Eduardo Suastegui's Blog

“Lord, help Eduardito be as shrewd as a snake and as meek as a dove.” Mom prayed this phrase over me every morning, standing at the door of our small Havana apartment, right before she sent me across the street to elementary school. Mom’s prayer comes from Matthew 10:16, which reads “Behold, I am sending […]

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For communities of faith, life and death with COVID present unique, seemingly unsurmountable challenges to their, well… Faith! On the one hand, some argue that by keeping churches closed we are giving in to fear rather than exercising faith in God and his protection. Others may counter that keeping churches closed exercises faith in God […]

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In this difficult COVID season, many—perhaps most of us—have formed concrete opinions and positions about personal and corporate behaviors to meet this crisis. In the church, this has led to disagreement and division about how we should face this crisis, in particular with when and how we should restart in-person services, and how, if at […]

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As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day 2020, COVID-19 social-distancing and face-covering mandates don’t leave us feeling independent from government regulation. Cooped up at home, we are not feeling terribly free. Many of us may feel overdue for a rebellion, saying heck to the whole thing in our own declaration of independence. Reflecting on our […]

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California posted another record high for daily number of cases on June 30, and its steep rise in hospitalizations continues. Again, while most national news reportage focuses on those states who reopened too soon or too carelessly, California, reputed as a model early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, is posting the largest gains in cases. […]

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For the third time in less than a week, California again smashed its prior records for confirmed COVID-19 daily cases. And lest the youthful age of the infected, and the increase of testing be offered as “no-worry” mitigators, increases in hospitalizations and ICU usage are also ramping up. Note that while most national news reportage […]

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As California’s governor announced today that bars in hot spot counties must close again, the latest COVID-19 statistics, in particular hospitalization counts explain the decision. While the case counts in California and Los Angeles County are lower than a few days ago, their counts still exceed totals in past weeks and months. Sources: https://www.latimes.com/projects/cali... https://www.latimes.com/projects/cali...

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Have you heard the story about a Jewish rabbi who turned the loophole seeking question “Who is my neighbor?” into “To whom are you a neighbor?” A recent controversy about face covering, mask wearing may become super clear for us when we frame the question as that rabbi ultimately posed it. Right now, during this […]

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You have heard it said: one of the biggest problems with our current socio-political environment comes through the erosion of public trust in our leaders and institutions. But if political parties and leaders have, for the sake of power gains, stoked our doubts and skepticism about our republic’s institutions, COVID-19 may have delivered the ultimate […]

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Consistent with the concerning trends we noted yesterday, California in total and Los Angeles County in particular posted high COVID-19 new case counts, which are also showing up in higher hospitalizations, and the corresponding lagged increase in ICU utilization. Sources: https://www.latimes.com/projects/cali... https://www.latimes.com/projects/cali...

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