Adventist Faces of COVID-19
January 19, 2021
Over the past year, as the reality of COVID-19 has unfolded, it is startling to realize that some 95.6 million people have contracted the disease of whom 2.04 million have died. In the United States alone there have been 24.1 million cases with over 399,000 deaths.[1]
At first it didn’t seem that serious. Our kids enjoyed having an extra-long Spring Break. It became more real as people who we personally knew got sick, and a few even died. Other friends lost their jobs. As the pandemic has raged on, those who have pre-existing health conditions or who are elderly have been the most vulnerable. As scientists come to better understand the disease, we have come to learn how simple practices like wearing masks (over your mouth and nose) and practicing social distancing can help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. If we take seriously the biblical teaching to “love our neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31), it should move our hearts to do whatever we can, however inconvenient, to help slow the spread of COVID-19, particularly for those who are vulnerable.