I am sick and tired of this pandemic! I am tired of not singing at Mass, and not having altar servers, and not using incense. I am tired of having to tell people they can only come to Mass once every other week. I am tired of having to open the windows, enforce mask policies, be the COVID police officer, and read archdiocesan and health department documents over and over. I am tired of not having any blockbuster movies to go see. I am tried of being limited in my hospital visits and being locked out of most assisted living facilities (unless someone is dying). I am tried of not knowing when any of this is going to end.
And yet, this month’s outbreak at another Bellingham nursing home is an important and stark reminder why remaining vigilant is important. While overall, “only” 3.2% of Whatcom residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 have died (a number frighteningly large to begin with), that number jumps to 17% or higher when COVID-19 makes it way into a nursing home, where people live in close contact, are medically fragile, and medical staff have to get very close to their patients. When COVID-19 is spreading widely in the greater community, it has a greater chance of spreading also into a nursing facility where it becomes extremely deadly.
I am in my 30s, with reasonably good health. I have a very high chance of surviving COVID, and it would be tempting for me to slack off the COVID procedures as they become tiresome. But it is not for me that I wear a mask and keep my distance. I do it to prevent community spread, in order to prevent COVID-19 from infecting and killing the most vulnerable among us. Our safety procedures have never been about us, they have always been about protecting those who need the most protection.
Fr. Moore 