COVID-19 has scotched so many important and meaningful events in our lives: graduation ceremonies, funerals, marriages, proms and other dances, parties, athletic seasons, plays, concerts, parades, rodeos, conventions, religious ceremonies, religious services, dinners and countless other events and gatherings — formal and informal, large and small.
Yet there can be an unreality about this. By contrast, bubonic plague deaths occurred at a much higher rate, leaving victims’ bodies everywhere. With COVID-19, few of us have seen someone with a bad case up close and personal, nor do we see how this subtle bug migrates from human to human. The imprudent can wonder what all the fuss is about when it is so unseen and seemingly distant. That’s why “young immortals” can party on Florida beaches during spring break and say, “If I get coronavirus, I get coronavirus.” However, all of that bravado will quickly change when they or their loved one gets infected. All it takes is a positive test result for life to focus exclusively on surviving the deadly virus.
The pandemic has many consequences, some we know of and some we don’t. Besides the loss of life, one of the most tragic is that most COVID-19 fatalities die without family by them; because of the risk of infection, there is rarely a loved one to say goodbye.
Supposedly, COVID-19 is no respecter of persons. But it’s becoming tragically apparent that this contagion falls heaviest on the poor. The poor typically have less information and fewer resources to help them avoid infection and protect their families; less ability to shelter in their homes; are more likely to have a job that requires them to work on-site without the option to work from home; are more likely to depend on public transportation that makes them more susceptible to infection; may not have the luxury of social distancing because of the size and nature of their home or apartment; less likely to have health coverage; more prone to have underlying conditions and poorer health; less flexibility with child care; and less able to afford compensating measures like getting to-go food. All of this makes them more susceptible to getting infected; less inclined to seek testing and treatment; less able to fight off COVID-19; and less able to cope with the shutdown.
The Navajo Nation, spread over vast swaths of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, has a very high rate of poverty; the nation has been hit hard by infections, with nearly 1,900 cases and 60 confirmed deaths as of April 28. Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House said the Navajo Nation had the U.S.’s worst infection problem behind only New York and New Jersey. Urban African-Americans in places like Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Chicago are getting pummeled with infection and death rates two and three times greater than their percentage of the population.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “in the majority of states reporting data, black people accounted for a higher share of confirmed cases (in 20 of 31 states) and deaths (in 19 of 24 states) compared to their share of the total population. In Wisconsin, black people made up a four-times higher share of confirmed cases (25% vs. 6%) and an over six-times higher share of deaths (39% vs. 6%) compared to their share of the total population. Similarly, in Kansas, black people accounted for a three-times higher share of cases (17% vs. 6%) and an over five times higher share of deaths (33% vs. 6%) than their share of the total population.” Disparately negative impacts are seen among blacks people in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana. “Black people accounted for over half of all deaths in D.C. (75%), Mississippi (66%), Louisiana (59%), Alabama (52%) and Georgia (51%).”
In Utah, Hispanics are contracting the disease at 2.5 times their proportion of the population, showing that Utah communities of color are suffering from the pandemic disproportionately heavily.
This is not a time for judgment or criticism; it’s a time for compassion for our fellow humans and a time to help them however we can. A great Book of Mormon prophet-king counseled us to “administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need. For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have?” (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 4:16, 19)