The wave of Omicron infections that is overwhelming health care systems across America is now rapidly rising in our synod. All of us know more and more people affected by Covid-19.

No one is more affected by this most recent tide of cases those folk toiling in the health care fields. These people and systems—strained to their limit over the last two years—are at their breaking point.

While the Omicron variant is hopefully proving to be milder, the sheer number of infections is filling our hospitals. Many of our hospitals are severely understaffed for many reasons: burnout, retirement, the difficulty everyone has in hiring and rehiring, and Covid cases amongst employees themselves. Invisible to many of us, health care workers feel exhausted and angry and hopeless, with not enough doctors, nurses, janitors, and staff to keep up with yet another Covid wave. 

An overwhelmed medical system affects all of us, even those without Covid. Critical care and surgeries get delayed once again, and basic health care needs get ignored. This reminds us how we are all knit together in so many surprising ways. The health of one neighbor affects the health of all. The health of all affects the one neighbor.

We all remember a year ago, while we experienced what we thought was the final giant wave of Covid infections. During that time far more of our gatherings were online and most of us were following better practices to stop infections.

A year later, we are exhausted. We are cranky. We have become less careful.

Exactly a year later, Arizona and Nevada and Utah are over 200% of last winter’s all-time peak of Covid cases. Frighteningly, our numbers are steeply climbing each day.

We know from sad experience that a few weeks after the initial wave of infections comes a second wave of hospitalizations. A few weeks after that is the third wave of deaths. Even though we are learning that Omicron seems to cause less hospitalizations and deaths than other variants, the incredible spread of Omicron will bring a corresponding wave of results from those many infections.

Knowing this new variant of the coronavirus is drastically more contagious, I ask you to consider how you and your ministry can respond. Precautions that served us well before may not be working with this more infectious version of Covid. We need to up our vigilance, our best practices, and return to ways of living that protected us in the last few years.

I join you and our health care workers in feeling exhausted. I also join you in masking up, minimizing my contact with others indoors, gathering online when possible, and encouraging all of us to be vaccinated. We’ve done this dance before with other waves of infection, and we can do it again. If there’s any good news, Omicron seems to peak and fall far faster than other variants. We can do this.

And as always, I ask you to pray.

The Rev. Deborah K. Hutterer
Bishop
Grand Canyon Synod of the ELCA