Five years ago this week

😷 The pandemic may be over but its impacts continue to inform how we live

Photo by Edwin Hooper on Unsplash

It was five years ago this week that the pandemic became real for many people.

I remember first seeing a small mention about an illness outbreak in China in late 2019 or early 2020. I didn’t think much of it at the time but remembered it.

On January 6, 2020, The New York Times wrote its first story … which appeared on page A13.

📰 China Grapples With Mystery Pneumonia-Like Illness (gift link, The New York Times, January 6, 2020)

It included this quote:

“I have to emphasize this is a new disease, and no one on earth has gone through this before. I hope this pathogen is a less harmful one so it would not cause a major epidemic similar to SARS. It would be a nightmare for all of us.”

-Leo Poon, a public health expert at the University of Hong Kong, quoted in The New York Times, January 6, 2020

Two days later, The Wall Street Journal published a story:

📰 New Virus Discovered by Chinese Scientists Investigating Pneumonia Outbreak (gift link, WSJ, January 8, 2020)

It noted:

Two newer human coronaviruses, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, have been known to cause severe illness and death, according to the U.S. CDC.

The Wuhan strain is similar to bat coronaviruses that were a precursor to SARS, a person familiar with the new findings said.

But it also included this assertion by K.Y. Yuen, chair professor of infectious diseases at the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Medicine:

Given the marked advances in hospital isolation facilities, infection-control training and laboratory diagnostic capabilities in the past two decades, it is unlikely that this outbreak will lead to a major 2003-like epidemic, Mr. Yuen said.

At the time, “No cases have been reported in the U.S., the CDC said, adding that it is prepared to respond “if additional public health actions are required.”

The next day there was another news story in the WSJ:

📰 SARS Experience Guides China’s Effort to Contain New Virus (gift link, WSJ, January 10, 2020)

The first death was reported one day later:

📰 China Reports First Death From New Coronavirus (gift link, WSJ, January 11, 2020)

Things became more real ten days later, when the first case in the US was announced — in the Seattle area:

📰 Snohomish County man has the United States’ first known case of the new coronavirus (The Seattle Times, January 21, 2020)

It made NPR’s Morning Edition the next morning. By the end of January, the World Health Organization (WHO) would declare the coronavirus a global health emergency:

📰 WHO Declares Coronavirus Outbreak A Global Health Emergency (NPR, January 30, 2020)

A few weeks later, as I was flying to a conference for work in early February 2020, my partner gave me a mask to wear. I didn’t see anyone wearing a mask on the plane or at the conference.

Later that month, news broke of an outbreak at a nursing home in the Seattle area:

📰 First Covid-19 outbreak in a U.S. nursing home raises concerns (STAT, February 29, 2020)

One of my Seattle-based colleagues lived a few miles from the nursing home and it quickly became a topic of conversation. By the end of February, the governor would declare a state of emergency:

📰 Washington State Declares Emergency Amid Coronavirus Death and Illnesses at Nursing Home (The New York Times, February 29, 2020)

On Tuesday, March 10, I flew to Boise on business. My colleague from Seattle joined me. Someone flew in from Los Angeles. Another was local. We had a great day together (including delicious pizza). That would be my last flight for a long time.

That same day, Tomas Pueyo wrote a very compelling post on Medium titled Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now. I discovered it via my friend Moira Burke and shared it with my network on LinkedIn:

The next day, Wednesday, March 11, is the day it became real for a lot of people:

📰 March 11, 2020: The day everything changed (NPR)

That was the day that Dr. Fauci testified before the House that “it’s going to get worse,” the WHO officially declared it a pandemic, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 1,200 points (ending an 11-year bull market), and the president made a prime time address to the nation from the Oval Office. That evening, Tom Hanks announced he had tested positive and the NBA suspended its regular season.

Me? I was working from home that day while I was getting a new water heater installed. The next day, Thursday, March 12, I was back in the office.

I remember having a discussion with one of my colleagues, who had just joined us some months before. As talk turned to potentially closing the office and sending people home, he thought we’d be back in a couple weeks. I remember telling him I thought it was going to be longer. Neither of us ever worked in that office again.

My partner and I had plans to go out for dinner that Friday, March 13 at the 2019 restaurant of the year. It had been a hard place to get into and we finally had reservations. I remember wondering if it was still a good idea. In the end we went and the place was packed. That would be our last meal out for a very long time.

The following Tuesday, March 17, we officially closed our office and shifted to working from home. Many others already had.

…

Five years on, we look back at some of the defining images of the pandemic:

📸 The defining photos of the pandemic — and the stories behind them (CNN)

📸 Enduring Images of a Global Crisis (gift link, The New York Times)

This week, The New York Times had a really striking series of interactive charts that I highly encourage you to check out:

📉 30 Charts That Show How Covid Changed Everything (gift link, The New York Times)

Introduction to NYT interactive article: 30 Charts That Show How Covid Changed Everything.

The series highlights some of the lasting effects of the pandemic like:

• Americans now spend more on food at restaurants than on groceries

• We continue to spend more time at home than we did, on average, pre-pandemic

• We continue to spend less time socializing with others than we did pre-pandemic

• The share of women in the labor force (aged 25-54 with a child under 5) has increased to a record number, enabled by remote and hybrid work

• Public transit ridership has never recovered, down 200 million trips per month compared to pre-pandemic

• Students fell behind by around half a year of learning, which they may never recover

The pandemic affected each of us and all of us.

For me, it was a very personal experience. I highlighted a few moments on Instagram over the first few years.

What are some of your memories from the pandemic?

If you’d like to discuss with other members, please join us in the chat this week.

🎵 Music embed: Songs of Hope

During the pandemic, some hospitals and medical professionals turned to music “trying to keep spirits high, both for patients and each other” (quote from article linked below). This playlist is a compilation of these songs based on this article:

Hospitals Play ‘Songs of Hope’ as Virus Patients Go Home (The New York Times)

We give our deepest thanks and gratitude to all of the amazing medical professionals that served during the pandemic.

Go deeper

Here are a few additional resources if you’d like to explore further:

News

• Seattle’s Patient Zero Spread Coronavirus Despite Ebola-Style Lockdown (Bloomberg Businessweek, March 9, 2020)

• A YEAR OF PANDEMIC (The Seattle Times, March 14, 2021) - really well done, with compelling images and stories from the first year of the pandemic in Washington state.

• How It All Started: China’s Early Coronavirus Missteps (gift link, WSJ, March 6, 2020)

Reference

• When Did the Pandemic Start and End? COIVD-19 Pandemic Timeline (Northwestern Medicine) - a high level timeline

• CDC Museum COVID-19 Timeline (CDC) - a detailed timeline

• Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic (WHO)

• Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic (WHO Europe)

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Thank you for reading this reflection. I’d love to hear your impressions and reactions. You can reply to this email or send me a message.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Be well — and give a loved one a hug.

-Bryce