COVID, Five Years On

 

There have been lots of reminders recently that five years ago the world was shutting down regular activity in response to the COVID pandemic that had been looming on the horizon for several months. Each jurisdiction was making its own decisions although the World Health Organization made its pandemic announcement on March 11, 2020. By the following week Canada had taken the significant steps in restricting air travel along with other measures. 

We attended worship at Trenton United on Sunday, March 15 after I had earlier cycled to the nearly empty Y for a workout. There weren't many people at church either and the announcement was made that we were essentially giving up Lent for Lent. 

We were told that our gatherings for worship were suspended until at least Palm Sunday on April 16. Little did we know that it would be many months before we came together in our sanctuary and even then we would return sporadically, depending on Ontario restrictions. 

That evening I began my journal entry: "Beware the Ides of March. Each day becomes a little more dire, a little more bleak." Little did I know how dire and bleak. 

The United Church respected those restrictions as did most denominations, although some congregations decided to defy science and the law because God was going to magically protect them. Locally there were church-goers who shunned COVID restrictions and later refused vaccines, only to die. I won't dwell on these choices other than to say that I still feel they were misguided, selfish, and unfaithful. I thought that it was both sad and terrible that when some of these unfortunate folk died of COVID their families wouldn't acknowledge the cause, not unlike what happened when AIDS killed people decades before. 

There were many casualties because of the pandemic with businesses closing permanently and lots of congregations as well. Many of those churches were already on life support in terms of dwindling numbers and aging members. COVID hastened their death. 

I'm not sure what we learned out of this pandemic. In some respects it seems to have made a group of people anti-science and more defiant about government direction. The term "freedom" has been coopted to mean selfishness and belligerence. That said, I am impressed by the resilience of so many others and the determination of faith communities, including our own, to stay connected and compassionate with members and others who relied on our support.  

We're told that the next pandemic is a matter of when rather than if and, let's be honest, when we hear about eruptions of illness in different places in the world we wonder if the Grim Reaper is getting impatient. 

Five years on we can offer prayers of gratitude for all who brought comfort and care for those who were suffering. often at huge personal cost. We can pray for governmental leaders who must remain vigilant regarding transmissible illnesses and that there will be cooperation between nations. We can pray that everyone will understand that we are stronger when we work for a common good and that good science is also good citizenship and good religion.