COVID-19

I live under the flight path of the Salt Lake International Airport and have become very accustomed to seeing airplanes overhead. In fact, a couple of nights ago I was looking at five planes as they made their approach to land. On September 11, 2001 and the days that followed, the air went silent.

Except for Hill Air Force Base. At the time, my commute provided the chance to drive by the base a couple of times per day. But, the Air Force was  running so many drills, you could see the fighter jets all over the sky. But commercial airline traffic stopped and I noted the absence.

In the face of the tragedy and all the different things that came to define our new normal, we also experienced a unifying spirit of resolve and community. In the days and weeks after September 11, our society made a concerted effort to support the people around us who would be negatively affected by the attack on our country and the disruption to air travel. People said, if we stop living the attackers have already won.

My family and I went out to restaurants. We went out of our way and visited businesses, museums and other destinations that would otherwise suffer with a declining patronage. We hung out with friends and family. We were not alone. Some businesses truly thrived as a result of this sense of community and for a period we Americans seemed to speak with one voice. We set aside differences, because we saw them as petty, in light of our new normal and in contrast to the tragedies suffered by others.


Today our world community confronts a different enemy in COVID-19. It isn’t an enemy that we can kill through bombs and warfare. COVID-19 threatens us because we are a community. We don’t live in isolation, but we travel the world and we are not alone. The world travels here, wherever here might be. The connections that have been made through advancements in transportation and communication have helped us create bonds of friendship on personal levels in all quarters of the globe.

Because we travel, the virus travels, and our connections create the very risk of infection. Public health officials respond with plans for isolation and quarantine. Testing identifies the carriers and investigation determines who might be at risk. As the potential risk grows, governments respond to the heightened concerns and major events are cancelled or postponed. And we become more isolated.

I don’t know the answers and I want to support the sound restrictions recommended by public health officials, but I also want to live. I want to enjoy sporting events with screaming fans. I want to attend conferences in groups. I want to dine and support the small business around me. If I stop doing these things and still survive, have I lived? Does COVID-19 win either way? What am I safely allowed to do? I don’t know.

But I want to live, not merely survive.