Covid's Curse

 Most of us know someone who has suffered a severe medical incident.  Perhaps it was a heart attack or a stroke; cancer or another catastrophic disease; a crippling accident or injury.  We know that these near-death incidents often have life changing consequences and take time to heal...if full recovery is even possible.  The route back to health entails patience, skilled medical intervention, determination on the part of the patient and time, lots and lots of time.  Recovery seldom is complete in the timeframe we hope for and lingering effects are not uncommon. 

I remind us of these truths because we can have short memories.  Now, in September 2024, we are only 16 months since the WHO declared that the Covid pandemic had ended.  In March of 2020, the whole world was dealt a massive body blow similar to that caused one of those catastrophic type events like those mentioned above.  The difference was that our leaders were faced with a crisis unlike anything that had been experienced in over a century and we had neither the knowledge nor the tools to effectively respond.  There was a lot of ‘hit and hope’ in the early days as the world struggled to find its footing on the proper response. 

In the US alone, it is estimated that there were well over 100 million infections that led to over 1.1 million deaths.  That is the equivalent of over 7500 Boeing 737’s crashing and killing all on board.  Almost 26% of those infected experienced ‘long Covid’ further complicating the recovery. 

I make these observations as a reminder that recovery takes time.  Although the pandemic was declared over last year, the impact of the Covid assault on our society was massive in economic terms, in health terms and in the overall impact on relationships and societal norms.  Governments injected massive amounts of money to assist those in need due to lockdowns.  Supply chains broke down and were slow to recover.  These led to inflation which in turn led to higher interest rates and borrowing costs. 

Yet, there was an expectation that we would quickly return to normal.  That hope is reasonable, but that expectation is not.  Just as a person who has had a severe stroke will take time to regain the ability to walk or talk or even feed themselves, the crisis imposed by Covid in all sectors of our society has taken time to regain its balance.  We will never return to the ‘normal’ of pre-Covid because you simply do not sustain that level of disruption and come out of it ‘ok’.  Things are returning to something akin to before, but call it the ‘new normal’ because some of the impacts are life altering. 

We have massive debts; income inequalities; job losses and personal losses that won’t go away; loved ones died...they aren’t coming back. Things are improving but not as fast as we would like. We must come to terms with this new reality and live with patience and grace as we build a better and enduring society for everyone.