Editorial: Hopeful signs in the war against pandemic

It's hard not to be encouraged when we read numbers like those we saw over the weekend.

• Nine straight days of fewer than 1,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in Illinois.

• On Sunday, 19 coronavirus deaths in the state, the lowest number since April 2.

• A steady decline in the statewide rolling positivity rate to a flat 3% on nearly 1.2 million COVID-19 tests.

• A continuing trend suggesting we are on track to enter Phase 4 of the reopening process at the earliest possible date of June 26.

Even accounting for the pronounced reductions that commonly are reported on weekends, these are encouraging numbers from the Illinois Department of Public Health. But assessing them should be tempered with at least two observations. One, while the numbers are improving, the suffering and death that continues is real; the 19 deaths reported Sunday are 19 tragedies. And, two, we've minimized the infections and tragedies because by and large, people have adhered to strict measures of social distancing, wearing masks and staying home. We must keep doing what has proved successful.

And there is a lingering third omen that. A second wave is likely and the virus may be with us for many months to come.

In an interview Sunday with the British Telegraph, America's top infectious-disease expert Anthony Fauci warned that waves of infection could continue to come and go.

"I would hope to get to some degree of real normality within a year or so," Fauci told the newspaper. "But I don't think it's this winter or fall. We'll be seeing it for a bit more."

Fauci said we won't be free of concern about renewed spread of the disease until a vaccination is produced. But here again, he also offered reason for hope.

"We have potential vaccines making significant progress. We have maybe four or five," he said. "You can never guarantee success with a vaccine. That's foolish to do so. There are so many possibilities of things going wrong. (But) everything we have seen from early results, it's conceivable we get two or three vaccines that are successful."

Major concerns appear on the near horizon. Two weeks of massive public protest have strained social distancing efforts. In less than a week, the president will host tens of thousands of supporters and at indoor rally.

Yes, we can take heart that we are making progress in a historic battle against an insidious and deadly pandemic.

But at the same time, let's not forget what got us here.

If in the excitement of resuming behaviors that were previously common we let down our guard, we could all too easily find ourselves back where we started with all of our hardship and sacrifice gone to waste.