Hope is in the air. Effective vaccines came sooner than anyone thought possible, and it is likely that the United States will reach herd immunity sometime in mid summer. That means that people will be able to gather again, travel on mass transit and airlines safely again, be able to hug our grandparents. This has been described as returning to normal. Many people seem to think that life will be just like it was before the pandemic. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Deaths

There are more than 500,000 families in the US who have lost loved ones to the pandemic. That is a staggering number and is in some ways incomprehensible to us. We have never experienced in our lifetimes death on this scale, not even in world wars. The numbers are so large that they begin to make us numb. We cannot allow that numbness to take over. One out of three people in the U.S know someone who has died from COVID-19. Each one of those 500,000 families lives with the existential reality that their loved ones are gone from their lives forever. They have holes in their hearts that will scar over with time (lots of time) but that will never disappear. Even if you believe in an afterlife, these families will live the rest of their lives with the knowledge that they will never see their loved ones again in this life. What makes these deaths even more traumatic for families is that their loved ones died alone. They could not be at the beside holding their hands. Those who got to say goodbye at all had to do it via FaceTime or Zoom. Nor is the death toll over. Over 1400 people died of COVID-19 yesterday.

These are our friends, our neighbors and it is our responsibility to do what we can to ease their suffering as best we can. Mostly that means just being there and listening to their stories. It is easy to turn away or to offer platitudes about healing. Seeing someone else suffer is painful, but we must not turn away. Instead of asking how we can help, we just need to help, to be there, to be present.

Sometimes poetry is the best way to truth. Over 400 years ago John Donne wrote a poem about how death affects a community. Bubonic plague (the Black Death) had decimated England with ongoing and recurring epidemics for years. We would do well to pay attention to his words today:

No Man is an Island
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Post-COVID Syndrome

Of those who have survived COVID-19, up to 30% have something called post-COVID syndrome. This occurs more frequently in women. It is characterized by shortness of breath, brain fog, episodes of rapid heartbeat with minimal exertion and severe fatigue. This can occur even when the symptoms of the acute COVID were mild. It is becoming clear that it affects hundreds of thousands of people who have had COVID. Many of these people are so sick that they are unable to work. This syndrome can last for months. There is an excellent article in The Atlantic that describes this syndrome and how devastating it can be.

PTSD among Health Care Workers

Health care workers have worked tirelessly to care for desperately ill people in hospitals. Three thousand of them have died from COVID-19 as a result. They have had to watch many of their patients die and have had to serve as the stand-ins for family who could not be there. They worked until they were exhausted and came back the next day to do it again. This is a recipe for PTSD and 1 in 4 of them are suffering from classic symptoms of PTSD. This is unfortunately the new normal for them.

The Unequal Economic Impact

Some of us have suffered very little economic impact from the pandemic. Low wage workers, who are disproportionally people of color have lost their jobs in large numbers. Many of them worked in the hard hit hospitality sector. These low wage workers are not likely to get their jobs back for 2-3 years. They have continuing food insecurity and are likely to become homeless in large numbers.

Our New Normal

Even with a successful vaccination campaign that frees us from our enforced physical isolation, many people will continue to suffer. It essential for those of who have escaped COVID-19 and who have avoided financial ruin to step up and help those who have and continue to suffer. We must contribute in every way we can both financially and by volunteering our time and expertise.

All of us have suffered from the pandemic in one way or another, even if we have escaped having COVID. As we emerge from our enforced isolation the experience of the past year should remind us that life is precious and transient and that our relationships with others are even more precious. Our political differences are small potatoes compared to this.