See this Huffington Post article on vacations, Stop Trying To Live Like We Aren't In A Pandemic. I get it! Yesterday was my one grand-daughter's 10th birthday. We bought a combined gift for her and her sister of a hover board, but ... we were not there to celebrate, only a phone call wishing her Happy Birthday! Bummer, for sure.
We have typically celebrated four family birthdays on a beach vacation week with three generations of family. This year it is nada, zip, zilch. See my previous blog post on our choices, Personal COVID-19 Decisions.
In the HuffPost article above there was this quote, "U.S. culture is known for individualism,” [Melissa Wesner, a counselor and owner of LifeSpring Counseling Services] said. “We think about ourselves and our personal wants, needs and goals. One of the issues that is coming up at this time is our ability to demonstrate care, concern and understanding for others.” Countries that are more collectivist may have a leg up with combating the coronavirus since they tend to prioritize the group over the self, Wesner said."
This then is the issue. The rise in cases across the United States, for now in the South and Southwest, come from a bunch of individual choices to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries (our 50th was a twosome in April), weddings, etc. We are the problem! The national government has not helped, but the mess we are in now comes from us pointing the finger at others, ignoring the three fingers pointing back at us.
The latest warning from infection control experts is that the Midwest maybe the next region of the United States to have its turn in the COVID-19 bucket.
Make good "individual" and family choices.
