Lessons learned from the pandemic:

1. It's a mistake to rely on employers to provide our health insurance.  When a pandemic hits, businesses shut down and people lose their jobs - along with the health insurance they most need at that time.  Without access to affordable health care, the pandemic lasts even longer and claims more victims, both with and without  health insurance.


2. The pandemic thrives on economic inequality.  The poor and minorities have a higher propensity toward malnutrition, diabetes, obesity, and other underlying conditions and are more likely to suffer and die from a virus like covid-19.  But the poor and minorities are also the ones most likely to be providing essential services like driving delivery trucks, sanitation, cashiers, and emergency response.  When a pandemic hits, it takes away the base, the very foundation, that society is built upon.  We'll get by fine with a few less architects and stock analysts - we have a problem when our power goes out and there's no one left to repair the lines.


3. As populations continue to rise and as we pack ourselves into denser and denser cities, our health is more of a public resource than ever before.  When our neighbors get sick, our probability of becoming infected is greater than ever.  Your microbiome and my microbiome are interconnected like never before.


4. People who hoard resources, be it ventilators, face masks, toilet paper, or food, will be remembered in history as the villains of this pandemic.  Until the resources are equitably shared so we're all equally protected, the virus will continue to thrive and won't go away.


5. When I go to the supermarket, I have to don PPE like I were going to a hazmat site.  Nitrile gloves and a dust mask, and because the dust mask fogs my glasses, I have to coat the lenses with a film of soapy water before I leave and let them air dry.  The whole preparation takes a good 15 minutes.  I'm experienced at doing this - I used to work in hazmat response - and I still find it unnerving.  I can't imagine what it's like to the uninitiated.  


6. Impermanence is swift; life-and-death is the great matter.  We should appreciate the gift of life while we have it, and not cling to the illusion that it will never end.