will heal my
people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security….and will rebuild them as they were
before.” Jeremiah 33:6 (New International Version) Critics, skeptics, politicians, talking heads
and media pundits advise us that after Covid-19, our world will not be the same and we must
adjust to the “new normal.” Ian Davis (2009), speaking after the financial crisis of 2008, told
Americans, “the new normal will be shaped by a confluence of powerful forces—some arising
directly from the financial crisis and some that were at work long before it began.” These
prophetic words are just as applicable to Covid-19. For the real damage to the world may not
come from the massive loss of life, but rather from the economic collapse and future impacts on
global populations brought about by the shutting down of the world’s economies and the
relinquishment of our freedoms, motivated by the fear of a silent killer.
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Despite all the public health achievements, the U.S. and the world must remain vigilant
against future covert pandemic killers. Many lessons are yet to be learned from Covid-19, a
history that is still being written. Into the future, this author notes, be vigilant, remain prepared,
accept personal responsibility, protect your freedoms, and thank God for essential workers who,
“heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons,” (Matthew 10:8 English Standard
Version). Those essential workers make great sacrifices, sometimes with their own lives, so that
others have the opportunity to adjust to the new normal.
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