Alan S. Austin
Arizona Playwright • Writer • Poet
  

WHERE ARE THE POSITIVES FROM THE PANDEMIC? (4/21)

The economy is shattered. The ship is sinking. The government has had to intervene just to keep what is left afloat. It's a tragedy. Foreseeable? Partly yes, partly no. We did not anticipate. We were unprepared. So.... how do we cope? How do we move forward? The first task is to eliminate the threat from the coronavirus, to look after the sick and the vulnerable, make sure everyone understands the nature of the threat and what everyone has to do to keep a resurgence at bay. Test, test, test. Next is to get our institutions, our government, our schools safely back on track. As we know more about the virus and its whereabout, we can begin opening up again. This will take time. Moving too early will make us vulnerable to a new surge. We all need good information, no hysterics, no political posturing, just information from experts. And we need to be calm, practical, methodical. We need to all care about each other, whoever we are. This virus does not care about our race, our background or religion or our politics. How well we do all this will determine, how quickly and how well we come out on the other side.