Nearing The End of This 2020
Yet, not the end of this challenge upon us…
I read in a meme yesterday that when we (I, for one) have been saying, complaining, or mocking that this year couldn't get any worse, it was simply a rhetorical question, not a challenge for this 2020 to keep astounding us more and more. And here we are… in mid-November, and the outlooks don’t let us see anything but grim, still.
Things could indeed have gone worse (no, Universe, I’m not challenging you either, OK?!), like the coronavirus having mutated, or no scientific progress being reached at all — which fortunately is not the case — but the thing is our hopes, dreams, expectations, plans, level of tolerance, patience, incomes keep growing thinner and thinner, while our awe, dreads, disbelief, uncertainty, lack of purpose and aim keep growing bigger and bigger.
What has been learned
- A lot, truly. Now doctors know that using oximeters helps prevent people from going to the hospital too late already.
- That the rolling of patients on their bellies helps them breathe better and delaying respiratory mechanical assistance is advisable.
- That, although there’s still no vaccine ready, there are certain meds that help patients recover sooner and better… well, recover, to begin with.
- That steroids not only are not bad, but they’re also indeed very very helpful to prevent the inflammatory characteristic of Covid-19.
- That wearing masks, after all, is very useful in preventing the spreading of the virus through the droplets and aerosols expelled while speaking, or even breathing.
- It’s not only a lung-compromising illness, as initially believed; now doctors know that administering blood thinners prevents the formation of blood clots, for example.
- Unfortunately, it’s now acknowledged that it may have long term side effects — how long is still to be discovered — such as mental fogginess, cardiac conditions, or intense fatigue.
- That not only the elderly and the ones with pre-existing conditions can do badly with it.
- And, sadly, that people can become reinfected.
- Plus, the type of patient has changed lately: it’s not so much the elderly anymore, but the younger, healthier but more reckless individual.
- The deadliness of Covid-19 has declined, but not because it has become less deadly but because more is known, indeed, and the combination of the little pieces of information has made it less lethal.
“No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.”
— Isaac Newton
What has not gone as predicted — for the better or for the worse
- Very early on scientists were saying— at least openly — that some weeks of lockdowns would do.
- Some believed that reaching herd immunity was the solution, however drastic.
- Then, experts and politicians estimated that by the end of the Summer things could be sufficiently safe, even if no vaccines or treatments were already available.
- Then Summer ran out and October became the new finish line… then, only to let us down, again.
- Because the so-called flattening of the curve did not actually become palpable, surges 1 and 2 were practically interwoven, back-to-back — even if restrictions were softened and an illusion of advancement and more safety started to be communicated by some scientists and politicians, be it through their statements, their restrictions, or through their personal actions.
- That according to experience, no vaccine could be designed, tested, produced, and distributed in less than four years, approximately — this very piece of data, fortunately, proving wrong apparently; some months ago I wrote a piece precisely on how even back then all the world was working together as one, for once, to contribute to this specific goal: finding a vaccine.
What has piled up
A lot, to tell the truth. People are tired and their patience has worn out. It’s the lockdowns, the social distancing, the isolation. Human beings are definitely social beings and the new life that we have had to invent, adapt to and the new habits acquired — substituting for our previous ones — has turned out tougher to adopt than initially believed.
Because not getting together on an important anniversary, not kissing, not hugging, not blowing the candles on a cake… not smiling! come on, not smiling at one another is awful, to say the least. Well, we do smile, but the other guy cannot respond to our beautiful, broad, sincere smile — or fake, whatever, but a smile! Or maybe that other one does smile as well, and it’s us who do not respond! Or maybe we both do, and two beautiful smiles get lost trapped in our face masks. What a waste, really. What a waste of love and care for one another… all that, gone to waste.
Our incomes aren’t getting any better as time goes on, right? Unless you definitely have become a successful entrepreneur or happen to still keep your job in an essential niche, you probably haven’t been able to get a steady income that pays the bills and makes the ends meet. You’re probably becoming indebted, and apart from the debt itself, the certainty of that fact is enough to drain you. Believe me, been there, felt that.
The other day I read about Latin America being estimated to have had a 10-year setback due to this thing. A whole decade! This upcoming recession is being foreseen worse than the one in 1914 and 1930, and overall the worst contraction in 100 years. That’s tough. It’s true that we in LA weren't doing great before the pandemic, but it just sent us back. A whole decade.
One of my first articles here was about the lack of purpose and aim that people were experiencing. That was way back in mid-July. So, four months later and with few expectations otherwise, it’s understandable that we’re feeling exactly how we’re feeling. This lack of purpose is also accumulating in fragile places of our souls.
What has to be yet endured longer
The rest of the fall and the winter, for starters. The redness and brownish of the fall, normally being a favorite of many, now making us realize more clearly the proximity of the winter: gray, cold, dark.
This is more so because of the end-of-the-year holidays. That notion is also hard to swallow: that family get-togethers are at risk precisely because they’re risky. Because regardless of what we now know that makes us more prepared to face this thing, we also know that being indoors is more dangerous. But it’s a fact that we will spend more time indoors with poorer ventilation because of the weather outside. Besides, the coronavirus will coexist with the other respiratory viruses, especially in the northern hemisphere.
Last but not least, the recovery of the economies beginning sometime next year. It should be a temptation or incentive to believe that the closer we get to the end the faster will the recovery begin. Not quite, not for all. The two New York Times articles that I’ve been thinking about while writing this piece refer to countries way different from mine. Mexico may be above the Equator, indeed, but it’s not in the North hemisphere, no. It’s not. So for my country — and all the countries below, pretty much — the recovery will be slow, excruciating, and with people starting the new race towards development feeling hungrier — rhetorically and the facto.
“The future of humanity will move closer and closer toward the approach of Zen, because the meeting of the East and West is possible only through something like Zen, which is earthly and yet unearthly.”
– Rajneesh
I’d add, the North and the South.
And yet, this is what it is and this is where we are. There’s no going back, and the only way to go is forward, right? So let us focus on what has been learned and what hope, however little, we can hold on to.
And that is not to be underestimated. Even if the perfect treatment has not been found and even if the vaccines are not yet available, there’s a lot of cumulative data and information and learning that has made the illness less lethal, and the resources more recognizable. The measures that can be taken by all — regardless of the governments anywhere — also more in our own hands, for the better or the worse.
The vaccines being available much sooner than at any other time in history is good news, too. That’s a breakthrough in science, apparently, one that will save us all. Because it’s either all of us or eventually it’s none. And I think it has been well understood by the people in charge of running the show: ‘Nobody is safe until everybody is safe’, as several WHO officials have said from the beginning.
So let us be more patient — than ever in our lives, I’m convinced — and let us remember our end-of-the-year regular emotions and feelings to make do through this particular, peculiar, and unforgettable end of the year. Let’s pretend that this has only been a challenge — however massive, rhetorically, and quantitatively speaking, both — and that even if it’s been endless, we’re getting closer.
We definitely ought to be getting closer. Right?
