By JOSH RESNEK
In Massachusetts, in Everett, in nearly every city in the United States, COVID-19 statistics reveal a much-improved situation with the virus which has taken 520,000 American lives and which has affected millions around the world.
For all the good news coming out of the CDC, epidemiologists claim that another surge is possible if Americans let down their guard.
“This is not a time to stop wearing masks,”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s chief epidemiologist said over the weekend.
He was responding to orders by the governors of Texas and Florida that virus mitigation efforts aren’t really part of the state’s responsibility anymore, rather, it is the responsibility of the citizens.
Here in Massachusetts, where a different type of sanity exists about science and what it proves, residents throughout the state are continuing to exercise extreme caution.
Everett remains a facemask always city, as it should.
Declining figures here and in neighboring Chelsea and Revere (which were red zone hot spots for the virus for many months) prove the value of facemasks, distancing, precautions, restrictions on restaurants and bars, the casino, and on and on.
Everett, this week is a yellow zone city.
It is a bit safer now.
Nationwide Monday and Tuesday, more than 4,000 people died of the virus. An additional several hundred thousand became infected.
The virus remains deadly.
However, vaccinations are doubling and tripling every day across the nation. A large percentage of the population is rapidly becoming vaccinated with July and August predicted as the date when something like 80% of Americans will have received a vaccination.
That should bring life and interaction into a better place although it is difficult to imagine restaurants, bars, stadiums, casinos being packed with large crowds.
The recovery will take time.
It took time to get where we are.
It will take longer to get back to where we were.
The virus isn’t done yet sabotaging our lives and our society.
A new day is fast approaching.