Member-only story
2020 is almost over, but here in the US, the pandemic’s just getting warmed up. Several vaccines are in the process of approval and early distribution, but it will take months to distribute them to enough people to make a major difference in the spread of COVID-19. In the meantime, the winter spike in confirmed cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continues. How we respond to the pandemic over the next few months will determine just how catastrophic a toll it takes on our communities and society.
At this point, government interventions such as mitigation efforts and relief programs will be insufficient to stop community spread or relieve the social and economic fallout of the pandemic while we await full vaccine distribution. We should still support such interventions because they are currently the best chance we have of organizing a massive, effective, and relatively rapid pandemic response. But these interventions will be insufficient to meet the growing need for collective action in the face of the common threat of COVID-19.
Governments supposedly exist to help their people, especially in times of great public need. Why can’t we just ask politicians to help us respond to this threat and hope for the best?
Some local and state politicians are actively fighting against mitigation measures due to pressure from…
