Most likely I'm not the only Lucas Countyan who checks this map, clipped from The Des Moines Register, regularly --- and breathes a little sigh of relief when that blank area slightly southeast of Des Moines (with 2,447 reported cases of COVID-19) remains blank another day. That means we're still among the decreasing number of Iowa counties where no cases have been detected.
This doesn't mean that the virus isn't at work here, just that it hasn't been detected. The last report I saw from Lucas County Health Center was that fewer than 100 tests had been administered. Testing still is an issue in Iowa, as it is across the country.
And Des Moines, now a national "hot spot," is just an hour's drive away. Most of the early restrictions remain in place there, although not in Warren or Marion counties, the two counties adjoining Polk on the south that separate us from Des Moines, or in Lucas County. It seems inevitable that numbers will start appearing in our spot eventually.
The danger is that our apparent good fortune causes complacency. The best strategy remains caution --- avoid when you can places where many people have gathered, keep your distance everywhere, wash your hands frequently, wear a mask when interacting with others in public places and try to be patient.
The situation in Iowa is peaking now, as predicted, but it's probably inevitable that a second round will occur as restrictions imposed during the first are relaxed. The "Spanish" flu pandemic of 1918-1919 behaved that way, then after the second round the virus apparently mutated to a less deadly strain and the worldwide emergency ended. Perhaps that will happen again, or perhaps it won't. But as many of us as possible should still be around to see what happens.
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