Editorial Roundup: South Dakota

Yankton Press & Dakotan. March 30, 2021.

Editorial: COVID-19 And Our Own Complacency

Monday sounded like a dire day in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has claimed more than 550,000 American lives.

This grim vibe was reflected by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who during a COVID briefing spoke literally of “impending doom” in America’s fight against the coronavirus. Noting the recent rise in new infections and deaths, she plainly told Americans that “right now, I’m scared.”

However, to understand this message, one must consider the broader context in which her words, issued one year into this devastating pandemic, were uttered.

Her blunt assessments came on a day when the news generally on the COVID front was mostly very bright:

• Vaccinations continue to expand, with more than 12 million Americans vaccinated in the four days preceding Monday;

• More vaccine is coming online, and President Joe Biden announced that the federal pharmacy vaccination program, which has proven very popular with many people, is about to grow dramatically;

• Some states, including North Dakota, have announced they are making all adults eligible for vaccination;

• A CDC study announced Monday revealed that the Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines appeared to be 90% effective in preventing COVID infection in what was called a “real-world” setting.

That’s all great news.

But that may also be the problem. Health officials are worried that people may let up in their commitment to defending themselves from the coronavirus. Reuters reported Monday that COVID infections in the U.S. climbed 9% last week, the first time since January that cases have gone up two weeks in a row. Infections ticked upward in 33 of 50 states. Nationally, deaths are dipping but still running at about 1,000 per day on average.

Walensky’s worries are based on those trends, “What we’ve seen over the last week or so is a steady rise of cases,” she said. “I know that travel is up, and I just worry that we will see the surges that we saw over the summer and over the winter again.”

This is what has happened in Europe, and with the B.1.1.7 variant picking up steam in the U.S., the fear is that any letting up on the throttle, so to speak, could set America back considerably in this battle.

With Easter looming and with more events returning from one-year hibernation, the temptation to return to normal is growing by the day. But the message is clear: We’re so close to winning this thing, but the battle isn’t won yet - and our success could be reversed quickly if we don’t maintain our vigilance.

Understandably, that’s not what so many of us want to hear. We’re weary of COVID life and are now energized by what is almost within our grasp. It’s been such a long road, and help has arrived with the vaccines. South Dakota, which has endured a lot in the pandemic, has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country.

But complacency, after all this time, could become a landmine.

That’s why Walensky sounded the alarm Monday.

That’s why Biden, later in the day, DIDN’T contradict the CDC director (which was refreshing) and instead echoed her urgency by pleading with governors and mayors across the country to institute, or re-institute, mask mandates and to not open up too quickly.

“As much as we’re doing, America, it’s time to do even more,” he said Monday.

The time will come when we can finally declare victory over COVID. You can sense it in the air.

But the temptation to drop our guards too soon may be the biggest threat we face now. It’s also the most avoidable.

END