Good has come out of this pandemic.
It is catastrophic in many respects. Many have died. Many have lost their regular income, and may lose their businesses. But good has come of it as well. As a society, we have been forced to reconsider our priorities.
The pandemic has affected the elderly, and marginalized groups the most – people of colour, indigenous groups, and lower income neighbourhoods. We have to ask why, and what we can do to correct it. Racism has no place in our pluralist society. Our elders must be cared for with dignity, and respect. Everyone has the right to be protected by the police. And, everyone has the right to support their family, and earn a living wage.
As an advanced, wealthy society, we can do something about these issues. We don’t have to accept the status quo. But we must react. We must do something. And we need to do it collectively. The same way we have listened to the medical experts to physical distance, wash our hands frequently, and wear a mask if we can’t stay 6 feet apart from others. This has been a huge change, but we did it here in British Columbia to flatten the curve. We did it. And we continue to do it. And we did it without listening to the politicians. We listened to the experts.
We need to elect politicians that listen to the experts. The climate change experts. The medical experts. Sociologists. Mental health experts.
It’s a matter of political will. Do we have the will to deal with these problems? Or, are we content to let things stand.
PedalWORKS 
I agree with you,and it has taught us some things are still out of our control and we aren’t quite as smart as we thought.
Being over 70 I’m in the vulnerable age group,so I just act sensibly observe the scientific advice.
It does seem unfair that the young who don’t get ill with Covid have to suffer for my age groups benefit,but that’s a whole debate which scientists can’t agree on.
Hopefully the main plus to come out of this pandemic will be a realisation that climate change is real and will happen if we don’t sort ourselves out. Planet earth will still be here but we may not be.
Here in the UK were on the cusp of a second spike of Covid-19
New tougher restrictions come into force on Wednesday, the strictest being in areas with the highest positive test results and hospitalisations,but not total lockdowns.
Thanks Paul. You are right. We are not that smart. We can’t control everything. I fear we will not respond quickly enough to abate the climate change challenge, or take the health guidelines seriously enough to bring COVID under control.