End of the Year & Pandemic Reflections
Today is not only the last day of 2022, but it is the 3rd anniversary of the first official reports of what we’d come to know as COVID-19.
Three years ago today — December 31, 2019 — China first reported a cluster of patients in the Hubei Province with a viral pneumonia-like illness of unknown etiology to the World Health Organization. There were 27 (reported) cases. Seven people were hospitalized.
I remember reading the headline above (taking a screenshot of it) and talking with a friend who was asking questions about what this new disease might be and what impact it might have on us. Our conversation went something like this…
In some ways, it feels like this conversation occurred not so long ago. And in other ways, it feels like a lifetime ago.
Charles Dickens’s words from his epic novel A Tale of Two Cities (written in 1859) capture 2022 and the COVID pandemic as a whole for me —
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
(For those who haven’t read the book or have forgotten it) A Tale of Two Cities takes place during the French Revolution. Though the circumstances have changed and the headlines are different since the book was written, the central themes of the book apply today.
And that is why I can say that 2022 and the COVID pandemic have been —
“the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
As we prepare for 2023, COVID continues to spread around the world. Upwards of 300 people are dying every day from COVID-19 in the United States alone. A new wave of cases (that could be characterized as a tsunami) is exploding in China. We are keeping a close eye on the development and spread of new variants.
2023 will include headlines about COVID-19 and there is no way if/how the virus will impact our lives. We must take it one day at a time. And be ever so respectful of that little virus that has caused (and will continue to do so) so much illness and death.
The global health community is also working to slow/stop a measles outbreak in Ohio; curb the spread of cholera, which has spread throughout 29 countries this year alone (a new record); track the spread of polio in the United States; taking a stand on climate change; and worrying what the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization will mean for reproductive healthcare in the future.
This feels like the worst of times.
BUT… it is also an amazing time to work in the field of public health. To make a real difference in the lives of people and communities across the globe.
We also have safe and effective vaccines for a host of diseases, diagnostic and screening tests for viral infections as well as chronic diseases, effective treatments, and exciting new technologies on the horizon (can you say cancer vaccine?).
This feels like (it could be) the best of times.
At the end of A Tale of Two Cities, one of the main characters is executed at the guillotine in France (it is tragic), but Dickens ends the book by imagining what this character might have said in a farewell speech. In this hypothetical speech, this character predicts a future where his sacrifice will allow those “for which I lay down my life [to be] peaceful, useful, prosperous, and happy” and where France will be restored to peace and order.
This, my friends, is my hope.
That we would all find ways to be peaceful, useful, prosperous, and happy. And in doing so, I hope that —
We would all embrace a new definition of health.
A definition that focuses on the reality that we are all connected. And that means when someone is unhealthy, it could lead to others becoming ill. Or healthcare costs could increase. Or premature death could occur — leaving children without parents. Or someone may be unable to go to work to do their job — teachers are unable to teach, doctors unable to care, bus drivers unable to transport us. Being sick is not just an individual problem.
Being healthy is actually a radical selfless act of loving others.
And so — as we head into 2023 and the fourth year of the COVID pandemic, I challenge you to embrace the new definition of health and to…
Cheers! Happy New Year.
Have a question? Let me know.
And on Monday, I will share my dreams and plans for 2023 (stay tuned…).