The coronavirus became much more real to the Alliance community over the weekend with the passing of Jeff Holbrook.
His wife, Kimberly, posted on Facebook that Jeff died on Friday at The Cleveland Clinic of complications from COVID-19. He was only 55 years old.
Nobody knows how Jeff was exposed to the virus, the post noted. It was community-acquired.
I didn’t know Jeff well, but I saw his intelligence and sense of humor reflected in his three children, all of whom I had the honor and pleasure to teach at Alliance High School. They were wonderful kids who grew into wonderful adults.
The fact that, in their time of mourning, the Holbrooks took to social media to share the news as a cautionary tale about the dangers of the coronavirus and the necessity of following the advice of medical professionals speaks volumes about their empathy.
Their pleas to the community to listen to science stand in stark contrast to some of the other spurious ideas floating around the internet, including a still-persistent belief that the media is overhyping the pandemic and that the virus was created in a laboratory as part of a deep-state plot.
Please.
I know two things about the people reading these words — and the person writing them.
First, the vast majority are not epidemiologists. We have not spent our professional lives studying diseases, how they are transmitted and how best to slow their spread. We laypeople know more than we did a few months ago, but reading newspaper stories and webpages isn’t the same as a deep dive into the research through an accredited program.
This is why, in times like this, we must lean heavily on the informed opinions of people who know the science and best practices. We see this reflected daily in decisions made by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, guided by Dr. Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health. DeWine is smart enough to know what he doesn’t know, and to listen to Acton, who in turn is guided by other professionals, disease modeling, and a lifetime of intensive study.
So when these people tell us to maintain social distance, to shelter in place, to wash our hands frequently and to avoid exposing susceptible members of our community to possible infection, we should listen.
Because the second thing I know about the people reading these words is that any one of us could have the coronavirus right now. Some of us could be asymptomatic, going about our lives without any of the telltale signs associated with the virus, but nonetheless potentially exposing every person with whom we come into contact.
This is why the idea of quarantining only those people with symptoms, known exposures, or underlying conditions that could make them more susceptible doesn’t work. By the time people who test positive are isolated, they could have exposed dozens of other people, all of whom could have exposed hundreds more.
Many Ohioans are following the advice and orders from our government. They are waving at loved ones through the windows of nursing homes, holding birthday parties where “guests” drive by the house and honk without coming in, and checking in on each other by phone and Skype.
But some are not. They are inviting relatives to Easter dinner, letting their kids play together, and congregating on porches and garages where an uninvited guest, COVID-19, could tag along with any one of them.
Look, everybody wants to get back to normal. Employees want to go back to work. People want to go back to church, to restaurants and movie theaters. Kids even want to go back to school.
That day will come. But if it comes too soon, everything we have done so far will have been for naught.
Don’t base your decisions on gut feelings, sketchy blog posts or stock-market forecasts. Listen to credible advice from experts.
This is the best way to help spare other families like the Holbrooks from loss.
chris.schillig@yahoo.com
@cschillig on Twitter
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