Since the start of COVID-19 affecting global academia, many aspects of university life have changed dramatically. Whether by university building closures, on-line classes supplanting face-to-face lectures and laboratories being shuttered in favour of scientists having to re-think their methodologies and processes, I have been wondering how much more upheaval can researchers contend with?
On one hand, and in my particular case: day-to-day functioning as a distance, PhD student hasn’t changed much. Admittedly, I wash my hands more (always a good idea!). I now retain a 1.65 litre container of hand sanitizer within reach at my desk all times. I am also less than likely to run to the grocer in favour of shelling shell more money to the benefit of local food delivery companies.
My communications with colleagues, laboratory partners, supervisors, administrators, tutors and professors has not changed one iota. I do, however, have an increased window on my colleagues home/home life. Their venues are now on display for the entire world…and it can be fun meeting their family members…both furry and otherwise. In truth, our daughter Phoebe loves to join in, particularly during online sign-offs where she enjoys spreading good cheer and show-off her latest academic conquests. Most recently, she bragged about completing Cyrano de Bergerac read-through along with her statistics, oceanography/zoology and genetics classes.
With the publishing of this post, however, we will have been in isolation (e.g. physical distancing…not social distancing) for well over one month. My university officially locked its doors on Friday the 13th of March 2020, but our family shuttered our residence long before that. When will we begin to return to a newer normal?
Well the good news (?) is this: the supposed peak of medical facilities use has moved two weeks earlier. What was once identified as 3 May has now moved to 15 April. This represents the day of maximum hospital occupancy (e.g. beds, intensive care unit and ventilator usage).
What’s unclear is that which has moved the curve forward. Is it simply resultant from efforts to distance ourselves from one another, healthcare operations releasing more recovered patients, a faster morbidity timeframe, or — perhaps — erroneous data?
It would seem that there will certainly be more suffering initially (and sooner?) given the metrics available. Too, there will be fewer of us around when/if the new normal subsides. And at least in the United States it would appear that our government’s ability to contend with the fallout (from a strategic vantage point) will likely be as coordinated as its initial and ongoing attempts to contend with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Always an optimist, I must admit that I am feeling rather pessimistic about the new normal. For all measures, antediluvian or otherwise, it would appear that the COVID-19 scenarios are not good. The whiplash effect due next Fall/Winter is likely to be as onerous, and pending elections, our ability to respond as a nation seems nefarious given our current leadership. How this affects those of us intent on making contributions to at-risk populations is even more in question.
Not that our resolutions are ill-conceived. It’s just that you cannot possibly assist others if you, they and the system are ill.
The bright side is that the world, herself, seems to be healing herself. From a carbon emission standpoint, global warming/temperature measure and from our ocean’s pollutants…there appears to be positive news. But for how long? Will the new normal bring relief to planet earth? Stay tuned…