Water Is Life
Walking by flashlight before dawn, women balance containers of water, drawn from an open well, while crossing a small creek on their way back to their homes in Njenjete village, near Madisi, Malawi, in 2017. A full container can weigh as much as 40 pounds. (Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.)
A United Methodist Insight Column
While the high-profile crises of the coronavirus pandemic and racial injustice erupted this year, another catastrophe has been going on around the world for years: the lack of clean water. United Methodist Communcations notes: “With the International Day of Rural Women approaching on October 15, United Methodist News is shining a light on the important role women in African countries play in providing water for their families through a new photo essay titled ‘Water is Life.’"
According to an announcement from UM News, “more than 750 million people around the world lack reliable water access. In a photo project three years in the making, UM News photographer Mike DuBose documents the church's efforts to provide clean water to rural Africa, with reporting by Kathy L. Gilbert. View photo feature.”
We commend the feature to your viewing and reading. After reading “Water is Life,” we encourage you to think about how your congregation can participate in bringing clean water to those who need it.
Debunking “herd immunity”
The proposal to accomplish “herd immunity” to protect against COVID-19 is bunk, say some of the world’s top scientists who are objecting to its use in America’s coronavirus response. Now that many congregations are contemplating resuming in-person gatherings, church leaders ought to heed medical experts’ counsel.
“Herd immunity” has come to mean allowing people to become infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, supposedly to achieve certain levels of antibodies that will protect people from the infection. In reality, “herd immunity” results from protecting people from a virus, not infecting them with it, say medical experts.
Historian Heather Cox Richardson reported Oct. 13 that epidemiologists say the idea of “herd immunity” has been improperly applied. Public health leaders call the approach “unethical” because a) herd immunity typically is used only in the controlled development of a vaccine, not by allowing unrestrained infections, and b) the practice allows “unnecessary infections, suffering and death,” according to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu, director-general of the World Health Organization.
There’s more evidence contradicting the “herd immunity” misconception, writes Dr. Richardson:
“America leads the world in infections and deaths. Globally, at least 38 million cases of COVID-19 have been recorded as of 6:30 this evening [Oct.13]. More than a million people have died. America has had at least 7,850,000 cases and more than 215,000 deaths.
“As horrific as those numbers are, an article published yesterday [Oct. 12] in the Journal of the American Medical Association says they are far too low. Dr. Steven Woolf, the author of the study, says that ‘for every two Americans that we know of who are dying of Covid-19, another American is dying.’ Woolf looked at what are called ‘excess deaths’ from March through July, that is, the increase over the average number of deaths expected in those months. He found 225,530 excess deaths. Sixty-seven percent of those deaths are linked directly to Covid-19, but the remaining 33% are unexplained, suggesting this unusual spike is related to the pandemic.”
There is some good news on the horizon, Dr. Richardson reports. Our favorite epidemiologist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says that vaccine development is “on a really good track.” He said he hopes that by November or December we’ll know if we have a viable vaccine in the works.
Meanwhile, Dr. Fauci again stressed to keep on wearing masks, maintaining physical distance, staying outdoors as much as possible and washing hands. These things may seem simple, but they’ve been proven to be the best ways to stay safe from the coronavirus, says Dr. Fauci.
If you plan to resume in-person gatherings at your church, invest in disposable masks, hand sanitizer, hand soap and enhanced cleaning protocols before and after events. “We know that [these methods work] because our experience has proven to us that that is the case,” Dr. Fauci told Shepard Smith of NBC News on Oct. 12. “We just need to hunker down and do that.”
Faith and the U.S. elections
Interested in the intersection between religious faith and this year’s election? Join the Pew Research Center on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 10 a.m. ET for “Faith and the 2020 Elections: A Look at Public Opinion.” According to an announcement, the online event will be “a virtual presentation that looks at the Center’s latest data and long-term trends on the intersection of religion and public life with a focus on the upcoming presidential elections. Center experts will share their insights into the role religion plays in U.S. politics, party preferences among religious groups, and how they view the U.S. president and his Democratic challenger.”
Venue for the virtual gathering will be WebEx Events. To attend, please register here. (If prompted, the registration password is Forum.)
Media Mentions as of October 14, 2020
In Photos: Mourning Into Unity vigil recognizes COVID-19 losses, struggles – Kenosha News
Refugee data on religion disappears as fewer persecuted Christians admitted to U.S. – Religion News Service
White evangelicals hope to keep changing Texas red for Trump – The Associated Press
Louisiana bill would ensure clergy visits happen in pandemic – The Associated Press
How will the post-pandemic church pay the bills? – Religion News Service
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.