***And, another note to churches in areas with morgue trucks.***
Goodness, y’all. It’s taken me a few days to write this one. I write this one because I think it is a story many of you around the US are experiencing or will experience in the weeks to come. I hesitated to share this post – I don’t want it to come across as “sensationalized” or “over-exaggerated” or “fear-mongering” – that’s not my job. My job is to see beyond that to the population (that’s what epidemiology is). This week – it hit close to home.
๐๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐๐ค, ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ค. ๐๐ง ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ. ๐ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ง๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ. Somehow, we (the US) have lost sight that deaths are occurring in higher numbers than normal and that those deaths are individual dads, grandmas, sisters, friends- not statistics. One of the results of believing the conspiracy theories is a morgue truck. For our own communities, neighbors, and families. This is just not normal. Why has it become acceptable? Go here for more on the false reality: https://tinyurl.com/y5562u8x
My city, Waco in McLennan County, has held a weekly news conference for months with our Mayor, our County Judge, local health authorities, leaders from our largest healthcare systems, and leaders from our main clinic providing care to our poorest parts of the city, the Family Health Center. These weekly updates have been incredibly well organized with real-time data on local cases, hospitalizations, deaths, economic recovery, and plain ole’ good advice. I’ve appreciated how “human” these meetings have felt – most have families and are dealing with the school issues of sending kids back or not; our Judge talks emotionally and passionately about trying very hard to protect our businesses; Dr. Griggs (who leads the free clinic in town) talks about the need to protect our most vulnerable in terms of poverty; our healthcare leaders talk about their rock-star employees but also how tired and strained their staff is. Texas has a trigger metric to reduce capacity for businesses when we reach 15% hospital capacity for 7 consecutive days. All persons on the weekly meeting have stressed tirelessly that noone wants businesses to suffer, especially in Waco, when we have seen an economic boom – but, we have a high poverty rate. The poverty rate in Waco is nearly 30% – and in some areas of town, nearly 90% of children receive free or reduced-price lunch. These stats are higher than the State of Texas.
๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐๐๐-๐๐, ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ง๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ฑ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐. If you look at Picture 1, that probably looks a lot like the curve in the area you are in. When it comes to hospitalizations, our county has no more ICU beds (Picture 2). Our county has 39 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents (compare this to 31 in Texas and 29 in the US).
๐๐จ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐๐ค’๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐๐๐ข๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐๐๐ซ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐๐๐ข๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ. ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ง๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ค. Our Mayor said, โAlthough local mortuary services are not at capacity, there has been an increase in usage. With the continual rise in hospitalization, there is a risk for an increased number of deaths.โ Our local mortuaries and funeral homes can meet the demands right now. But, the morgue truck is in preparation of what we are at risk of seeing with deaths – they based this on what other parts of Texas have seen – places like El Paso that showed exponential growth, then hospital surges, then morgue trucks being needed. You might have seen those pictures where prisoners were asked to help with the influx of bodies. Other places in Texas, like Lubbock, have a standby morgue truck too.
Friends, this is the whole point of us (epidemiologists, public health officials, local health authorities) writing and speaking about COVID-19 day after day after day. The majority of us receive no financial gain, career advancements, or accolades for any of this work – and, most of us don’t want any of that and were not the reasons we got into this profession. It’s simply to help educate the public on the truth of the situation. Today, that truth is the probable need for a morgue truck. In my city. For my neighbors. Many of you in other parts of the US are living this same scenario.
๐๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐. ๐’๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ. ๐๐จ, ๐’๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ก๐๐ซ๐. ๐๐๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ง๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ. ๐๐ง ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐-๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ๐ค ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฆ๐. ๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ง ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ข๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฌ. ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ค.
***A special note to churches: I know I keep circling back to ask churches to proactively show solidarity to your community by moving outside, online, or requiring masks at ALL times. In light of the morgue trucks being deployed all over the US (just google your area), this can still be one of our greatest display of the Gospel to our communities. I receive messages from people that do not understand why hospitals are full in their area, but churches are still meeting with masks being an optional choice based on comfort level. As a Christian, as a ministry-family, I don’t understand it either. Many areas let churches have a mask exemption that makes no sense from a public health perspective. Leaders, please see this an opportunity to be the Good Samaritan and not walk by our healthcare systems, long-term care facilities, and mortuaries. We can still have our food banks and testing clinics. But, people are watching what we do or do not do in our sanctuaries at our response or non-response. To you leaders who have taken the brave choice to move outside, online, or require mask at all times in the sanctuary, thank you. I know that has come at a cost for many of you. I’ve read all of your messages and believe me, there are lots and lots of others standing with you. All church sources about indoor mask recommendations, mask exemptions, living according to Galatians 5, and the main church webinar are linked at the end.***
-Friendly neighbor epidemiologist
SOURCES:
El Paso story and picture – https://www.texastribune.org/2020/11/15/coronavirus-texas-el-paso-inmates-morgue-deaths/
Waco Trib article about the weekly news conference – https://wacotrib.com/news/local/mclennan-county-secures-refrigerated-truck-as-potential-covid-19-mobile-morgue/article_bd0ed27a-34e3-11eb-a456-d3b0e26bec38.html
Lubbock news article – https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local-news/mobile-morgue-on-standby-in-lubbock-as-covid-19-deaths-keep-coming/
McLennan County data – https://sph.uth.edu/dept/bads/covid19-dashboard
๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐:
๐๐ก๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ซ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2XfobrA7wA…
๐๐ก๐ฒ ๐๐ก๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ ๐จ ๐๐๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ญ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ๐ค ๐๐ฑ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ: https://tinyurl.com/y5aou2b6
C๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ: https://cmda.org/a-plea-to-our-churches/…
๐๐๐ซ๐’๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ก/๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ:
1. Who are the neighbors? https://tinyurl.com/y9ykykve
2. What does it mean to have faith over fear? Praying Psalm 91 and living Galatians 5. I also talk about John MacArthur’s stance on church and masking in this post. https://tinyurl.com/yxsaatcf
3. Now is the time to rethink indoor church: https://tinyurl.com/y5uk354l
4. This is the best sermon I’ve heard so far on this topic by Andy Stanley. If you haven’t heard it yet, I’d highly recommend it.: https://tinyurl.com/y6fqajxc
5. Masks are faith-filled and faith-ful. Faith-filled is about us. Faith-ful is about the neighbor. Both/And are important.. The distinction matters. https://tinyurl.com/y2od5n6f