The 'In-Between'

The ‘in-between’, that is what I am calling the present. One foot in isolation, one foot out. This requires an emotional flexibility to figuratively straddle between both. Where will this unknown road take us?

As you all probably know, Phase two began yesterday.

Who is nervous about all the people? Me. Who is nervous when you see so many people near one another? Me. Who gets sweaty palms when thinking about your kids going to restart gathering with their friends? Me

I know I am not the only one.

We have been battered with lots of data regarding the virology of COVID-19, and we are all still appropriately cautious and worried. Nothing has really changed since March, right? We still do not have a vaccine. We still are reporting more than 100 cases a day. We still do not really understand the transmission. Information is changing. You might have seen this article from the WHO that talks about asymptomatic carriers of the disease “rarely” spread the virus. WHAT, we have stayed inside, closed schools, closed local businesses for nothing!!!??? You must be thinking when reading the caption. However, after doing a deeper dive into the facts, it seems that grabber headline was somewhat misleading. To be clear, Pre-symptomatic describes the early stages of an illness, before symptoms have arisen, whereas asymptomatic illness means having no symptoms at all while infected. For example, Sally has not been sick at all over the past several months but wants to get an antibody test and finds out she had indeed been exposed to the virus and built immunity. She was an asymptomatic carrier and now according the WHO rarely contagious in this case. Now Jessie on the other hand, has not yet formed symptoms of COVID-19, she is feeling great but in two days she develops a cough and fever. This is considered pre-symptomatic and likely to be shedding the virus while not knowing. I found this article helpful to weed through the distinction. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/08/health/coronavirus-asymptomatic-spread-who-bn/index.html

We ‘flattened the curve’ for hospitals to get their much-needed PPE, equipment, staffing and policies in place. ‘Thank you’ is not enough. Yet, we still had loss. So much loss. Does flattening the curve bring back my best friend’s mother? No. Or bring back to their loved ones those 7,353 people who have also lost their lives in Massachusetts to this point? No. Could it have been worse? Highly likely, yes. So, when wondering if the past several months of lockdown have been worth it, I implore you to believe that yes, yes they were. Now with lower cases we can isolate, trace, and control the numbers while waiting for a vaccine.

I would be remiss, if I did not acknowledge the protests and the crowds bringing public awareness to the ingrained oppression and the unequal treatment of minorities in this country. I see the pain and disparity. I see the police in Medfield gearing up and coming to work every day to protect us. How will these large protests affect the numbers of new cases? We will probably have more. Is it worth it for outcries against human rights issues? I would venture yes. This requires that emotional flexibility also.

Now, how do we function in the ‘in-between’? Cautiously. Respect people’s boundaries and personal beliefs. Respect and maintain good hand hygiene. Respect and maintain the mask policy. Stay informed. https://www.town.medfield.net/269/Board-of-Health Know that this pandemic is a wrinkle in time, and we can make it through. Stronger and more resilient than before.

To end on a positive note. I have been longing to find examples of times where “good comes out of bad”, because I am certain there are many. I was gifted one the other day when listening to a Brene Brown’s podcast, Unlocking Us. Kerri Washington was talking about the origin of ‘hip-hop”. Evidently in the 1970’s, hip hop music began in the post-industrial and desolated ruins of South Bronx as an influential medium for protesting the impact of legal institutions on minorities and cuts in music funding in the school system. With just record players, experiments with breaking and “scratching” their records birthed what we enjoy today as “hip-hop” and DJ’s.

Good from bad, my friends. It is out there. We can do it. We need music. We need to make our own figurative music during the “in-between” and walk down that unknown road with 2020 vision.

*I am a Medfield Board of Health Member, a bedside nurse at The Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, and a Medfield “townie”. This article is my opinion and not that of the BOH or the BWH*