This past weekend was marred by images on television of riots in multiple U.S. cities.
The horrendous and apparent homicide of citizen George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer last week has sparked outrage across the country.
Largely peaceful protests by day have devolved into looting and rioting at night.
Lost in this righteous battle for justice has been the need for continued social distancing due to the novel coronavirus.
As a country, we’re likely going to face the social fallout from these incidences for some time, and we’re also likely to face the medical consequences as well.
Looking at Mississippi alone, the late spring heat that resembles early summer has done little to stop COVID-19 in its tracks.
Mississippi House Speaker Phillip Gunn said during an online address this week that it appears the virus is making a comeback in the Magnolia State.
Hospitalizations are up. So is the use of ventilators and intensive care unit beds.
The Republican leader warned this week that hospital capacity in Jackson and Hattiesburg, two large metropolitan areas, is getting closer to being maxed out.
As of Tuesday, the state was utilizing 113 ventilators, the highest to date since the pandemic began.
If these larger hospital systems become overrun, it could cause residual problems throughout the state.
Health care capacity has been at the forefront of the COVID-19 response nationally since it began.
Governors across the nation, including Gov. Tate Reeves, issued stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines in order to help keep the number of hospitalizations to the lowest point possible.
It appeared by mid-May that the state had made a lot of progress toward this goal.
Reeves began relieving some of the restrictions last month, allowing most businesses to re-open and congregational gatherings to once again commence.
Never did Reeves nor his closest health care advisor Dr. Thomas Dobbs say that the pandemic was over.
To the contrary, they have consistently warned that without proper social distancing and wearing masks, COVID-19 could rear its ugly head again in a second wave.
Late last week, Dobbs warned that the state was one weekend of pure neglect away from falling off a cliff, and all the progress made over the past two months would be wiped away.
We’re probably a couple of weeks away from seeing the total fallout from the nation’s protests, as thousands have congregated in the streets of America’s largest cities to march against injustice.
Back here in Mississippi, where protests have been more sparse and largely peaceful, we still see folks out without masks, shaking hands and returning to business as usual.
This editor is as guilty as anyone of relaxing over the past week.
Just because the restrictions have been relaxed does not mean that the guidelines go out the window.
Surviving March through May was hard, both socially and economically.
It would be sad indeed if we had to endure another two months like that simply because we let our guard down.
So far, Sunflower County has not seen a reported death from the virus in weeks, although our numbers have increased to 85 total cases.
It may be time to go back to work and church, but it’s definitely not business as usual.
Be vigilant, not because of the threat of stay-at-home orders but more so because of the threat of the virus returning and harming ourselves and the ones we love most.
