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how LCACE functions. The Grayslake library is
Last month I offered some thoughts and information continuing its meeting restrictions, so we will plan to
about the new Coronavirus pandemic and its associ- meet online again in June. I just received word
ated disease, COVID-19. Now that we have anoth- from the State Bank of the Lakes that their meeting
er month under our belt, it’s time to take a look at room is off-limits indefinitely; unless something
our likely future. I’ll offer some thoughts of my own, changes in the interim, we do not have a place to
and then invite you to share your experiences and meet for our July picnic. We’ll take this one month
view of the future. at a time, but we should anticipate online meetings
for the foreseeable future.
First and foremost, most of our LCACE members
are likely to fall into the most vulnerable COVID-19 On a personal level, this Coronavirus has meant
category because of our age and/or possible medi- becoming familiar with video-calling as a replace-
cal issues. While governors, county executives and ment for face-to-face family gatherings and visits,
mayors may loosen the restrictions on businesses, social dining with friends (and LCACE meetings).
religious services and so on, Americans like us So far, depending on what device(s) each of us
would be well advised to continue to avoid crowds, has, I’ve learned to use Google Duo, Facebook
minimize visits to stores and/or other public spaces, Messenger, Apple FaceTime, Google Hangouts
wear an effective mask whenever we are away from and Zoom well enough to get by.
home, faithfully observe social distancing and other-
wise minimize our interactions with others. With an occasional early morning visit to nearby
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In reality, many Americans fall into a high-risk cate-
gory because of age and/or preexisting health con-
ditions or because the nature of their work forces
them into close contact with others. In addition,
younger, healthier individuals also need to be wary
about becoming infected - lest they bring the virus to
vulnerable family members, co-workers, clients,
friends, etc.

While firms and institutions around the world are
working diligently to develop effective COVID-19
vaccines, current estimates suggest that it is likely to
be at least a year until we have sufficient quantities
of an effective vaccine to inoculate everyone. The
fact that researchers are already seeing mutations
in this virus is concerning; if this virus continues to
mutate, whatever vaccine(s) are developed may
provide only partial immunity.

What all this boils down to – at least for me – is that Stephanie Risinger
our current lifestyle modifications and precautions
will need to continue for the long haul. We have Linda Koudelka
learned to live with influenza, thanks to a combina-
tion of high-dose flu vaccine (modified each year)
and “herd immunity” built up in the general popula- Judy Dunham
tion through decades of exposure to the flu virus. It
will take years for these same protective factors to
become pervasive for our novel Coronavirus.

Not surprisingly, this will mean ongoing changes for

May 2020 3