I have spent the week watching and reading developments on the CDC's Covid-19 announcement that those who are vaccinated no longer need to wear masks or social distance, except in very crowded situations, in public transportation, and in the case of the immune compromised. The non-vaccinated are advised to continue wearing masks. On Sunday, I spoke a bit about the announcement in terms of trust as an aspect of faith. I also spoke of my multi-generational household and our decision to continue current mask practices. because young children have no vaccine as yet. The week has brought a cross current of opinions and state announcements, stirring confusion and controversy. Still, Covid-19 case rates continue to decline.
Vaccinations are now at the forefront of public health outreach, while we face daily news of catastrophic Covid-19 spread across the globe. Research has shown that this vaccines are powerfully protective. No vaccine is 100% effective. We know this from years of annual flu vaccines. What we don't really have is data that shows how much additional protection mask wearing would provide in a population that has partial or the majority vaccinated. We do know that the 2020-2021 flu season saw the number of flu hospitalizations and deaths plummet. This is attributed to masks, social distancing and people staying home when ill. The new Covid-19 recommendations are meant to spur more people to follow through, be vaccinated, and then be mask free. There is some hope among medical practitioners that we have learned to use masks and other health prevention that could continue to be practiced when needed and benefit public health, even when the Pandemic is gone.
In America after 2020, trust is not automatic, but without some amount of trust, we cannot progress. Trust on a human level is one thing, but trust on a spiritual level brings the idea of faith. Trust is an aspect of faith. The idea of trust includes the question who or what are you trusting? Life requires some degree of trust. As a culture, we are now sorting out whether or not we can trust that non-vaccinated people will wear masks and that those who do not wear masks have indeed been vaccinated. Since a certain amount of the population have refused to wear masks all along, or greatly resisted, wearing only when forced, this brings an unusual reckoning with our personal ideas of trust and realistic expectations. With new guidelines, we are given the freedom and responsibility to assess our personal level of risk, the risk we potentially bring to others, and measure our own tolerance for risk after over a year of Pandemic threat.
Trust in something beyond our own efforts is an essential part of faith, especially when sooner or later we find ourselves in situations and pursuits which are beyond our total control. Spiritual clarity begins when you can answer who and what are you trusting. Where is your focal point? What has personally carried you through this Pandemic? For most of us, it is a mix of human support, reliable information, our own intelligence, intuition, experience, and spiritual faith. These may seem separate and at times conflicting, but with deepening understanding, God (or however you name the Un-namable) becomes the overriding, organizing principle of life. Trust that. (Susan Nettleton)