The lockdown drill is familiar, but Stanislaus must maintain fight against COVID

This lockdown feels different from the one that kicked off the coronavirus pandemic in March.

Back then, we knew much less about COVID-19, and the required changes in behavior were new and uncharted.

When the state’s public health order first came down in March, we were forced to learn to wear masks in public. We adopted new shopping routines. We called around, or scoured the newspaper, to find out which restaurants would provide take-out food. Our children stayed home from school.

Although the new stay-home order is structurally similar, we’re no longer in that same learning curve.

By now, wearing a mask is second nature to all but the most selfishly stubborn. Shopping and food take-out patterns are routine. Depending on the school district, our kids are underfoot more than before the pandemic, but less than those awful weeks in April and September.

So yes, the new lockdown is similar, but this time we’re more experienced. We already know what it’s like. This time, we know our enemy. Most of us have confidence that we can get through this, because we’ve done it before.

It helps to know that a vaccine — a critical component to overcoming this virus — is on its way. Anticipating these shots is a shot in the arm to our morale.

However, this is no time to let our guard down.

We’re still in the thick of war with a known but deadly enemy.

When this thing started, it took nearly 16 weeks for Stanislaus County to record 2,000 COVID cases. Now we’re getting that many new infections every week, and the fallout from unwise Thanksgiving gatherings is still being realized.

When this thing started, Stanislaus County went an entire month before our first COVID-19 death. Eight months after that first loss, we’ve lost 446.

Collectively, we mourn the loss of each soul.

Stanislaus must keep resolve to fight COVID

Perhaps the greatest tragedy will be the loss of those who will die in the coming weeks — just before the coming of the vaccine, but after COVID had made its presence known, after it had already seized our community by the jugular. Too many will suffer needlessly, and many will die, because the temptation of gathering for the holidays is powerful.

The current stay-home order will last a minimum of three weeks. If we refuse to follow proven safety protocols, the burdens borne by the sick, the dying and our businesses will extend beyond. How fast our economy reopens is up to us.

The sad and inescapable truth remains, that you may feel fine and still carry — and spread — the virus. It refuses to discriminate. It attacks the rich as well as the poor. It cares nothing for skin color or sexual preference. It surely kills the aged and infirm much more viciously than the rest, but the rest can and do infect others without knowing.

We can’t kill this killer, but we can slow it.

Long ago we learned the keys: face coverings, outdoor activities, keeping our distance, avoiding indoor gatherings with those with whom we don’t live. We cannot afford to ease up on these keys because we know that a vaccine is just around the corner, or because we’re tired of the fight.

Everyone is tired. But we must steel our resolve to do what’s smart and right — to protect ourselves, our families and coworkers.

We will get through this. The great unknown is how many more humans we’ll lose before the crisis eases. We must do our part to keep that number as low as humanly possible.