by Kathlyn King
I feel that it is safe to say that second week of March 2020 was the last normal week of
everyone’s lives in living memory. That very next week, the public was urged by local and
federal governments to air on the side of caution; mask up and lock down. The Pandemic of
2020 caused by the novel-coronavirus, Covid-19, had the entire world shut down. Businesses
were closed, people worked from home, people were laid off, and it seemed the world just
stopped spinning.
Over a year later, and with over three vaccines available for the public, the world is
beginning to breathe again. As of July 2021, the world is on the verge of opening to full
capacity. But with numerous cases of Covid-19 still being reported on the daily, and with
vaccination rates falling behind what is needed for herd immunity to take place. Are we ready to
fully reopen?
Ready or Not, Here We Come
Regardless of whether we are fully ready to reopen or not, people are coming in droves. I
will admit, it is nice to see things starting to look the way they were before 2020. The first full
week of July of 2021 was the first time I wasn’t required to wear a mask in 16 months while on
an outing, and it was wonderful!
I had total Elsa vibes while thinking I could finally let go of a mask that I’ve had to wear
due to being fully vaccinated. I totally understand how people have become so restless in
wanting things and places to open back up like they were before.
But still, the question remains: At what cost?
As a healthcare worker still working in the field, we are still seeing Covid cases in my
hospital, let alone in the hospitals of larger cities that are being pressured more and more to relax
all restrictions. Granted, the cases of Covid that I have seen in my hospital pales in comparison
to what Covid admissions were a year ago. It is still concerning to see that we are clearly not out
of the woods yet with the pandemic.
Travel has boomed as more people are itching to make up for all the things they didn’t
get to see and do this time last year. I do find comfort in the fact that airlines are still requiring
travelers to wear masks during flights.
But still there remains the risk of the asymptomatic traveler carrying Covid-19 to others
who may prove to be very symptomatic.
Closed: Due to Lack of Staff
Even as businesses choose to reopen to they maximum capacity before the pandemic, you
may be surprised to see more closed signs still hanging up for an entirely different reason. Many
businesses, particularly in the food service industry, are finding it hard to open to full capacity
because they are having trouble finding workers who are willing to work at the rate they did
when the pandemic was in full swing.
When people are handed a lot of unexpected free time that was once devoted to working,
they are given a chance to reevaluate how they have worked in the past, and how they want to
work in the future. Some people may choose less productive means to spend their time, while
others chose to focus on how they could reinvent themselves on how to be happier in the future.
Many people who lost their jobs during the pandemic did just that.
Time is the one thing that is lost that can never be regained. When you have had to work
a job that you don’t like, but you wind up loosing that job due to unforeseen circumstances (like
a pandemic); however, you choose to focus your time and yourself towards a more fulfilling
career. Why would you go back to your old job after you’ve found one in a career you actually
like?
The problem in this new reopening economy isn’t that there is a labor shortage. The
problem is that people were and are still being underpaid and under appreciated for jobs that put
them most at risk during the pandemic. The problem isn’t that people are finding it unacceptable
for them and their work to treated just as a commodity to be exploited during the most terrifying
times of their lives. The problem is that some major business owners and corporations that think
it is okay to be more concerned about their profits than their people.
Have you ever noticed that many of the businesses with those “Closed: Due to Lack of
Staff” signs hanging were once occupations that were considered on the “frontline” during that
pandemic. I did too.
Future Spikes
As I previously mentioned, as a healthcare worker, it does trouble me to see that we are
still seeing Covid cases. And I fear that we are in for more future spikes, not unlike the ones we
saw in the Summer and Fall of 2020. However, those spikes are avoidable.
If we as a society are hell-bent on reopening at the speed everyone wants, the only way to
ensure to keep spikes happening, at the very least minimally, is to be get vaccinated. At the
current rate that things are reopening, we are not seeing the number of vaccinations needed for
herd immunity to take affect. Herd immunity takes affect when there is a larger amount of the
population that is vaccinated compared to those who aren’t.
In case you needed reminding, VACCINATIONS ARE FREE!