OPINION: Things Look a Little Bleak, But Let's Not Let Hope Hibernate for the Winter

There's always something a little bittersweet about the onset of cooler fall weather and trading in shorts and t-shirts for sweaters and jackets.

In 2020, the year of COVID, there was something ominous about it.

Despite the rising case counts all summer long, the real health impact of COVID-19 declined. On Memorial Day, there were 953 patients in critical care beds in Michigan's hospitals. By Sept. 24, there were 130 patients in critical care beds. COVID-19, which killed 3,200 people in April and made it the deadliest month in Michigan's history, killed about 150-200 people in July and August. So things were drastically improving, despite the increasing case counts.

Some credit the following Gov. Whitmer's rules on masks and social distancing. Others say we did better because we were outdoors, breathing fresh air and getting vitamin D. Others point to the seasonality of COVID-19.

But I think we all wondered if COVID-19 would come roaring back as the weather cooled. It's starting to look like we have our answer, unfortunately.  The COVID-19 picture has worsened. The rising case counts have been met with other rising metrics that you can't ignore. The positive test percentage in Washtenaw County has more than doubled since Oct. 5, to 3.7 percent. The positive test rate in Michigan has doubled to 6.4 percent since Sept. 25. Hospitalizations are up in Washtenaw County. Critical care beds are filling up - going from 130 patients on Sept. 24 to 382 on Oct. 29. The number of patients on ventilators has increased from 50 to 160 in that time.  And all that has resulted in more deaths. Deaths have gone from about eight per day to 27 a day.

It feels like we've spent six weeks waiting for the other shoe to drop - and that it's dropped right on our heads.

Today, the dropped shoe came gift-wrapped with more regulations for our businesses to follow. How does your heart not sink when you read that your beloved local restaurant, already struggling to enforce mask rules and absorbing extra costs to serve fewer customers, is going to require even more from customers to keep their tables open?

It's rough. One of the great things about America is that so many of us spend our days doing things we love to do. Sometimes, reality changes our course.

For me, the last two months of covering high school sports, local politics and local meetings has been a nice return to a relatively normal state of affairs. I'm grateful.

Today, I had a spirited debate with John Loomis at The Cheese Shop of Saline (great sandwich, John!). I watched the Saline soccer team fight until the final seconds to try to add another championship to their tally. (Thanks to Brayden, Christian, Dominic, Jaden, Ben and the boys for many entertaining games through the season!) On Tuesday, I watched the Saline girls field hockey team fight through some nasty weather to upset Ann Arbor Huron advance to the state semifinal. (They lost tonight, but what a season for Shae, Tenley, Maya and the crew!). Was it only eight weeks ago that these kids thought they might not even be able to play? The Saline Marching Band was in the same situation. And they've managed to have squeeze something resembling normal out of 2020. Here's hoping the football and volleyball teams get to finish their season on their terms, too.

Almost as dismal as COVID-19 are the double-barrelled echo chambers that dominate nearly every word of the American dialogue. And while that insanity has crept into the local dialogue, I remain impressed by the people who choose to run for office in Saline. I was fortunate enough to sit down with each of them, face to face, and talk with them about their ideas and concerns. 

These spirited debates, these athletic contests, these face-to-face conversations - they are the essence of our humanity. They boil our blood. They challenge our constructs. And most importantly, they remind us that we're not really as different as we sometimes pretend.

I'm almost always pleasantly surprised when you just let people show you who they are (which makes me wonder why I'm surprised... hmmm) 

There will be great debate about how we respond to the latest threat from COVID-19.  But whatever we do, let's not let hope hibernate for the winter. Visit your friends. Stop by to see friendly faces in your favorite businesses and spend some money there if you can - they need it more than Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.

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