The number of people in the U.S. killed by Covid-19 could nearly double in the next several months despite a nationwide vaccine rollout, health researchers warn.
The U.S. is forecast to see a cumulative 539,000 deaths by April 1, according to a Dec. 4 report published by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington's School of Medicine. More than 279,000 people in the U.S. have died from the virus and more than 14.3 million have been infected, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The country is expected to approve and begin distributing one or more vaccines as early as December. If ever there were a time when our eyes could be drawn away from Christ toward the waves of fear and doubt, right now is such a time! And if ever our trust could be fixed in the good intentions of our persistent efforts, right now is such a time.
Our safety as we see it is tied up with how consistently and thoroughly we wash our hands, how conscientiously we maintain our social distance, how deliberately we sequester ourselves from public life.
But that’s not where our safety comes from. That’s not how our health is maintained. Yes, each of these disciplines is important in a time of pandemic. And as we’ve stated, adhering to them is not just an exercise in self-protection; it’s how we best love one another.
But our faith is not fixed in these practices. They are not the ultimate means by which we’re kept safe.
There is one God in heaven Who is King and Lord of all. There is one God in heaven to Whom every entity in this universe is subject. Even the occasional virus that’s new to finite and vulnerable human beings has been known eternally by this great and glorious God! And we are His. He is our… Father. We are His image-bearing creatures. And He reigns over us. He has named us, each and all (15).
No virus will touch us unless He has given it permission. No virus will take us unless He has appointed it to do so. And if the washing of our hands and the keeping of our distance has resulted in our sustained health, it’s not because those practices are fool-proof. It’s because our God has purposed them as the means by which we’re being taught to walk by faith in Him, and the way in which He has willed to achieve His purpose in us.
