Should you go out to party? Not until there’s a coronavirus cure

We’re all aching to go back to the world as we once knew it – staying home all the time, with the only exception being to grocery shop, isn’t fun or even particularly mentally healthy. However, the world before COVID-19 just doesn’t exist anymore. While high fiving always posed some small risk of transferring cold or flu germs, it now poses a potentially far deadlier consequence and we have to recognize this.

COVID-19 is here to stay until we find a vaccine. Doctors and scientists are working hard to find one as soon as possible, but these things just take time. While we wait, going about daily life in public spaces without social distancing or wearing masks is just worsening the problem.

Cure versus vaccine

It’s important to note that colloquially we frequently say “we need a cure for COVID-19 before going back to daily life”, but that’s kind of incorrect. While an outright cure would be useful, this would only help people who have already contracted the virus. Cures are what are given to patients who are sick.

Now, doctors are looking for a treatment with a high success rate of curing the virus – this is very important in helping those who are currently in hospital beds.

However, we won’t be able to go back to shaking hands with new people and going to concerts until a vaccine is found. Vaccines are what we give to people who have never had an illness before – an example you may be most familiar with is the tetanus shot. It’s recommended you get a booster for this every ten years regardless of whether you’ve been exposed to tetanus, just in case – doing this means you’re less likely to contract tetanus and/or die from it.

Why we need to keep quarantining

We know summer is starting to really get underway and it’s hard to imagine not having barbeque parties with friends, going to festivals, or drinking at your favorite bar – but we really do have to go without all of that this year. Every time large gatherings are permitted we see a huge spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in the location where the gathering occurred.

Remember when Florida beaches were packed with spring breakers? Yeah, the number of cases skyrocketed. More recently, Arizona decided to try and allow people to “assess the risk” themselves, and most people apparently decided wearing masks and social distancing was a thing of the past.

Do you know what happened? There was a 54% increase in the number of cases between May 31st and June 6th. To be even more specific there were 7,121 new cases in that week alone. The lack of stay-at-home regulations has led to packed nightclubs and bars where people are in close quarters breathing on & touching one another. The perfect conditions for spreading COVID-19 quickly and to large groups.

It isn’t easy

We know it isn’t easy. A person can only go through so many Google Hangouts game nights featuring JackBox Games before you just want to go back to your favorite bar for trivia night with fifteen of your friends, so you can hug everyone. We really, really want to do that too. But it just isn’t safe for you or your loved ones until there’s a vaccine for COVID-19.

The virus hasn’t just magically gone away because we all wished super hard – though we think everyone has tried that by this point. The virus also isn’t just going to go dormant because it’s summer like some people have asserted. The virus is here and anyone can get it or spread it.

It sounds depressing and frustrating, but it’s true. So let’s all collectively hope doctors and scientists are able to find the vaccine quickly and even sooner than expected. 🤞