Yes, the numbers of new corona virus cases may tick downward this spring. Probably not in April which, in the Northern and Midwestern states, still feels like winter—but by May or June new cases could drop dramatically.
No, it won’t be a miracle. What it will be is the norm for how viruses work. COVID 19 is related to the cold virus and people tend not to get colds or flu in the summer. The problem, then, is that the lack of new cases could lull us into a false sense of complacency over the next several months.
Then, the wake-up call will come.
The World Health Organization and other health agencies predict that, this fall, the virus will come roaring back. And we won’t, at that point, be anywhere close to a vaccine. The soonest one can be ready for general consumption, we’re told, is 1½ to 2 years from now—long after the next presidential term has begun.
Meanwhile, November is coming and now is the time to prepare.
Here’s where we’ll be come November:
National health organizations will be telling us, “Avoid contact with the virus by not congregating in crowded places.”
Um. Polling places will be crowded on November 3.
Check.
Heaven forbid, you might be sick during the first week in November. Even if you don’t have COVID 19, exposing people to a cold or a standard flu virus would lower their immune systems.
You could be caught between a rock and a hard place: stay home and don’t vote against Trump — or go to a crowded polling place and expose people to whatever it is you’ve got. Is either one of those risks acceptable?
Check.
So here’s the solution and now is the time to avail ourselves of it:
Go online and register, now, to vote absentee in November. Then, when the virus is ramping up, you’re in a position to avoid those crowded polling places. If you’re sick on November 3rd, you won’t have to choose between putting people at risk due to your illness or due to another four years of Trump. Believe me, that is not a choice you want to be faced with next fall.
Oh and btw, none of the above is taking into account the very real threat of Russia this November. That absentee ballot is made of paper. It leaves a trail. Even if Putin’s machine manages to hack the computers that count the ballots, paper ballots can be counted by hand. The data in the voting machines can’t.
So there’s yet another reason to arrange to vote absentee this November.
Make like Nike and Just Do It.