Commentary: The Pandemic: A Reflection

This March marked one year since the beginning of the pandemic. I’ve wondered a few times now whether I’m allowed to see the anniversary as a particular day. Was it the 11th, the 12th, the 13th? Since then it’s been 14 months of school from home, distanced porch hellos and deliberate grandparent avoidance for just about the only good reason ever (assuming you like your grandparents). Finally being able to see the end of what is objectively the worst year of my life has made me think about its beginning. I’ve thought through, on numerous occasions, the moment I realized Covid-19 was going to have an impact on my life, and the moment I realized I could see the end of it.

I remember it was spring break 2020 and we’d gotten out of school a few days earlier because Northwest Academy was preparing for the shutdown. At that point, it was still just another half-day we’d had off, which was something to celebrate. I invited a couple of friends over, and one of them asked how many people there would be, out of concern for “the novel coronavirus.” That was the exact moment I realized the pandemic would be something that could be anywhere. If my friend didn’t know if we had Covid, what was to stop anyone from having it? How severe was the case undercount from the testing shortage? We knew so little, and our lack of knowledge was not making it easy.

Coming out of the pandemic has been slightly less revelatory. There was a long period when I was slowly gaining the confidence we would escape this disease. It felt like very deliberate steps towards normalcy. First, Pfizer and Moderna got approval for their vaccines. Next, my dad was vaccinated and he began working to smooth out the process of the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) employee vaccine site. At some point in there, Joe Biden won the presidency.

All of that, I think, led up to getting my first vaccine, which was the moment I realized we’re slowly moving toward a revised version of normal. Contrary to what my parents believe, I think the country will open up in the somewhat near future to almost pre-pandemic levels. Honestly, politicians are so obsessed with the economy that returning to a more normal existence will be a priority that is arguably too high.

Yes, the pandemic has been a drag. It’s negatively affected millions of people’s mental health, economic stability, social opportunities and academic performance and support. It flipped the world upside down again and again. But it’s also an opportunity to learn. We’ve seen people come together in so many different ways that no one would have thought of before. We’ve learned about racial equity and justice, how to be antiracist, what happens when we’re polluting at less ridiculous levels, how we can come together as a community both on a smaller and larger scale, and how unprepared we are for new diseases that could be far more deadly than Covid-19.

I wish everyone would take time to reflect on those, and figure out what they’ve learned and what actions they should take as a result. I know that’s not going to happen. Instead, I can ask myself to evaluate what I’ve learned. I can look at what I’ve seen, what I’ve done, and ask myself how that’s changed me as a person, and then whether that’s a direction I want to move in. And then I can ask us to do that. As people, as a community, as a country, as inhabitants of this planet, we have an opportunity, a responsibility, to learn from this experience and ask ourselves what we should have done differently, and what we should do now. That’s the only way we’ll change this world.

Photo: “Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (2020)” by Lisa Ferdinando is licensed under CC BY 2.0