Let's get local

Well, we didn’t have a great week, did we? When the list of states most likely to qualify for the administration’s three-tier recovery plan was released, there was a notably absent hole in the middle of the map. It was us. Nebraska. Like all densely populated areas, our friends in Lincoln and Omaha are predictably having problems, but our nearer neighbors in Grand Island are having even more difficulties.

That’s a double whammy for us. The break-outs are centered around food processing plants, which in turn suspend operations, which then causes supply-line bottlenecks for our producers; the backbone of our local economy.

Now I’m learning that we have a second officially diagnosed case in Red Willow County and others in surrounding counties. As of today, the trend doesn’t appear to be in our favor.

Having acknowledged as much, I continue to be surprised and disappointed by the faction of people who question the humanity of anyone who is A) optimistic about the future, B) willing to consider possible remedies for COVID, C) questions our understanding about the severity of the virus or, D) wishes for a gradual, careful, incremental return to a productive economy. They would suggest that we want to kill Grandma. That hurts. That bothers me.

Inasmuch as I am reluctant to give credence to those arguments, I think it warrants a conversation. It seems that the ethical dilemma of our times is the question of how we balance the potential death and suffering associated with the current virus situation with the economic damage caused by preventing it. It’s a tough issue and anyone who is sure that they know the answer probably hasn’t given it enough thought.

The suggestion that we put a dollar value on human life is vulgar and immoral. It’s unconscionable. I am not, however, the slightest bit sheepish about comparing human suffering with the value of life. How many homeless families, in your opinion, is a single life worth? How many hungry children is a single life worth?

How about domestic abuse? Drug and alcohol use? Overeating and the lack of mobility? Mind you, I am generalizing here. I don’t know if this theoretical life is an infant, a child, or a person who has cheated the actuaries, yet has multiple “comorbidities.” For now, let’s just think average.

Just as we ask about homelessness and hunger, we can look at some of the situations that lead to that. How many jobs lost is a life worth? How many closed businesses? For those of you who aren’t on the same page with me yet, here’s a particularly cruel, trick question: How many suicides, due to unemployment, homelessness, hunger, and desperation is one life worth?

The question of when and how we go forward, asked as a country, is well-publicized. On the state level, we aren’t as far along as hoped, but it will be announced as well. On the local level, it will be a conversation between too many entities to mention. City government and schools will most likely take the lead, with direction from the hospital and both county and regional health departments.

The business community will be, expectably, the most vocal proponents of lifting restrictions, but we’re talking about McCook folks here. I also expect them to be the most respectful of all reasonable, recommended guidelines.

The questions remaining are what we are willing to sacrifice going forward and what must be sustained. How will we define social distancing in businesses and public spaces? How will schools resume? Do we have sufficient infrastructure to enable split shifts and telecommuting? Extra church services? Drive-in movies?

I was sorry to read the Gazette story questioning the prospects for opening the swimming pool this summer. That’s one isolated issue, but those are the kinds of questions that we have before us. We will be dealing with those and many more on the local level for several months to come, so let’s jump in and do it.

Unlike a few others, I trust my neighbors to act judiciously. I believe that this is not a strictly binary choice.

It is not life versus death. We can find a third way. We can move toward being a functional economy while being protective of the most vulnerable members of our community, and in doing so, we will all be better for it.