How soon is too soon?

With this novel virus basically shutting down the world, and the US offering out money to help with the effort to fight the virus (even though our country is already trillions in debt, we can just make more money??) and help families survive unemployment, people are getting antsy to get out of their "stay-at-home" orders. I don't blame them. This is difficult. I had a friend try to relate what's going on, the not being able to see family, celebrate birthdays, missing life milestones, etc. to being in an army family. I understand that having a military spouse missing on life is hard. My father wasn't military, but he worked overseas and missed half of our birthdays and Christmases. If he was home one year, he wouldn't be the next because of his schedule. I'm not diminishing what the army goes through at all. It sucks. And it's why I fought against my husband considering joining just to help pay the medical school bills.

But this stay at home is more than that. It's being unable to have someone relieve the pressures at home. We are a country that is used to being able to congregate and socialize, to allow kids to play together so parents can get a break. To have opportunities in the summer for kids to go relax and have fun with other children. Those are all being taken away here. Not because of the virus first hand, but because of the revenue lost by the virus, there is no funding to support summer activities. Last summer, my girlfriends and I each took a Wednesday to watch all the kids while the other two moms had an hour or 2 time to themselves. Sure, I can send my kids outside. But my three are tired of each other and fight. about. everything. All the time. This is worse than them being home for summer break because they had camps and swimming lessons and play dates to look forward to. Right now, all we have is the same faces and attitudes every day. And my daughter is heading into the pre-teen hormone changes. I am almost certain of that.

All this being said, people are angry that places aren't being opened faster. And I get it. However, this virus hasn't been contained. And it won't. If we choose to rush right back in to where we were, it will spread just as fast as if we wouldn't have done social distancing to start with. And then we will have a second wave close to the regular flu season, and still no supplies to combat it. Then what? There is no more "normal" for life now. Even if this virus quiets down, who is to say it won't come back like a seasonal thing this winter? Yes, the more people that are tested, the more numbers we will have. No, the numbers aren't as high as predicted, and that is because the states closed things down. Those initial numbers were if nothing had been stopped. Sure, if we hadn't done anything, maybe this would have spread through like the flu's ugly step-sister, and been gone. No one knows what the future hold. But opening society up willy-nilly won't help anyone. Especially the elderly and immunocompromised.

It usually takes YEARS to develop a vaccine. There are lots of tests that need to be done, before it even gets to clinical trial (which yes involves people volunteering to get it and seeing what happens). And we won't have data to show potential future implications of this vaccine for years to come. Scientists are doing their best to rush through this procedure, but it won't be available any time soon. And honestly, I don't want a vaccination without a thorough testing done. Many immunity tests haven't been validated that are in use, so there is no data to show how often a test can be wrong. No thank you. I am scientist, and I fully believe in having all the correct procedures followed, regardless of the timeline. No I don't want to be forced to stay at home for much longer, but I will do it if it is what is best for my family and our community. And continue to put faith in God, because he is in control.