Fort Worth COVID-19 outlook seems bleak. Here’s what we can do until vaccine arrives
It seems like the coronavirus is about to overwhelm us.
Signs of the disease’s dangerous progress are everywhere. Just in Tarrant County in recent days, we’ve seen warnings our hospitals will soon run out of intensive-care beds; cold storage trucks outside the morgue to accommodate the dead; and record ambulance use.
Projections for the short-term future offer no consolation. Experts at the UT Southwestern Medical Center predict more hospitalizations as Christmas approaches, and that’s not even factoring in holiday gatherings. To many, it feels hopeless and frustrating, this dark winter forecast.
And yet, there are signs of hope, real reasons to believe better times are ahead. The remarkable success of vaccine development, and the incredible speed with which several versions have been created and will be distributed, is a stunning achievement. It will take months to inoculate enough Americans to create significant resistance to the virus, but with every shot, lives will be saved.
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MOREHey, who writes these editorials?
Editorials are the positions of the Editorial Board, which serves as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s institutional voice. The members of the board are: Cynthia M. Allen, columnist; Steve Coffman, editor and president; Bud Kennedy, columnist; Ryan J. Rusak, opinion editor; and Nicole Russell, editorial writer and columnist. Most editorials are written by Rusak or Russell. Editorials are unsigned because they represent the board’s consensus positions, not the views of individual writers.
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The Editorial Board meets regularly to discuss issues in the news and what points should be made in editorials. We strive to build a consensus to produce the strongest editorials possible, but when we differ, we put matters to a vote.
The board aims to be consistent with stances it has taken in the past but usually engages in a fresh discussion based on new developments and different perspectives.
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Better treatments are available, too. COVID-19 remains a puzzling and often wretched disease, but new therapies such as the antibody infusion Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price received show great promise for saving lives and preventing the worst complications.
How do we make it from here to there? After nine months of stress, despair and economic woe, what will it take to hang on for months more?
The most crucial need is to help our hospitals. Governments at all levels must ensure that healthcare workers have the resources they need, starting with protective gear. And it will take tremendous cooperation to create backup plans if local hospitals reach their capacities.
If your own health and that of those you love isn’t motivation enough to wear a mask and stay socially distanced from others, do it to protect healthcare workers. You never know when you’ll need one.
The broader population needs Congress to step up. The dysfunction of our federal government has become an accepted fact of life, but lawmakers have hit a new low with delays to a new relief package. Businesses, particularly those forced to close under pandemic orders, can still be saved. Renters can be kept from being turned out on the streets.
Lawmakers should set aside the most contentious parts of a relief package, such as legal liability protection for businesses and budgetary help for state and local governments. These are important issues, but there’s time to address them. Families need help now.
Congress’ compulsion to hold up widely supported ideas while it bickers over large packages that attempt to solve everything creates huge messes, such as with healthcare and immigration. Texas’ prominent leaders in Congress, including Sen. John Cornyn and Fort Worth’s Rep. Kay Granger, should help show the way to a quick and sensible deal on relief.
For the rest of us, more sacrifice is unfortunately in order. Giving up large family gatherings or parties for Christmas is painful, but guess what hurts more: watching from afar as a loved one dies alone in an intensive-care unit.
Fort Worth’s and Arlington’s hosting of the National Finals Rodeo has become a flashpoint in this debate. Plenty of fans have been observed without masks and ignoring social-distancing guidelines. To local residents attending these events, we say: Set a good example. To visitors, we’re glad to have y’all, and we want you to come back often. But please help protect our local hotel and restaurant employees so they can welcome you back next time.
Very soon, we’ll see healthcare workers and nursing-home residents getting the vaccine. The rest of us will have to wait, and there will be bumps along the way. Some will fall ill, and many will exploit such problems to whip up opposition and perhaps even fanciful conspiracy theories. Such cynics can’t be allowed to carry the day.
We’re all sick of the pandemic. But don’t let fatigue turn to fatalism. Take steps to protect yourself, your family and those keeping us all going, especially nurses and other hospital employees.
Brighter days are ahead, and you can help usher them in by doing your part.