Killing the COVID Monster

What my favorite TV show -- ALIAS -- is teaching me about ending the pandemic

There has been a lot of COVID news this week. And most of it is not-too-good…

The number of cases in the US has doubled in the past two weeks, complications among hospitalized COVID patients are increasing, children are becoming very sick and requiring hospitalization, and politicians are making it really hard for (or just firing) public health leaders who should be leading us through this pandemic.

To be quite honest, I have struggled a lot during this past week. Friends and neighbors are operating under the assumption that the pandemic is over. And our family gets mean looks when we walk into a building wearing our masks. In an effort to take care of myself as I fight misinformation and advocate for people to take the Delta variant seriously, I have committed to spending time each day reading, practicing yoga, taking at least 10,000 steps, and indulging in some TV watching. I am currently (re)watching ALIAS, my favorite TV show of all time.

ALIAS is the story of Sydney Bristow, a spy who discovers in episode #1 that her employer, SD-6, is not part of the CIA (which she was led to believe) and that she is actually working for a terrorist organization. Upon this discovery, she goes to work undercover at SD-6 as a double agent for the real CIA.

In episode #2 of the show, Sydney meets with her CIA handler to discuss the plan. Naïve and wanting to be done with this “spy crap” as soon as possible, Sydney maps out her own plan to render SD-6 useless in record time. She is so sure that she has it all figured out; on her own; based on her own experiences and expertise. What she then learns is that SD-6 is part of a large terror network.

Top: the map Sydney draws illustrating what she knows about the terrorist network, SD-6. Based on her experiences she maps out the connections she knows about (which are few). Highlighting how individually her view is limited. Bottom: the actual map of SD-6 and all of its connections, people, and tentacles. A comparison of the two maps - the one drawn by Sydney, who is an elite and well-trained spy, and the other created by the CIA, an agency that has been researching and collecting intelligence on the organization since its creation - is a metaphor for how the pandemic has been handled so far. Keep reading…

After seeing the CIA map for the first time, Sydney’s case officer (aka her handler) opens her eyes to the reality of the situation. He says —

Since I've been at the CIA, I've only seen this map grow. This is what you are in the middle of Sydney. If shutting down the Los Angeles cell (SD-6) was all we are after, we would have raided that office three years ago. This is not about cutting off an arm of the monster. This is about killing the monster. And the work you have ahead of you…it's complicated, it's political, and it is long term.

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For many, our community’s response to the pandemic has been individualized — individually we decide what and who to believe, the news we watch, the amount of time we spend on social media, or the precautions we will take to stop disease spread. We (re)act based on personal likes and dislikes — folks who don’t like masks, don’t wear them; folks who think the vaccine was developed too quickly, don’t get vaccinated; folks who need to get back to work, skip required isolation and quarantine periods because they feel fine.

Our individualized response to COVID-19 has been emotional and inconsistent. And because of this, the pandemic rages on.

I understand that the past 18 months have been stressful (personally, financially, emotionally). I also understand that many people believe they know what is best their own health. All of us want to be done with this “COVID crap” in record time. We want to be done; to be healthy; to be back to normal.

But the rush to feel better or to be back to normal, cannot be our goal.

Paraphrasing the quote from above as it relates to COVID —

Since the pandemic began, I’ve only seen the dangers, threats, independent decisions, and politics grow. This is what we are all in the middle of. If returning to normal was all we are after, we would have declared an end to the pandemic 17 months ago. This is not about cutting off an arm of the COVID monster. This is about killing the COVID monster. And the work that is ahead of you (ALL OF YOU)…it's complicated and it is long term. It cannot be political.

If we each put together our own map (like hand-drawn one above) — our own plan to navigate through the pandemic — there will be 7.8 billion individual maps. And though some of the information on those maps may be accurate, it is a limited, incomplete picture of the true mess we are living through.

The full story of SARS-CoV-2 — analogous to the well-researched and fully developed map of SD-6 put together by the CIA (bottom map above) — cannot be drawn/mapped out person-by-person. If we are all mapping it out independently without a shared goal, nothing will be accomplished and the virus will continue to rage on. We are in the middle of a public health catastrophe.

The complicated (read: real, true) map of the COVID pandemic looks something like this —

This pandemic is complicated and will require a long-term commitment from each of us to bring it to an end. And that should be our shared goal:

Bring the COVID-19 pandemic to an end. Stop disease spread.

If we continue to map out our own responses, failing to recognize that we are in the middle of a pandemic mess, the pandemic will continue. New variants are arising because the virus continues to spread. Spread is occurring because people are deciding for themselves not to mask or not to get a vaccine.

As I wrote in a letter to my daughter about the COVID vaccine, my passion and calling in life is to create healthy communities. I have spent the past 25 years working to improve public health, studying the science, conducting research, and educating. I am not asking you to get vaccinated to take away your individual choice. I am doing so because I can see the full picture; that illustration above is mine (though my daughter drew it). I am not taking away your experiences or feelings. What I am doing is showing you the big picture; I am asking you to stop and understand that the pandemic is NOT over, and we need to take steps to stop disease spread.

The goal is to kill the COVID monster.

Let’s start by recognizing that we are in the middle of this —

And that the work ahead of all of us is complicated and long-term. It shouldn’t be political. We must bring an end to the I’m going to do what I want pandemic attitude.

The time for collective action is NOW.

If these statements make you uncomfortable, if you cannot shake the notion that it’s your body/your decision — let’s talk. Ask me a question. Send me an email. Let’s meet for a cup of coffee outside in the park. Or let’s go for a walk together. We can meet virtually for happy hour over Zoom.

We need to come together to end this pandemic. And our collective work should start with a conversation.