As the news of COVID-19 expands, there are many sources….some excellent, some OK and some not so good. You may or may not know that FBC has 2 Public Health professionals in our membership. We’re collaborating to provide you with accurate news resources.
In keeping with the Baptist philosophy of “priesthood of the believer”, below are some resources for your consumption and discernment. These below resources are updated daily.
Local
Davidson County, NC Health Department. COVID-19
State of NC
State of NC COVID-19
National Resource
Center for Disease Control, COVID-19
And, if you really want a deep dive into Public Health, International Resource
World Health Organization
Perhaps, one of the best summations to-date of this pandemic, was given by a former Harvard epidemiologist, now with UCLA School of Public Health:
The most important question is, “How do we all get through this?” And we get through this by focusing on what we know, and what we need to learn, and taking care of each other — so not by discriminating, not by panicking, and not by trying to isolate ourselves with our 500 rolls of toilet paper. If you’re my age (note: mid 50s), you have lived through two pandemic influenza outbreaks, 1968 and 2009, you have lived through HIV, you have lived through SARS and MERS and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. And in every one of these cases, using what we know we have either been able to make huge advances in minimizing the impact of these viruses, or actually containing them completely. And that’s going to help us with this virus too.
Further, when asked: In terms of possible interventions, then, what can we do?
His response was: I think the last thing I would say we can do, very concrete, is we can take care of each other. If you’re aware of a friend or colleague or a neighbor who has had to self-isolate because either they have COVID-19 or they have been in contact, call them up. You cannot get COVID-19 over the phone. It just doesn’t happen. So call up and make sure they’re OK, see if they need anything, just check in on them. If you know someone who is elderly and home alone, call them up, make sure they’re OK. Just check in on them. That’s how we’re going to get through this, is by using knowledge that we learn both about this virus and what we know about other viruses and public health in general, and compassion.
The above reads like some thing we, FBC, are already doing! Keep ministering (at a distance) and if you’re not, start ministering…we’re in this together for the long haul and there’s good to be had in bad situations!