A little isolation can give you the opportunity to improve your prayer life and get closer to God.
Too much isolation can be deadly.
The idea of isolating people to slow down the spread of Coronavirus seems to have worked so far. However, the virus is still out there and you could still catch it when the period of isolation is over. Even so, the cost of isolation is getting out of control, and it is becoming deadly.
Doctors are saying that the government isolation orders have kept many people without Coronavirus from seeking medical aid. For example, the number of heart attack and stroke patients admitted to hospitals has declined, meaning that those avoiding hospitals for fear of Coronavirus may suffer irrevocable damage and preventable deaths. Similarly, many cancer patients receiving radiation treatment have not come in and testing for cancer and other diseases has virtually stopped. As hospitals lay off staff because of isolation orders, the death toll from isolation will continue to mount.
Isolation also has substantial mental health consequences. It is well established that unemployment can lead to drug use and suicide. Isolating the nursing home population can lead to loss of the will to live. We are also seeing a rise in child abuse from families forced into isolation. Many people are losing hope and becoming desperate as they face loss of their livelihood and/or businesses.
Like many pandemics, there is no vaccine for Coronavirus and it is possible that it will take years to develop one. However, new studies have shown that the number of “asymptomatic” people is vastly higher than previously believed, reducing the fatality rate to about a 10th of a percent. This means that the virus will eventually create a large enough number of immune people to stop the spread of the virus with fatalities at the same level as the annual flu. So at this point the mass isolation policy has outlived its usefulness and may be hindering the fight against Coronavirus.
As Christians we need to reach out to those victimized by Coronavirus and the deadly isolation it engendered. Many of us need to come out of hiding to feed the poor and bring healing to the sick, love to the lonely, and hope to the hopeless. All of us need to support our brothers and sisters who did these things throughout the plague, refusing to let the people isolate themselves from Jesus – the deadliest isolation there is.
It is also time to end our deadly isolation from our fellow Christians.
Together we can heal our land.
“Let us not give up meeting together“ Hebrew 10:25