Do not be misled. Yes, the pandemic: a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease over a whole country or the world at a particular time, seems to be behind us. And yes, back in September 2022 President Biden told us the pandemic is over. But what he also added — and what often gets cut in news coverage — is that we still have a problem with Covid. The hard truth is Covid as a disease, and as a factor in how many now live their lives, still lives in our minds, and sadly for many, in their bodies. Covid is still very much in control. The pandemic may be over, but Covid is not.
And for me, regardless of how Covid started, it started. And spread. And was declared a global pandemic. And millions of people died. Please do not minimize this. And please do not forget them. May their collective memory be a blessing.
As noted in these statistics published by the University of Boulder, “… Covid still kills more than 3,500 people each week and tens of millions still struggle with serious, lasting health effects.” (Three Years In: 7 Things We’ve Learned About Covid, University of Boulder, March 6, 2023)
In our home, we thought we had dodged the Covid bullet. At least that was until late August 2022. I remember listening to President Biden’s remarks just a few weeks after my husband and I finally tested positive, isolated, and ‘had Covid’ and the fever, aches, pains associated with it. Yet so many kept saying to us don’t worry, it is just flu-like and mild at that, you are vaccinated, it will be nothing. No, my fear was what we don’t know — the after affects. The lingering health effects. And what we might expect a year or ten years from now.
Sadly, sometimes things happen for a reason. And if we do not memorialize these events in history, if we do not accept the significance of these events, and if we do not acknowledge that they happened, we are destined to repeat them. And more importantly, generations to come will not believe they happened at all. So, to those who are now saying Covid was not really a thing, let me be clear: Covid and the pandemic was a thing. And it affected, and in many other ways continues to affect, each and every one of us. I have memorialized it each year — if you have not read my first article chronicling what that first year was like — here it is: March 12, 2020: Reflections on an Inauspicious Anniversary And my second anniversary article The Pandemic Two Years In: There is Good Stuff to Keep.
In February 2023 the New York Times published Jon Mooallem’s Covid oral-history project “What Happened To Us.” It’s a fascinating look back on the necessity of doing a look back. And by that I mean memorializing an event. If you have not seen or listened to this, please do.
As the oral-history project notes, different people dealt with the pandemic in different ways. What I do want to bring up is that we — as in the universal we — have not experienced a world event like that that directly affected us over a long period of time. During the pandemic, when lining up to buy our allotted 8 rolls of toilet paper at the West Side Market or seeing the line looped around the block to get into Trader Joe’s I often thought, “Was this what rationing during World War II was like?”
And while the New York Times also notes, “… when we say the pandemic is over, we are actually seeking permission to act like it never happened — to let ourselves off the hook from having to make sense of it or take seriously its continuing effect,” would the generations before us ever dare to say WWII never happened just because the war ended? I think not.
Mooallem also references The NYC Covid-19 Oral History, Narrative and Memory Archive, established at Columbia University in March 2020.
What interests me is that this is the same group that developed the September 11, 2001 Oral History Narrative and Memory Project.
And for me the two are totally connected since with respect to 9/11 there are also groups of people who refuse to acknowledge it happened. Once again, let me be clear. The horrific events of September 11, 2001, happened. How can I be so sure? I was there. I saw it. I felt it. I experienced it. I lost friends that day as part of the 3000 who died, and I continue to lose friends who were downtown and years later developed cancers associated with 9/11. More and more we continue to hear of another person dying of 9/11 related cancers. We must never forget that day and how precious each and every life was of those we lost.
So, what is our new normal? I am not so sure we know yet. But on March 12, 2023 while we might pause and look back, looking over our shoulder will be Covid continuing its impact on our lives.
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Paula Zirinsky, the founder of Zirinsky Strategy LLC, tackles marketing challenges and problem-solving through branding, thought leadership, and intentional marketing initiatives. With over four decades of experience, she possesses a proven track record in identifying growth opportunities for global companies and has a knack for building the necessary infrastructure and teams to drive strategy, branding, thought leadership, marketing, and business development. A former Global CMO, Paula has held leadership positions at K2 Integrity (formerly K2 Intelligence), a leading risk advisory firm, and law firms including Morgan Lewis, Morvillo Abramowitz, Fried Frank, and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft. Additionally, she has provided corporate marketing and communications counsel to Daimler-Benz AG, Mercedes-Benz AG, Daimler Chrysler, and Hanover Direct Inc. She can be reached at paula@zirinskystrategy.com
