We continue to operate under the scourge of COVID-19. Fortunately, there had been some lifting of restrictions which allowed for a more human and humane interaction. Unfortunately, what was temporarily gained has now been lost again. While there is certainly a danger in making contact with our fellow inhabitants of this world there is also a danger in not making contact. I have said over the past months that we must be concerned for human life and so we cooperate with social distancing, masking and hygiene. This is something which your pastors and I have spent a great deal of time preparing for and discussing. We have shown and continue to show a great respect and reverence for human physical health and human physical life.
At the same time, as a Church, we must be equally, if not more, concerned about true human flourishing. This flourishing, which includes such things as practice of our faith, reception of sacraments and ‘live’ communal prayer was ‘put on hold’ for several months. This was and is a cause for distress and suffering. In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth and after he created man, He said, “it is not good for man to be alone”. While this certainly refers to the beauty of marriage, it also refers to the social nature of all people. We are not made to be alone.
We can and must follow proper health protocols but we can never forget that, as human beings, human persons, there is more to us than simply physical bodies and emotional experiences. We are persons created in the image and likeness of God. We have immortal souls.
Now we face the possibility that our children will not be permitted to attend ‘live’ school when schools are due to open in August. The need for these children to be in contact with the friends in the safe environment of the school cannot simply be set aside. This need for social contact is real. The need for isolation to avoid COVID spread is likewise real. Answers are not easy.
I pray, as we plan again to move to expanded freedom, that all of you are kept safe, that you exercise prudence and good judgment and that you can re-establish your necessary connection with each other and with the Church. We have been consoled over the past months in the knowledge that we have never been totally disconnected from Christ but we have not been totally connected with him either. I do not believe that Jesus would be contented with an internet connection and it will be good to have a ‘Real’ connection again….
The above comes from a July 21 release from the Santa Rosa diocese.
We continue to operate under the scourge of an irrational reaction to COVID-19
My wife seems to think that Gov. Newsom is playing politics with the mental and economic health of the people of California. While I can’t rule this out, I suspect that Newsom simply has too much fear to be governor.
Last December, he had the Grapevine and the Tehachapi pass shutdown for 10 days due to light snow. This is shocking considering that these roads were effectively plowed the whole time and the CHP has a proven track record of dealing with light snow conditions.
Whether it’s due to bad politics or hyper fear, I think Governor Newsom needs to be recalled like we did for Governor Davis.
Are you saying Gov. Newsome is a “snowflake”? Pun intended.
Open everything up. Whoever gets sick gets sick, whoever dies dies. Let the vulnerable stay home, if they want. If they trust God to protect them, let them venture out. Democrats are killing the economy and disrupting children’s education all to try to hurt Trump’s reelection. Everyone will die sometime anyway. No different than people allergic to peanuts. You don’t ban peanuts because it will kill a small number of people. You don’t tell baseball stadiums that they can’t sell peanuts because someone in the stands might be allergic. Stop banning public activities because a small number of people might get sick from public interaction or die.
Peanuts. That just about tells us everything we need to know about CCD commentators. I guess you never read packages of things that are manufacturered in the same facilities as nuts? Or realize that people with peanut allergies so severe that they can’t be next to someone eating them carries an inhaler to protect themselves?
Stay distant, masked, washed, and we can pretty much end this horrible thing by labor day.
Anonymous,
How does staying distant, masked, and washed end the coronavirus by Labor Day?
Rather, your method ensures that the coronavirus will be here for Labor Day and beyond.
WHAT? You think that staying distant and masking “method” ensures the virus will be here by Labor Day and beyond? OMG. We are all doomed to get it with commentary like this one.
Anonymous,
We have only two general alternatives: either everyone gets the virus or we kill the virus. Since its not realistic to kill the flu, our only realistic alternative is for nearly everyone to get it.
For this flu to subside, most everyone will need to get the flu through a large dose, through “herd immunity,” or through a vaccine.
Social distancing and masks will only slow the spread. Therefore, if we clamp down too hard, we’ll have the virus with us for several years or until a vaccine is found and sufficiently manufactured.
If we wish to get rid of the virus as quick as possible, we need to get rid masks, social distancing, etc.
However, the best method is to manage the infection rate so that our hospitals are at near capacity. This is the best solution for our social, physical, mental, and economic health.
This is not a flu. Have you not been paying attention at all?
If you refuse to pay attention, maybe you should just get off the stage. We aren’t going to get to herd immunity until millions upon millions of people die in the process. We don’t even know whether recovering the virus provides immunity for more than a few weeks. So it is possible that, like the common cold, you can catch it over and over again. Just like a common cold gone into overdrive. And guess what, unlike the flu, this is a coronavirus. And other strains of coronavirus which cause colds can cause infection over and over again. This is why there is no such thing as so called herd immunity to the common cold. Have you never heard the expression “cure for the common cold”. There is no cure for the common cold because coronoviruses do not mount a sustained immune response that allows herd immunity to become a thing.
Get rid of masks? How about we get rid of idiots so we can end this nightmare.
1700 Americans died yesterday of this virus. More than half the deaths of 9 |11
In that same day, 70,000 Americans were known to have contracted this virus. At least 10,000 of them will be hospitalized, and probably a thousand will die…some in a few days, some after spending two months on a ventilator while on an induced coma, unable to communicate with a wife or even a priest to give them last rites.
And you want to get rid of masks and distancing.
YFC,
I think you’ve become unhinged.
If you actually read what I wrote, you’ll know that I favor managing the virus rather than the Governor’s approach of mindlessly suppressing the virus. I don’t favor removing masks as you stated – please re-read what I wrote.
The coronavirus is a respiratory virus like the flu and is transmittable like the flu.
Citing numbers without context it meaningless. According to CDC data, the death rate from the virus is currently 3.5% of known cases. The actual death rate is much lower since most people who’ve gotten the virus have not been tested. In other words, the actual number is lower than 1%.
If it becomes true that immunity from the coronavirus is more limited than the flu, this is of minor consequence. Why? Because it’s the newness of the virus that makes it dangerous to those with chronic illnesses. Once the human body has fought the virus, it’ll be able to fight it again better in the future. For vulnerable populations, it might be that they’ll need to get a vaccine on an annual basis.
Steve, I read what you wrote. Apparently you forgot what you wrote. You repeatedly conveyed that this is the flu and that there is herd immunity just ahead and that we just should get rid of masks and let the virus kill us all.
Please reread your own words: “If we wish to get rid of the virus as quick as possible, we need to get rid masks, social distancing, etc.”
Man woman camera nonsense bat crazy
YFC,
I think you’re still having reading issues.
In response to your comments, I corrected my comment and said that it’s “a respiratory virus like the flu and is transmittable like the flu.”
I didn’t say that herd immunity was just ahead. Rather, I said that herd immunity is one way how a person can get the virus.
Lastly, in regard to the virus spread rate, I gave three scenarios based on what people might want. Some people want an extended, protracted virus scenario like Governor Newsom; some prefer a blitz; but I prefer a managed scenario.
In the managed scenario, we let the virus spread near the capacity of our health care system. This helps ensure that the very sick can be treated in hospitals; it gets society back on its feet as quickly as possible; and it protects the elderly who shelter-in-place by quickly reducing the spread of the virus. If 90% of people have had the virus, it won’t easily spread to the vulnerable.
Steve, in all of our tussles over these years, I have never thought of you as anything other than a smart guy, but you are changing my mind. Herd immunity does not provide a way for a person to capture a virus. The concept of herd immunity is a way to KEEP people from contracting a virus. You’ve got it all twisted around, my friend. “Herd immunity is one way how a person can get the virus”. You get it completely backwards even when you attempt to walk back your statement. Herd immunity is how a person is PREVENTED from getting the virus. And just to remind, herd immunity is LONG way off, tens if not hundreds of thousands of deaths stand between us and herd immunity.
I did quote you correctly. You have to go back and try to revise your comments to try to prove me wrong. Maybe you meanto to say something different than you actually said, and that is fine. It happens to the very bsst of us. But please don’t pretend your writing issues are my reading issues. I’m a pretty astute reader. And I’m quite proficient at cut and paste.
You propose a “managed scenario”, yet you refuse to enlighten the rest of us on what that managed scenario might look like. Perhaps you’d like to share with us your expert opinion on how the scenario might be managed based on your decades of experience managing pandemics. The floor is yours….
YFC,
My reference to herd immunity was in regard to getting various small amounts of a virus over time which can build up immunity.
You’re asking me to admit something that I never said or meant. I wrote about three scenarios. For the second scenario I wrote, “IF WE wish to get rid of the virus as quick as possible, we need to get rid of masks. . .” I didn’t write “I WISH” or “WE SHOULD.” I then ended with “the best method” which infers that the third method is mine.
Regarding the managed scenario, this varies state to state. John Hopkins is no longer providing hospital capacity data, so my information is about 3 weeks old. However, as of 3 weeks ago, NY had an abundance of hospital capacity and a small, stable infection rate. Since they have beds to treat the ill, NY needs to use masks but fully open up for the sake of gov’t solvency and economic, social, and mental health. Those with chronic conditions need to continue to isolate.
As of a three weeks ago, Florida was managing this right at the limit. No change.
As of three weeks ago, California had a moderate per capita infection rate and an abundance of hospital capacity. People need to wear masks, but CA needs to fully open its schools because children do well with the virus. Except for the restaurant sector, we need to mostly open up and let people get back to work for the sake of gov’t solvency and economic, social, and mental health. Those with chronic conditions need to continue to isolate.
We know much more today about COVID-19 then we knew 4 months ago. We need to use this knowledge. COVID-19 causes harm, but Governor Newsom’s approach is causing more harm.
Corey, I agree 100%. This is America. Let people do what they want to do about COVID. Isn’t that the way it’s always been until the liberals took over? We’ve had flu epidemics before and the nation wasn’t shut down. The lockdown has done irreparable harm to the lives of people trying to make a living and some of us just can’t start over. I am done with the People’s Republic of California. It may not be much better in Arizona but at least they don’t have a dictator in charge — yet. Or brainwashed old ladies who pepper spray unmasked families trying to enjoy a picnic in the park as happened in San Diego.
Cranky Old Gal: You might be Old, I don’t know but I doubt you were you around for the pandemic of 1918? No I don’t think so. Actually, things did close down. People DID distance. People DID wear masks. And the influenza virus almost went away, but when they came out for the post-WWI parties, without those protections, the worst of the pandemic ripped through our communities.
Even if you believe that your freedoms guarantee you the ability to ignore public health experts, please comply out of your compassion for other human beings. Save a life. It might be your own. It might be your mother or fathers life. It might be my life. It isn’t about your rights, but it IS about your right to be a compassonate human being.
As of today, based on data reported through y esterday, more than 4.2 million Americans have contracted this virus, and more than 147,000 Americans have died. Fauci warns that tens of thousand more Americans will likely die.
There is some indication that the rate of increase in new cases has slowed, but there are still tens of thousands of new cases every day in the United States.
Are the freedoms you claim to have as Americans worth ignoring Christian charity to make sure you don’t spread this virus?
Social dististing was proposed by a high school student. It has never been tested and has never been proven to be effective. We are living in “The Truman Show”.
Ron, social distancing has been the way respiratory viruses have been kept from our shores since the pandemic of 1918 (and, actually, even during that pandemic). It has been proven to contain viral respiratory spread in prior epidemics, and kept them from becoming pandemics. Proposed by a high school student? Oh please.
YFC,, we are no longer falling for your big government edicts from unaccountable goons who ruling over us like petty tyrants ….Covid will disappear the day after the election should Biden win
bohemond, I actually hope you are right. But in the meantime, COVID will kill tens of thousands more Americans
COVID has already killed more than 1317 people yesterday. Yesterday.
Repeat that every day until the day after the election, and you get to an additional 131,700 dead bodies piled up in front of election precincts. Be any wonder you are afraid of the election.
YFC,
Please note that influenza also kills tens of thousands per year. This isn’t much out of 350 million people.
The COVID-19 deaths are about an order of magnitude higher than for influenza. Yes, this is higher. But it’s not outrageously higher.
We need to get through this rationally and not lose our heads. As Winston Churchill said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
The flu kills tens of thousand of Amcericans every year, and we spend enormous sums getting a vaccine out to people and encourage them to utilize it to save lives. Even though only a fraction of Americans get the vaccine, and even though even in the best years is is only marginally affective, it saves tens of thousands of lives. As do the recommendations to cover your mouth when you sneee and wash your hands regularly.
Yet somehow, when we ask people to take precautions against a disease that is at least ten times deadlier and probably ten times more infectious as a flu, you want to tell us to just get over it. That we are being irrational.
We aren’t dealing with tens of thousands of lives. we are dealing with at least ten thousand lives EVERY WEEK at our current rate, and it is accelerating. That is a half million in a years time.Maybe a million if we don’t intervene. Who is being irrational?
And by the way, it is a very cheap quote you used…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
That quote was set in the context of a massive existential war in which Churchill had already mounted the full force of the greatest empire upon an enemy..set upon exterminating an entire religion and peoples in his way. and then Churchill ordered civilian factories to produce the weaponry he needed and conscripted civilians into the fight. Then and only then did he dare tell his people the the only fear we have is fear itself.
The best thing Trump can say is Fear the Democrat.
Have we done that, or anything even close to that? We can’t even get our people to wear masks or not to go to massive house parties or elaborate weddings?
Given the war effort we have mounted, at least outside of healthcare workers who have been through hell, we have a lot of fear to fear.
YFC,
It’s all a matter of scale. If we were having an issue like the Bubonic Plaque in the Middle Ages, I’d agree with you. In fact, I was okay with the COVID shutdown at the beginning when we knew much less about the virus.
By the way, you invented history with your Churchill comments. It was FDR who made the quote. Also, the “fear” quote is highly appropriate. If people “lose their heads” or become paralyzed with fear, they lose their ability to think rationally and to act and fight effectively – as is happening right now.
Case in point, COVID causes harm. But the lock-down is causing gov’t insolvency and economic, social, and mental harm. Do you not care about the suicides, child abuse, spousal abuse, and social disorder that is now happening because of the lock-down? This will have lasting consequences.
Most sadly, you betrayed your true motivation when you mentioned the words “Trump” and “democrats.” I hate to be cynical, but for you, this is all about politics, isn’t it?
How about trying a no-government approach and just stay home.