This week I’ve been waiting for results of a Covid-19 test. Several days of intestinal symptoms put me on a telemedicine call which ended with referrals for a mix of tests, guidance for what to do if symptoms change or worsen, advise on what to eat and drink. Plus instructions to quarantine until test results are received.
No fever, no cough, no difficulty breathing. Covid-19 has a long list of symptoms with constantly changing theories about why a disease that causes respiratory distress could also cause blue toes, weird rashes, severe diarrhea, dangerous blood clots and lingering exhaustion. We’re living in the middle of a global research project.
It’s been ten days since my first symptoms, five days since the tests and I’m still waiting. For the Covid test I was told it could be 7 to 10 days. Even the others are taking longer than normal. Now I’m hoping to be back to full health before any test results come.
A Fortune article asks why Covid-19 testing in the US is plagued with delays and inconsistencies, beginning with this: “It didn’t have to be this way.”
Many other nations have same-day testing, flattened curves and a clear path to reopening schools and businesses. The US was once a leader in medicine, health care, national planning. Now, the US death toll is mounting far higher and faster than any other nation and many, like me, wait days, sometimes weeks, for test results.
According to that Fortune article,
There’s no single party at fault for our current diagnostic dilemma and the devastating toll this virus has wrought on American life. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) botched the job at the earliest stages with a COVID test that just didn’t work. Many individuals in the U.S. have fumbled their responsibility to wear masks and socially distance, exacerbating the problem. Political leaders have given the nation wildly divergent advice on the best way to approach the kind of pandemic we have not seen in more than 100 years.
These various failures are inextricably linked and feed a vicious cycle. If you’re looking for someone to blame, it’s not so much a straight line as it is a constellation of culprits.
Set blame aside for a minute and grieve with me. 
Over 160,000 deaths in the US. That’s more than 50 times the deaths on 9-11. While some dispute that number, data experts say the actual total death toll is likely higher “due to limited testing and problems in the attribution of the cause of death.”
Factor in the long-term health damage to some survivors.
Factor in people who die of other illnesses from delayed medical care caused by justifiable fear of Covid-19 contagion.
Add the millions struggling with anxiety, depression, anger.
Add the staggering economic costs. Jobs lost. Businesses closed. Mounting debt. Rising health care expense.
Some of this was unavoidable with a strange new disease and a global pandemic.
But some: it didn’t have to be this way.
Consider the confusion and frustration caused by conflicting, politically-driven narratives and directives.
Consider the time and lives lost due to lack of proper equipment, lack of proper planning, lack of unified effort to put testing and policies in place.
On a very personal level: consider the relationships harmed by conflicting responses.
How did wearing of masks become a partisan divide?
How did attempts to keep us safe become a point of bitter argument?
This morning my husband Whitney texted me a passage from his morning reading, Isaiah 8:11-13:
The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them. Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble. He will keep you safe.”
That’s the New Living Translation. I’ve been puzzling over that passage today, reading it in different translations, each with a slightly different nuance. I like this from the Contemporary English Bible:
The Lord took hold of me with his powerful hand and said: I'm warning you! Don't act like these people. Don't call something a rebellious plot, just because they do, and don't be afraid of something, just because they are. I am the one you should fear and respect. I am the holy God, the Lord All-Powerful! Run to me for protection.
What would mean to not think like everyone else, not act like the people around us?
What would it mean to set aside conspiracy theories, set aside accusations?
It might be helpful to acknowledge here that our two-party system is broken. Both sides bend the rules to gather power. Both pocket money from special interests and stir division to maximize votes.
Whether we see it or not, we are all harmed.
The norms of representative government are undercut when political leaders undermine elections for their own partisan interest, but the harm goes way past elections and loss of trust in elected officials.
This has huge implications for our economy, our communities, our health.
We’re seeing that now with Covid-19.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
There are structural changes needed to push back against the two-party divisions. But far more important, we need a change of heart. How do we serve each other in this time, rather than insist on our own perspective? How do we act as agents of mercy, rather than fuel division?
No person, no party Is solely to blame. No person or party will heal us.
The Lord of Hosts, the God of the universe, invites us to put our trust in him. And then to live in the way he calls us: not with anger, fear, accusation, but with love.
From my own reading this morning, an ancient Hebrew comment on Micah 6:8.
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. (Pirkei Avot 2:16)I’ll be holding both passages in my heart as I wait for test results and prepare for the week ahead.
