Metro Family,

Greetings.  I hope all is well with you and your loved ones.  As a brother in our body, I want to take the opportunity to provide you with some medical information and words of encouragement.  I hope to be brief and anointed – brief I can do…anointed, well, you judge.

In Dec/Jan, the world became aware of the viral infection we now know as COVID-19.  There are a variety of theories regarding its origin, and I will leave that to our epidemiologists.  We do know a variety of things:

1. In most cases, COVID-19 is spread by respiratory droplets.If you have the virus and sneeze or cough, you launch infected droplets into the immediate 6 feet around you.  If another individual were to inhale those droplets, they may become infected.  This is the primary mode of transmission and is the main reason for the measures our nations and states have taken to decrease spread. 

2. Wearing a surgical mask will help you decrease the spread of infective respiratory droplets if you have the infection. By-the-way, this is just like preventing influenza ("flu").  Wearing a surgical mask in public does little to prevent you from inhaling the virus as air goes around the edge of a surgical mask and you breathe it in.  Surgical masks are meant to decrease the spread of virus from someone already infected to the public.

3. There are several proposed drugs to treat those infected with COVID-19 and experiencing moderate to severe cases.These drugs like hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and several antivirals are in the experimental stage.  They are not for general use by the public.  If you are well enough to ask your physician if you should take the medication, the current answer is "No."

4. The best way to decrease population spread is to minimize social interactions.President Trump, the CDC, and the FL Dept and Health all recommend limiting gatherings to less than 10 people.  While this is challenging, I believe it to be effective.  We will know more over the next 1-2 weeks whether the curves of infection are flattening or not.

5. For Metro members residing in Orange County, Mayor Demings has issued a stay-at-home order starting 11 pm Thursday evening, March 26 for two weeks through April 9^th at 11pm.

Here are two resources to help you visualize the number of cases worldwide and in Florida. 

1. Johns Hopkins map

2. Florida Department of Health map by county

There is an older resource that has been around for 2000-3000 years … the Bible.  As I was out jogging this morning on the Cady Way trail (maintaining social distancing) the pinks, lavenders, and cerulean of the sky reminded me of Psalm 24, which starts with, "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters."  God is completely in control of this globe of his.  He loves us – we're his own.  There is absolutely nothing new under the sun: no virus, no medication, no DNA or RNA mutation … nothing that he does not completely understand.  It is his and he is King.  And while I may not always understand the Why in my life, I do know the Who.  It is his highest and best to fashion me and you into the image of Christ.  In closing, flipping a few pages to Psalm 27: 13-14, we read, "I am still confident of this:  I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord; Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

3 John 2 – Brothers, I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers (KJV)

Eddie