Seems like we've had a similar debate in the past, for example the thread America's SAR is in a State of Emergency. Old timers like hikermor, based on their experiences back in the day, tend to take an overall upbeat view of the situation. Those currently active in SAR have a somewhat more mixed opinion of the situation. A lot of SAR folks I know would give you a much less rosy view of the situation than hikermor.

Full disclosure: Due to advancing age and changing priorities, I was already in the process of winding down my SAR involvement before COVID19 appeared. The virus has caused me to accelerate that process. Being in a high risk for infection demographic, I'm simply not willing to take on the added chance of catching the virus on a SAR mission.

There have always been risks one assumes with SAR. We do our best to minimize and mitigate those risks, but we still accept some level of personal risk. In some sense, COVID19 is just another risk one tries to mitigate as much a possible, but ultimately accepts as part of the job. However, what is different about COVID19, is that the risk is not only to the active SAR participant, but to their families and loved ones as well. Each responder needs to ask themselves "am I not only willing to risk getting infected myself, but am I also willing to risk bringing that infection home to my family?"

There are other, less obvious ways that COVID19 complicates the situation for SAR, in ways both large and small. For example SAR missions often originate and are run from a trailhead. But parking is often very limited at trailheads, and on a busy weekend is often full. Hence we've usually encouraged SAR team members to car pool when responding to missions. One suggested safety protocol that has been circulated suggests that unless you are responding with member of your household, you should drive separately. This will make an already challenging parking situation even more difficult. A small problem, but small problems add up.

Another issue is funding. SAR equipment and training is getting more complex and expensive all the time. Some volunteer teams are well endowed (in the financial sense), but many teams struggle to find enough money to remain viable. Money typically has come from some combination of government grants, sponsorship by businesses, and individual contribution. COVID19 is causing extreme financial distress for local and state governments. Many businesses are themselves struggling to survive in a time of lockdowns. And of course many individuals are finding it hard to even buy groceries and pay their rent, let alone contribute to their local SAR team. There is no doubt in my mind that funding issues related to the virus will have an impact on SAR teams in many areas.

The bottom line is, as usual, it depends. But clearly the world has changed from what it was back in the good old days of years past. For some SAR teams, in some areas, the impact of the virus might be manageable. However, I've talked to a number of dedicated SAR volunteers who are seriously questioning whether they are willing to continue their involvement during the pandemic. I've talked to others who while they plan to continue, they have serious questions about the practical problems the pandemic brings to volunteer SAR.

Personally, based on what I see now, I'm much less sanguine about the future of volunteer SAR than is hikermor. Opinions may differ.