West Hollywood Council Member John Duran has been posting a daily COVID-19 update on his personal Facebook page, which he keeps open to the general public. His commentary on the current coronavirus pandemic delivers stats through his personal stream of consciousness in the hopes to engage the community on the ongoing effort to flatten the curve.
Unfortunately, not everyone has a Facebook page. Council member Duran is allowing us to share his COVID-19 update with WEHO TIMES readers.
===
Daily Update for Monday, April 27, 2020
LA County Cases 19, 528 (up from 19,107)
LA County Deaths 913 (up from 895)
STEADY AS WE GO
Yesterday, 18 people died from COVID19 in a county of 10 million people. I will not use the word “only” in front of the number 18 because each of these individuals had lives, families and friends. Each is deserving of dignity and value.
The peak day in LA county earlier this month was 81. It is undeniably better to see the inverse of those digits at 18 rather than 81. And after a steady stream of digits in 40’s and 50’s – I can’t help but feel some relief at the digits 1-8.
But I must be careful not to get overly confident. Numbers like these are just a snapshot of a time and place. With the 2 week lag time with COVID19, we are now reaping benefits from the actions we took in mid April. It is important to realize that.
And despite West Hollywood having over 120 recorded cases of COVID19 (the actual number I know to be higher), we have zero deaths to date. That may change in the future the longer we go in time recording deaths and cases. But for now – I am grateful that it is zero deaths. There are complex explanations for this that I will analyze in a future posting.
With these types of numbers, instinctively I want to throw caution out the window believing that we are on the downside of the bell curve.
But I have to read history books. The history around the 1918 flu pandemic. The history around the Bubonic plague. The history of other communities across time. The mistake made over and over again was returning to “normal” too quickly. They had parades. Celebrations in the street. Drunk debauchery believing that they had survived the worst.
And what happened? The SECOND wave of infections proved to be more catastrophic than the first. Over confidence became the weight around their necks that humbled them to the ground once again. The masses that had marveled in the streets were now huddled in morgues.
So no. We can’t do that. It would not only result in more tragic and unnecessary loss of life – it would also lead to more long term economic consequences and uncertainty. So for now – we need to remain steady, determined and patient. Attributes that don’t always fit in with the American culture of being brash, independent and fearless.
“Give me liberty or give me death” has a haunting meaning in this era. And yet, I bet even PATRICK HENRY would say – “well no. Not in this case”.
EASY DOES IT. SELF RESTRAINT. STEADY AS WE GO.
===
For previous COVID-19 Update posts by West Hollywood Council Member John Duran, visit: https://www.facebook.com/John.Jude.Duran.
