I recently met someone from Recife, a city of 1.6 million in northeast Brazil, and asked about their COVID-19 experience.
The poorer districts went about “life as usual” as cases mounted (a recipe for disaster) shortly after the New York City surge. Then, the “tsunami” hit as health needs climbed well beyond emergency capacity, deaths amounted to 40 per day and so on. It’s nice to be sitting in the COVID-19 spring slump with the worst behind us, but have we learned anything? Here are my thoughts. The winners included the electronic world, and the losers included public transportation. Pandemics should never be political footballs. Pandemics relate to both health and economics, both of which are important. People need to be called to personal responsibility, and government mandates – if needed – need to be sensible. Antivirals and vaccines are both important in their own place, and more transparency is needed. Protect those who are most vulnerable, actively seek to improve your own health and stay informed.
We can only hope that the “next one” will be decades away, but hopefully, we can learn the important lessons as COVID-19 continues to fester in our society.
