This is what they called the situation after World War II, a return to normalcy. We haven’t finished our war with the pandemic and when it’s truly over we will have our own Return to Normalcy. In the meantime, it’s appropriate to start moving in that direction. In mid-March when the barbarian Coronavirus was at the gate, we did well and shut ourselves in. We quelled the infection rate, limited hospitalizations, and kept the death rate low. But it was unsustainable. People lost their livelihoods, people suffered, and most importantly people got really bored. So we ventured out. We dipped our toes in the pool, found it refreshing, then did a cannonball in the deep end. Memorial Day, July 4th, bars, civil unrest, and protests, we ventured forth with a vengeance. Three to four weeks after each venturing, the infection, hospitalization, and death rate all climbed reflecting our communal movement which also reflects the movement of the virus. That is because we are hitched human to virus. It does not move without us. We have had a reckoning.

Now it is abundantly clear that mass gatherings without physical distancing and masks is the formula for disaster. Bars are closed, Labor Day is over a month away, school is not yet open. We have a window to lower the collective viral load and we’re doing it. Rather than shut ourselves in as we did in March, we are living, working, socializing in an informed way. We can remain safe yet continue to engage in everyday life. I went to my gym Castle Hill Fitness the other day for the first time. It was stupendous! I went to my “pod”, burned 500 calories on the elliptical, and left without engaging another patron. We have seen our friends with clear reassurance of their low exposure risk. Usually outside on the deck. We have gone back to work and have not transmitted any infection. Until we truly return to normalcy, we can strive to be normal.

In that vein, the Travis County Medical Society sent out a flyer to its members letting us know that childhood vaccination rates are plummeting this year. The beginning of the school year is usually a bookend to ensure parents keep their children healthy and safe from vaccine-preventable diseases. Because of the concern of going to a doctor’s office and that school will be online for the first several weeks, parents are forgetting this important part of their obligation to keep their children safe. A vaccine for coronavirus is postulated as an end game. So how about all the vaccines that are already out and WORK to prevent disease? Let’s not deny our children that protection. It is safe to go out with protective measures. It is safe to visit your doctor of all people! Get your kids their shots, people!