Opening the Economy does NOT Mean All is Safe, Make Sure to Keep Your Guard Up!!

We might be on the verge of getting “life back to normal”, the question is “what is normal now”?  I feel that life has changed for many of us, with new steps that are and should be becoming parts of our “new normal routine” to ensure that life continues to proceed smoothly.  Some segments of the population have jumped directly from social distancing and using precautionary measures to “stop the spread” to the illogical conclusion that “we’re safe now, let’s party like it’s 1999!”, resuming their old routines like toddlers being released from “five minutes in time out”.   They’re done with learning about what’s necessary and ready to get right back out there and color on the walls, not really having learned anything from the time spent in the time out that the COVID-19 Pandemic made necessary! 

The scientists are telling us that perhaps the worst wave has passed, but are still keeping a sharp eye on the number of new cases that appear daily, the geography and analysis of this disease, working on vaccines to prevent infection by COVID-19 that will likely be ready for use faster than ever was possible in the past.  Even in the early phase of the Pandemic, scientists warned us that there could very well be a “second spike” in this disease, appearing in the Fall to Winter seasons, coincident with our usual “Flu Season”, with COVID-19 essentially acting like a malevolent opossum, “playing dead” until we let our guard down, and then rapidly springing up and ready to strike again with vengeance  while our guard is down.

This points to one of our “new facts of life”.  We had a tough experience, and lost a lot of great people:  children, relatives, friends, first responders, doctors, and nurses who made the ultimate sacrifice trying to see us through this Pandemic.  It will be an insult to the people who died if we didn’t learn something from this pandemic.

So, please listen carefully to what is going on around the world and across our nation.  Some of the original parts of the world to be infected with COVID-19 are already experiencing flare ups of the infection.  We are not immune to this.  The number of people who were infected by this virus is truly not known due to the lack of enough testing kits available, but it is VERY LIKELY that there is a “huge unimmunized population of people that are still very susceptible to this infection” as our social distancing and preventive measures decreased exposure to the virus, BUT DID NOT IMMUNIZE US.  This virus didn’t “go away”, it’s still out there and is potent.  The areas in our country that had the most infections were those of the highest population density and our methods of “social distancing”, “barrier protection”, and “surface disinfection” were least effective.  The only thing we did with “quarantine in place” was try to make the pandemic slow down so that our hospitals and medical system could handle it better.

The only thing that will cover our vulnerability to this virus is the development of a vaccination for it.  Fortunately for us, our science community is much better at that now then it was in the past.  There are already a number of vaccines in the test process at this point, meaning that there will likely be one approved in the next six months to a year.

As much as we would like to believe that “all is well”, it most certainly isn’t, the bear is just sleeping, so let’s not poke it with a stick or it will reinforce the lesson it has already tried to teach us, possibly with a harsher twist, assisted by its cohort, the flu!

Please keep on following social distancing practices, including wearing your face masks where social distancing can’t be practiced predictably, wash your hands with soap or hand sanitizer frequently, clean frequently touched surfaces often(or use barriers), and don’t touch your face!  Let’s “get the job done so that we can have fun”, but let’s do it SAFELY!

V Technical Textiles, Inc.

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