THINGS WE COULD - SHOULD - LEARN FROM THIS PANDEMIC

This post is not about the things we should learn regarding how to respond to and deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic in terms of the medical system and staying healthy; there is already a lot of that in the media.

I have been thinking about lessons we could, and IMHO should learn from this experience. My wife and I are "social distancing;" in other words, we are staying home and laying low until the worst part is over. There are many benefits to this, and we are seeing examples from around the world. Cities are less noisy, less congested, and the pace of life is slower. People in Chinese cities have written about how they are suddenly aware that they can hear birds singing instead of traffic noise, the air is cleaner and, therefore, the sky more blue. People everywhere are paying more attention to those around them, their neighbors, and finding ways to help those who need it. We seem to be more tuned in to community.

Large numbers of people are working from home. Many large events have been cancelled. Fewer people are going out to eat and recreate. There is a serious downside to this regarding the economy and the ability of people to make a living. On the other hand, people are spending more family time and having to find ways to entertain themselves and their children at home. There are numerous benefits from this.

We have had a few virtual happy hours and nightcaps (OK, alcohol involved) with friends and family using video call services like Skype, Facetime and Zoom. I think many people are rediscovering the telephone part of smartphone. In other words, people might be communicating more face-to-face (online) and voice-to-voice, instead of texting and emailing and facebooking. I find this type of communication more satisfying that writing and reading back and forth.

So what I am feeling and writing about is, in a sense, a return to what some might call the old-fashioned ways of life. By this I mean more personal interactions, more time to think and read and create and discuss.

The down side to this, of course, is that many people will get ill, and some people will die. And for too many people in our society, staying home from work, or having your kids out of school raises a whole set of serious issues.

There are major political lessons we could and should learn from this pandemic. Because America is the only wealthy nation that does not provide health care for everyone, not everyone will get health care. People who are ill and have no insurance, or are undocumented, will not seek the health care they need. This will not only be bad for them, it will be bad for all of us. Yes, this underscores the great need for something like Medicare for All.

Very many working people, especially those in low wage jobs and those in the gig economy, do not get paid sick leave, and will have no income if they are too ill to work, or are laid off or furloughed because businesses are slowing or closing. Once again, the United States, unlike most wealthy nations, does not mandate paid sick leave. Some states have recently mandated paid sick leave, but there is no over-arching law or standard. Recent research has shown that paid sick leave costs employers very little, increases productivity, and actually reduces the spread of flu outbreaks.

I could go on and talk about education, poverty, transportation and many other aspects of our society that are impacted by the pandemic in ways that they would not if we had different systems in place.  And these different systems are what detractors would call socialism!

I hope huge numbers of people in America think about these lessons and also think about how we can move forward after the pandemic, and not just go back to business as usual. Certainly during this election season we will hopefully also think about politics, how we are governed, and how we can make the changes that are very much needed. If this were a political post, I would now say "Vote for Bernie," but it isn't, so I won't say it. (Oh, I did....)

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