➺as i see it by DAN HALL
Apocalypse, panic, or reset?
“I
’ve been to a world’s fair and two county picnics and haven’t seen anything like this!” goes one of my
favorite quotes from one of my favorite people, Bobby Thompson. I’ve used it as my own since the first time I heard him say it in 1983. It describes that internal “Oh, wow … This is blowing my mind!” I am not alone when I say that as I watch the global crisis unfolding in front of us, I’m stunned. But in all honesty, it’s not the COVID-19 pandemic that has stunned me. Rather, it’s the reaction that is, truly, completely baffling to me. I believe we have seen excessively worse situations that have created significantly less response. For some reason, this has taken on legs of its own. In the movie “Men in Black,” Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is explaining to Agent J (Will Smith) why the government doesn’t simply admit the presence of aliens: Smith: “Why don’t we just tell them? People are smart.” Jones: “The person is smart, but people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals.”
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APRIL 2020 ❘ Mississippi Christian Living
Wise individuals get swept up into groupthink and mob mentality. I believe we are seeing a lot of that now. Regardless of my view of the seriousness or insignificance of this outbreak, the collective panic is real, resulting in a devastating global impact. So how do we, as believers, respond? Let me tackle three large questions.
What is real?
1. The panic is real.
There are varying degrees of opinion regarding this outbreak, from “This is the next great plague” to “Oh, brother!” I have friends who haven’t opened their door in three weeks, and I have friends who still left on a cruise. Within my own family, my six grown children (five of them with their own children) are divided between those who lean toward the “next plague” narrative and those who feel, “This is way overblown.” What is undeniable is that EVERYONE is being impacted by the global panic regardless of whether they themselves are panicking.
2. The severity of the virus is real.
While neither a medical specialist nor an epidemiologist, I presently have a contract with the Mississippi State Department of Health. My specific area of responsibility includes both the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response (which mobilizes during any health crisis and emergency, from pandemics to hurricanes) as well as the Division of Epidemiology. This has allowed me a front row seat to what’s happening in Mississippi. According to TIME magazine, the CDC estimates that up to 42.9 million people got sick during the 2018-2019 flu season. Of those 42.9 million, 647,000 were hospitalized and 61,200 died (https://time.com/5610878/2018-2019-fluseason/). That’s a mortality rate significantly less than 1 percent of those estimated to be sick, and 9 percent of those hospitalized. The qualities of COVID-19 that make it a significantly greater challenge than the “regular” flu are: 1) how long it can exist outside the host, therefore lengthening how contagious it can be even if you’re not around someone who is sick; 2) its exponential impact
