We’ll weather this storm together

This past January when we first heard the news about COVID-19 hitting China, it was concerning. Since then, concerns have escalated like thunderclouds sweeping in. The storm is coming; the only questions are how hard it will hit, and will we be ready?

The virus, identified as “corona” for its knobby, crown-like structure is common among bats in China, but when a virus changes and makes the jump from one species to another, in this case, from bats to another host animal, to humans, it is alarming. While many people recover from COVID-19 with symptoms no more concerning than the common flu, for others it’s deadly. While our bodies have been exposed to, been vaccinated against, and developed immunity to the flu virus for years, they have never seen COVID-19. Given our different health conditions, each of us will have differing abilities to adapt and overcome this new attack.

News of an outbreak in China feels like something affecting them. Now we are talking about us. This is where we have to switch our thinking from “me” to “we.”

Regardless of your age, political affiliation, race, gender, or occupation, the reality of a dangerous virus is that we are all in this together. Like a team that has been able to watch their opponent play, study its moves, and learn its strategy, we have the opportunity to learn from how other communities prepared, or failed to prepare, for the COVID-19 storm. But like a team, we won’t win this if each of us is only concerned for him or herself. This will take all of us collectively doing the right things as one community.

We have a wonderful hospital and it is remarkable that a community our size has such advanced facilities, physicians and staff members. But let me be perfectly frank; it is a finite resource. We have only so many beds, only so many ventilators, and only so many doctors and nurses. The same holds true in Spokane, and Seattle, and the rest of the country.

By now we have all had the surreal experience of walking down an empty toilet-paper aisle. Imagine that you, or your mother, or your child is one of the unfortunate 2 percent who become so sickened by COVID-19 that you need a ventilator, but there are none available here. In fact, there are none available anyplace. The shelves are empty no matter where you go.

We are already facing shortages of hospital masks, personal protective equipment, and the unique swabs used to test for the virus. We have staff members literally working around the clock to track down supplies and come up with creative ways to conserve the supplies we do have.

Fortunately, we’ve been watching the COVID-19 game film and the solution to weathering this storm is simple. The bad news is that simple isn’t easy. It requires a dramatic response BEFORE a dramatic response is warranted. Social distancing, self-isolation, fastidious hand-washing, canceling events and closing communal public spaces only work when those steps are taken early. If we wait until it “starts to get bad,” we will have waited too long.

What’s more, we will likely have to live this way longer than any of us would care to. We are a generally friendly, social community, so the idea of staying away from others for weeks at a time doesn’t hold much appeal. Certainly none of us would have signed up for this, but there is hope.

We have hope, friends, because we are Americans. Our nation was built by men and women who did the hard things when they were necessary, sacrificed when they had to, and pulled together to get through it all. From revolutions to depressions to wars, we persevere. We did it before and we’ll do it again. It won’t be easy, but we will do it again.

If there is a silver lining for all of us in this crisis, it is this: We do our best as Americans when we come together for a common goal. This is one of those times when a spirit of cooperation and kindness will prevail. It is now safe to say that our lives and livelihoods depend on it.