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Our Covid-19 World Is Beset With Challenges
Epidemiologists, virologists, and immunologists had tried to warn us of the challenges of a global viral outbreak, but decision-makers ignored them and now we’re paying the price — we can still change that. We’ve worked very hard these past few months, so getting sloppy and cavalier now would be a ghastly waste.
The Covid-19 pandemic has taken the world by storm and has drawn back a curtain from civilization, exposing profound fundamental flaws. Yet, it has also revealed and inspired some positives, some of which might propel us in the direction of controlling and abating the spread of the disease — if only their reach was as expansive as the virus itself. Some of these positives might have seemed trivial last year, but today they are grounding for many — an increased awareness of the importance of good hygiene and the centrality of science; reduced occurrence of seasonal flu; discovering and improving culinary skills; (re)learning skills and (re)discovering interests; reconnecting with friends and family, are a few examples. Yet it is impossible to find comfort in these and other positives, because succumbing to the Covid-19 virus infection has been remarkably unequal — those who are financially and socially less privileged have borne the burden of this disease in many countries. We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat; some don’t even have access to a boat.
