Are we ready for another crisis?

First off, don't panic.

Right now, the fatal case of pneumonic plague reported in Russia does not appear to pose a further serious threat. 

So far ... 

[unless we don't have the full story.]

This appears to be a single event of a disease caused by a very dangerous air-born bacteria, but the patient can be saved if treatment with strong antibiotics begins early enough. 

It is not a virus, which is good news. Bacteria are complete, living cells and relatively easy to kill with antibiotics. However, some are harder than others. 

Viruses have been much more difficult to defeat because they are merely tiny packets of genetic material wrapped up in an envelope of fats or proteins just waiting around for a living body to attack. They are not technically alive, but they are programmed to invade our cells, take them over and make us sick. Antibiotics do nothing against viruses. We need vaccines to protect ourselves from viruses like COVID-19.

Yes, I support vaccines because they have saved so many lives. And I have no problem with people who do their own research, so long as that research also includes a honest and open conversation with your doctor. It also wouldn't hurt to look up the story of Edward Jenner and how his vaccine helped eradicate small pox from the world. But vaccines aren't what I wanted to talk about here.

The plague case in Russia has reminded many of us remembering the COVID-19 pandemic. We were all caught off guard. March 13, 2020 was the day I remember the whole world changing. People died.  Businesses were shut down. Many never reopened.

If you are reading this today, you, like me, survived. We got through it. My deepest sympathies to those of you who lost a close relative, friend or loved one. 

But what did we learn? Are we ready for the next crisis, either another pandemic or a natural disaster or something else we can't even imagine? 

One lesson: Large businesses and corporations survived and many small businesses did not. 

Fixing that, and being ready for the next one, will take creativity, cooperation and compassion.

If one business must close because it does not have enough space, can it reopen by sharing space with someone else? I saw examples of that during the pandemic, but we could make that a more consistent and reliable system. 

The county should take this up as a long-term study. Look back at the pandemic. Figure out what went wrong and how to minimize those mistakes. Figure out what went right and how to capitalize on those opportunities. 

This is something that especially needs to be done at the local level. During a crisis, directives get imposed from the federal and state government to carry out orders without exception. The local governments and community organizations are the ones who need to look at the situation and find ways we can help each other.