These next few months

His name is Donald G. McNeil Jr. Call him Donald, and take him seriously. Very seriously. He is a journalist for the New York Times. From the very beginning of this pandemic, he has been the voice of reason, the voice of rock-solid information, a lens into our present and a glimpse into our future. His writing has been crystal clear and sobering. His words, during his numerous appearances on the Times’ podcast “The Daily” with Michael Barbaro, have been straightforward, enlightening, and yes, sobering. There’s so much noise out there. Ignore most of it and read what this guy writes, listen to what this guy says. He’s been covering diseases and plagues for much of his storied journalism career. It’s like his entire professional career prepared him for coverage of this pandemic, and his written and verbal words need to be read and heard. No, I don’t know him. No, I have no “skin in the game,” as they say. Loyal readers of this blog know that I value good, well-reported, as they say now, "curated" journalism. That’s why I’m writing about him and I urge you to read his latest, long article in the New York Times (linked here).

The first few times I heard McNeil’s appearance on The Daily, almost always while out on a solitary walk in the cold of early spring, I was blown away by the detailed nature of his reporting, as well as the matter-of-fact way he delineated what was happening and what was about to happen. I heard from him things that I heard nowhere else. His information is rock solid, his predictions usually spot-on, his certainty in his information almost bordering on arrogant. Again and again, though, I turned to him for information, advice, hope. Because he is so down-the-line objective, “hope” was rarely something he offered willingly or freely, even in small doses. But lately, McNeil’s tone has changed and hope has emerged – like the first time you notice the increasing length of a spring day. His tone has changed because the news has changed. The rapid development of successful vaccine candidates has led McNeil to believe the end is in sight, the light is at the end of this long, dark tunnel.

Ah, but this tunnel has a few more months to go. In this most recent piece in the Times, as usual impeccably reported and written, McNeil tells us just this. The next few months. They could be really bad. Yes, he assesses blame, casts judgment on decisions made and so many decisions not made that should have been, by our leaders – many of them arrogant, ignorant and feckless in the face of a pandemic. You don’t have to agree with his assessments, with his judgments of leaders you may admire. But you would do well to heed what he has to say. The next few months. A long, dark winter, the likes of which we have never experienced and certainly want no part of, but we have no choice. Hunker down, physically and mentally. Try to stay safe and out of harm’s way. But know that once we emerge on the other side, when the hours of daylight get longer and the days get warmer and the vaccine is more widely distributed, this long nightmare will be closer to its conclusion. Because Donald says it is so.