The Great Pause

About a month ago, Grey's older sister sent me a piece from Medium about preparing for the post-COVID-19 world. Titled "Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting," her attraction to it stemmed from how people try to push for a return to normal after traumatic events, even though doing so means pretending that the trauma never happened. It's a good piece, and I recommend it as well as Part 2, as it offers good insight into how those in power push to remain there.

But what stuck with me was the evidence of change the author focused on due to this pandemic.
"What the trauma has shown us, though, cannot be unseen. A carless Los Angeles has clear blue skies as pollution has simply stopped. In a quiet New York, you can hear the birds chirp in the middle of Madison Avenue. Coyotes have been spotted on the Golden Gate Bridge. These are the postcard images of what the world might be like if we could find a way to have a less deadly daily effect on the planet. What’s not fit for a postcard are the other scenes we have witnessed: a health care system that cannot provide basic protective equipment for its frontline; small businesses — and very large ones — that do not have enough cash to pay their rent or workers, sending over 16 million people to seek unemployment benefits; a government that has so severely damaged the credibility of our media that 300 million people don’t know who to listen to for basic facts that can save their lives."

For the past 2 months, I've been submerged in the science of this pandemic. When not focusing on homeschooling Maddy and Teddy, I've been absorbing all the scientific community has been communicating about COVID-19 and learning how sick we are as a global community. As of now, based on limited testing, we know of ~3.9 million confirmed cases globally with well over 250,000 confirmed fatalities (the Financial Times has a good tool). The mortality rate is around 0.5-1%, but we still don't know of those who are infected are most at risk. Sadly, we also now know that there's a strong correlation between being put on a ventilator and dying. What is emerging though is a link between a compromised immune system and mortality, as those who are dying aren't mounting an appropriate immune response, but the mechanism for how and targets for treatment is still something we're working on understanding.

In the brief moments that I'm able to surface above all of this, I've been marveling at what's happening around me. There's no doubt that social distancing has been hard on people, as I see so many struggling with the drastic change to this new normal. But what I also see is the good that is coming out of this crisis. I see parents seeing their children in a whole new light, having to experience what it actually means to be a teacher. I see families connecting in ways they haven't before, with our own participating in regular Zoom calls. I hear about the animal shelters that are empty, something I never would have imagined, and find that my local bike shop is sold out of all their bicycles. I also see people being more patient with one another as they try to navigate shopping and social distracting. Yes, there's the few that aren't handling things well and adding to the trauma, but the truth is the majority are trying.

And then there are the incredible stories of wildlife taking over the cities. The biologist in me is screaming for joy.

With all this good, my big fear is that people will forget it in the face of trying to race back to the previous normal when in truth the world we knew a few months ago is forever gone. The push coming most from those who benefited from that previous normal, even though we can clearly see now how detrimental it was to the majority.

2020 has been an interesting year for me. Grey's older sister is navigating an incredibly hard divorce and I learned last week that a beloved family member has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Shelter-in-place also completely threw all my professional deliverables out the window while reorganizing how I do my job overnight. But with the hard has come some good with this great pause in the world. Both Maddy and Teddy have been diagnosed with ADHD, a health visit that Grey was able to attend due to telehealth visits. Distance learning with their schools has given me a direct window in what both kids are learning, allowing me to work much more intimately with their teachers in order to support these two (and has strengthened those relationships). Weekly family Zoom meetings have resulted in reconnecting with Grey's sister, allowing all of us to better support her as she navigates the additional trauma of a pending divorce. And I've finally been able to forge ahead with a side project that has suddenly become a company priority. Something that is requiring a lot of additional hours, but is being embraced and I'm enjoying doing. So many things that I don't want to lose with the shelter-in-place restrictions lifted.

In my eyes, the curse of the pandemic has brought blessings with the Great Pause. While others call them silver linings, what I think is being missed is the benefits that are emerging. Our healthcare system is extremely broken, with medical workers at the mercy of the insurance industry (which is set up to make a few extremely wealthy). Too many are living without any safety net, illustrating a sick mindset from corporate culture. Our education system is taxed beyond repair, meaning we need a massive reset in how we educate as that foundation is important for ensuring a better future. And our leadership is in need of a complete overhaul. Allowing someone to suggest injecting oneself with bleach as a "cure" would never have become a headline.

I don't know what lies ahead. All the numbers I see suggest we haven't seen the peak of this pandemic and without universal testing, we have no way to contain this virus. I also am waiting to see what the damage will be economically as we are seeing a financial crisis that mirrors the Great Depression. Opening up the states does not mean we are anywhere near the end of all of this. But my hope is that despite the attempts at gaslighting, people will not be able to easily forget what has come from this period. That in addition to making right all the wrongs, they remember the good that came out of this. And that combined, it makes us a better species.