It certainly feels like Spring again! The last couple of days marked the return of the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments. Both the tournaments were cancelled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of this morning, at least the men's tournament has lived up to the tagline, "March Madness" due to the number of upsets that have already occurred. It feels great to have a bit of normalcy once again, even if it does mean that Buckeye, Boilermaker, Aztec, Volunteer, Tiger, Longhorn, Cavalier, Husky, and Cougar fans are going to have to wait until next year!
But for all of the hope and excitement about things starting to feel normal again, there is still an urgent need for caution. Just this morning, I read that the Mayor of Miami Beach declared a state of emergency and set an 8 PM curfew due to the number of maskless Spring Breakers who were out and about. We are starting to see an increase in COVID-19 cases in certain parts of the country. As an example, cases have increased by 53% during the past week in Michigan. While we can celebrate that vaccination rates are finally starting to increase (there are now more Americans who are vaccinated than there are COVID cases), now is not the time to let up. We need to continue to wear our masks in public, maintain social distancing, and continue to wash our hands!
We recently passed the infamous "Ides of March" (March 15th), the notorious day when the Roman emperor, Julius Caesar, was assassinated in 44 BC. It seems appropriate, therefore, to end with a quote from Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves..." Our fate is not pre-ordained. If we do not beat the COVID-19 virus, the fault will be ours alone.
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