For the past two weeks, Americans have been largely focused on the public health emergency that is increasingly gripping the entire world. As we learn about things like social distancing, face closures of local businesses, the shutdown of our schools, and massive unemployment on a scale we’ve rarely seen before in American history, it’s easy to lose sight of the larger story here.
And that’s that America will never be the same again. We don’t say that to be dramatic, but because it’s true in the aftermath of every major crisis, and this will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the most deeply trying events this country has ever faced, at least thus far. What we still don’t know is how America will be changed.
That’s true in part because we’re only now beginning to grasp the challenges posed by the COVID-19 virus. Most public health experts tell us we are still at the very beginning of this pandemic and that many millions of Americans will likely be infected over the next several months and that hundreds of thousands may die as a result. America, in part because our public health system was so derelict and our initial federal response so flat-footed, may end up being among the hardest hit countries in the world.
We’re already seeing the breakdown of the entire healthcare system in New York, where the number of new cases and deaths continues to spiral daily. It’s a fate that is likely to befall many other states before this is over.
Consider this: Barely one month ago, on Feb. 29, the U.S. reported its first death linked to the current pandemic. On March 25, the number of deaths exceeded 1,000. Three days later, on March 28, the number of deaths topped 2,000. Two days after that, as of Monday, March 30, U.S. deaths had topped 3,000. By the very next day, deaths topped 4,000. There is no reason to believe that the current trajectory of cases and deaths will level off anytime soon. Anyone who still believes this is a hoax or a “liberal media” conspiracy is quite literally out of their mind. This is a catastrophe and its effects will eventually reach every corner of America.
If there is a silver lining in this horror, it comes in the opportunity to learn from our mistakes.
Will this pandemic remind us that our individual actions can affect our collective future? Will we learn to act like a nation again, rather than a disparate collection of angry individuals concerned only about ourselves? Will we recognize that this country erred when we dismantled our public health infrastructure in favor of a system increasingly focused on private profits over human health? Will we understand that people who are actually knowledgeable on a subject may sometimes have sound advice to offer? The definition of an “expert” is someone who has “a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area.” Yet at some point “expert” became a dirty word in America, particularly among the political right. We should all be thankful that there are still a few public health experts in America to help guide our political leaders during the current crisis, both in Washington and closer to home.
While we could emerge stronger as a nation as a result of this crisis, there are risks as well. If we allow special interests to use this crisis to line their pockets, as has happened too often in the past, Americans will lose, and it will further undermine our faith in our political leadership. If we allow our electoral processes to be undermined or hijacked in the face of our own indifference, we will emerge a less democratic and more authoritarian nation. If we turn to fear and xenophobia, we will emerge a less moral nation.
We know that the America that lies beyond this crisis will be a different one. It’s up to all of us to decide what kind of America it will be.