Masks and COVID-19: A Omaha Hospital Chaplain's Perspective

The Biblical narrative could not be more clear. Nearly one hundred and fifty times in the Prophets, the Psalms, the Epistles, and the Gospels our duty to care for the least among us, to care for the stranger, to love our neighbor as we do ourselves, is proclaimed as one of the most important aspects of our covenant and grace-filled gift to participate in the righteousness and justice of God. There are so many verses to quote—here's one I have not used before, from Philippians 2:4: Let each of you look not only to their own interests, but also to the interests of others.

But this is not the perspective of Fr. Keith the priest—if your ears are stopped and your heart is hardened and you are still unable to "have sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind" (1 Peter 3:8), know that you are in my daily prayers—and still continue reading.

This is the perspective of Fr. Keith, the hospital chaplain who for 18 months has been holding people's hands in the middle of the night as they die.

At the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, the Global Center for Health Security Leadership team currently meets weekly with local and state public health representatives to review and discuss new COVID-19 developments and challenges. Dr. James Lawler, the executive director, provides a general overview of new data, developments, and updates. In his most recent update, Dr. Lawler stated, “I think people should be very concerned about the trends we’re seeing.” Dr. Lawler recommends facemasks be worn in indoor public settings, and that the same protocols put in place last fall are warranted now. “I’m concerned this is going to be the worst phase of the pandemic for much of the U.S., particularly states like ours that have low vaccination rates,” Dr. Lawler said.

On Monday, our local Fox News channel reported that there is a shortage of hospital beds available for children in Omaha; this is due to the combination of an RSV outbreak and COVID-19. That means a child who is in an accident, or has some other trauma, or who gets COVID-19, may not be able to get the treatment they need. 

Here are two graphs that illustrate why the medical community here in Omaha is so concerned right now. 

This first graph shows the number of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in Omaha. You can see where I have added the curly bracket—we had almost no new cases in July but now have a dramatic increase just in the past 30 days, and we are back solidly in the “red” zone.

This second graph is the one that is the cause for greatest concern—it shows the current number of hospitalizations in Omaha due to COVID-19. City-wide, we went from 16 COVID-19 patients needing hospitalization to more than 150, in about the past 30 days. The slope (the “speed”) of this graph is alarming, and until it is clear where the “top” will be, we need to do everything we can reasonably do to stop new cases from developing and spreading. 

We have trusted the world-class researchers and doctors at UNMC with our lives, and they work life-saving miracles every day for cancer, heart, liver, kidney, lung, and so many other patients. We should be trusting them still. The data shown in the charts here is not from somewhere else, it’s not opinion, it’s not estimates—it is the plain daily facts from our Omaha hospitals. 

I and the others who work as UNMC chaplains are again seeing too many people dying who should not, like the 35-year old mother last week we stayed with as she died of COVID, leaving her husband and two children behind.

I pray you will join me in doing everything we can, including wearing masks indoors in large groups, as we heed the advice of our own trusted doctors and pull together as a community to help save lives.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another (John 13:34).

Fr Keith