COVID Checkup

Almost two years into the COVID pandemic and with the Omicron variant on the rise, it seems as though we, as a society, should have learned a few important lessons by now. Most of these gaps seem obvious and addressable, but it’s frustrating how little, sometimes even backwards, progress there has been. I hope in pointing some of these gaps out, we can start to build a better society; one that is resilient to pandemics, rather than hope our emergency measures will take us back to the way things used to be.

1. People need space, so space is valuable, but hard to come by. Look at real estate prices! But public space infrastructure is also lacking, both in the quality of the space and the total area. It’s very difficult to find a place to sit down in a downtown. We should build more housing of course, but that will take years. Right now, we can be investing more in parks, recreation, and opening up private spaces: more seating capacity, more space per person, more open spaces, more multipurpose capacity, more protection from the elements. Continue the movement to take back space from cars through parklets, or closing them off entirely.

2. Schooling and child care are integral to worker productivity. Yet these services are less available than pre-pandemic: less hours per day, less days, and a shortage of teachers and facilities. Not to mention the fault tolerance of these systems are brittle, one exposure can sideline an entire class and their families for days. Kids can’t be expected to learn as well in a constantly changing environment. We should reorient the antiquated child care system away from the stay-at-home parent to a system that supports working parents. Simple proposal, have a system that accommodates the standard work day, i.e. child care from 8am-6pm instead of 9am-3pm. 

3. Speaking of education, Math. Critical Thinking. Both are key ingredients to have a functioning society. If people don’t know how to reason about probability and risk, how can you expect them to make the right decisions for themselves, without being swayed  by politics or emotion? We should be baking more of these real-world subjects into the curriculum. Instead, many schools are removing STEM courses, rather than requiring them. One idea, create a risk waiver that someone must sign before taking a disproportionate risk - the waiver can spell out the probability of harm to the person and others, and the consequences for taking the risk. A hypothetical example for flying: “Please make sure you do not have COVID, as flying with COVID can result in the infection of X* other people on the same flight. If you are found to have been COVID positive on a flight you will be on the no-fly list for 3 years.” *replace X with a data backed number.

4. Society’s moral fabric is ripping. What mobile phones started with “screen time”, COVID has kicked into high gear. I can already feel the effects of year(s) of masking and social distancing. My instinctual response to someone on the street is to back away, when it should be “hello”. Let’s invest in social etiquette, redefine courtesy for the modern age, so that we have compassion and common decency to work together. Which brings me to the most important reminder...

5. Unity is the way to win. You’d think a global pandemic would bring people together to fight for a common cause. But this virus makes it too easy to divide and create fear. There is a severe lack of unity across people, the country, and the world. You can taste the selfishness in the air, with the hoarding of supplies and vaccines, to the tribalism of only caring about your people, your politics… to not caring about others’ well being. The irony is that you need true, collective action to end the spread. 

I chalk up most of these to being in survival mode - holding on tight for the last two years and waiting for the worst to pass, hoping that things get back to normal. But my fear is that humanity is tired of surviving, watching COVID with a desensitized dread that it will not end; building an immunity through apathy.

The solution, start taking lessons from the gaps we’ve seen so far and fix them. Create infrastructure to support people in crisis, but also create a healthy buffer for the daily grind. Avoiding burnout and reducing stress will allow people to be more resolute, able, and clear headed citizens. Make sure citizens have the knowledge to make educated decisions and understand the risks they are taking for society. With a solid foundation of compassion, most people will make choices that benefit society, not just themselves. Invest in STEM to continue to create scientific breakthroughs for this pandemic and beyond. 

This is your COVID wake up call.