Catoosa Baptist Tabernacle, an independent Baptist church led by Pastor Justin Gazaway in Ringgold, Georgia, restarted in-person services on April 26. Church representative Joan Lewis told The Christian Post on Monday, however, that they decided to suspend “in-person worship services for the foreseeable future” on May 11 after learning several families had contracted the virus.
This is an example of what will be happening in this country over the next few weeks. Forty-seven states opened to some level, on May 15, so it will be interesting to see if things work out the way everyone hopes. I have little confidence in the American people and the patience they supposedly have for these situations. Thus far, that has proved true. Despite all the medical doctors and scientists who are saying it's too dangerous to open now, people seem to want to play more than they want to pay attention to factual information. I understand that many people want to open because many tens of thousands of people are going bankrupt because they're unable to work. That is a big issue. Our society will not be the same as it was before the coronavirus. The world has turned, and we will face a new and yet unknown reality. The world will be both different and sadly, the same. We're not yet prepared for the next onslaught of a virus, which will come. It's just a matter of time and the severity will depend on how well we're prepared for it. My concern is that we have leadership who would rather play and make money than take things like this seriously. Whether they prepare us will depend a lot on their mentality, their perspective on trying to find some way to deal with this immensely complex preparation process needed to adjust to all of this chaos. Our current leaders cannot do that, because they're too focused on themselves. With a new world order must come the leaders capable of envisioning the societal behaviors needed to live within that order.
[Bill] Gates, who co-chairs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that’s at the global vanguard of infectious disease research and treatments, told Trump right before he took office only a few weeks later that he ought to make preparedness for the danger posed by pandemics a priority of his administration. That’s according to a Wall Street Journal report Monday recapping Gates’ years-long effort to warn decision-makers about the threats posed by infectious diseases. “I feel terrible,” he says now. And, “I wish I had done more to call attention to the danger.” ~2020 BGR Media
I really hope the scientists are wrong, have miscalculated the spread, but who should we believe first? On one hand, we have a crazy child taking unproven medicine and not using his own safety protocols because he thinks he is immune. On the other hand, we have decades of educated, tested scientists and doctors. If anyone asks me why I still social distance and wear a mask when I do go out, my response: Are you willing to bet your life and the lives of those you love on the idiot child? Not me.