In this morning’s inbox there were many versions of the Guidelines for reopening. Reopening is now front and center. It also exposes, like most everything in these times, political divisions. There has been a lot of quibbling about the details, enough or not enough, etc. The Guidelines below from Act Rochester suffices as a reasonable summary.

What is the criteria to reopening regionally?

Four Core Factors

1. The infection rate is sufficiently low
2. The health care system has the capacity to absorb a potential resurgence of new cases
3. Diagnostic testing capacity is sufficiently high to detect and isolate new cases
4. Robust contact-tracing capacity is in place to help prevent the spread of the virus

Seven Metrics

1. Decline in Total Hospitalizations 14-day decline in hospitalizations or under 15 new hospitalizations
2. Decline in Deaths 14-day decline in hospitalized deaths or under 5 new (3 day average)
3. New Hospitalizations under 2 per 100K residents (3-day rolling average)
4. Hospital Bed Capacity share of total beds available (threshold of 30%)
5. ICU Bed Capacity share of ICU beds available (threshold of 30%)
6. Diagnostic Testing Capacity 30 per 1K residents tested monthly (7-day average of new tests per day)
7. Contact Tracing Capacity 30 contact tracers per 100K residents or to meet current infection rate

You will note the criteria as all factual, indeed quantifiable.

What if anything is missing?

It is said that Albert Einstein once wrote on a blackboard: “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”

It occurs to me that the only thing that counts, or insures success as we move forward against the virus, is our individual collective will.

What is meant by the concept of “will” and the title of this piece?

The origin and summary of the expression is written in the Gramartist. “Where there’s a will there’s a way is a proverb that means if someone is determined to do something, he will find a way to accomplish it regardless of obstacles. This may be used in a positive sense, as when referring to a tireless worker who gets a job done, or in may be used in a negative sense, as when referring to a drug addict who will do anything to obtain an illegal substance.”

The sentiment of this phrase was first published in 1640, in the work Jacula Prudentum, written by George Herbert: “To him that will, ways are not wanting.” By the 1820s the phrase had been altered to where there’s a will there’s a way. Note that there’s is spelled with an apostrophe, as it is a contraction of there is.”

Do we have the individual and collective will?

By your choices, how “will” you count?