The Good News About the Covid

Let's start with some fundamentals of our faith:
- God's Providence means that in all things he is working for our good, our happiness here and forever.
- This means that His "permissive will" allows bad things, temporarily, to bring greater good things about. We can't always identify with cognitive clarity what those good things are; ours is to trust in them, receive them gratefully, and to surrender to this reality.
 - Jesus tells us...persistently, definitively, soberly, passionately:  "Do not be afraid."
 - We are only here on this earth for a little while...to prepare for eternity in heaven. Everything...everything...here is temporary, provisional. Death: not a big deal, overrated! Sin and disbelief: a big deal, underrated!

Now: for the practicals:
 - Operation Lock-down was a great success: the purpose was to flatten the curve and avoid overload of our medical system. A complete triumph!
 - There is a kindness to the Covid: it spares the young. If you are under 60 and healthy, you have more to fear from the seasonal flu!
 - It targets elderly and sick, but let's be honest: there is a mercy therein also. Many of the deceased were suffering a terrible quality of life. Almost half of our deaths have been in nursing homes. If you are there, you probably can't walk, bath yourself or go to the bathroom. You are away from those you love (who can't care for you; through no fault of their own, we will assume) and living in a dull, institutional setting, dependent upon low-paid and sometimes unhappy employees.  Truthfully, if I am in a nursing home I will welcome the Covid.
 - The warm weather will certainly inhibit the virus but to what extent we don't know.
 -  In the coming months, before the winter season, we can confidently expect improved technology of care and prevention: better tests, tracing, medicines, protocols and eventually (one year?) a vaccination.
 -  In light of the novelty, strangeness and unpredictability of this virus, our political leaders did (in my view) a reasonably good job in handling it. I give Trump credit for putting Fauci and Birx in the forefront. Pence handled himself with dignity and prudence. And there was good  cooperation between the parties, levels of government (including Democrat governors like Cuomo and Murphy) and the private sector.
 - The countless "heroes" on the front lines in hospitals and the community are an inspiration to all of us.
-  The public cooperated calmly, reasonably, successfully...on the whole.

A certain level of anxiety in March/April was understandable in light of the catastrophe in Italy. But we are now in a position to move on with sobriety and calmness. Prudently, we will be practicing social distancing, masks, and limitations on large indoor gatherings for another year or more. But we can do so free of anxiety, grateful for the many blessings received, and hopeful for the future.