In many places they still stand, like silent relics from an almost forgotten era: signs with arrows pointing to the local vaccination site. Or the train passenger with a face mask, apparently lost in time. For many, it seems like history: the curfew, Covid tests, one and a half meters, the corona evidence, full ICs, empty stadiums, closed theaters, abandoned shopping streets, vaccine forerunners and corona deniers, quarantine and heated debates.
It may have eluded many, but just a week ago, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus officially declared that the coronavirus pandemic that had strangled the world for three years is no longer labeled “an international emergency at the global level”. field of public health’.
To say that the pandemic has left a heavy mark on the world and its 8 billion inhabitants is a euphemism. Sometimes the consequences of the virus were temporary, often they are permanent. Sometimes they were annoying, clumsy or annoying, but often also deadly or life-determining. According to Tedros, the pandemic has claimed the lives of some 20 million people – with the hardest hit in the less affluent parts of the world. Millions of others are still confronted daily with serious physical consequences of an infection. Or live in fear of becoming infected again, because their body cannot tolerate it due to other medical conditions.
As the virus rolled around the world in waves for three years, everyone was forced to adapt. In retrospect, it may be easy to conclude that lockdowns lasted too long, or that measures to contain the spread of the virus were too strict, or disproportionate. Everyone had to deal with it: citizens, governments, companies, educational institutions, the cultural sector or the sports world. The blows to world trade and aviation suffered during forced de-globalization also had a positive effect: on the environment.
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But one problem was common to all: the entire world was in unfamiliar territory, forced to navigate without instruments, in limbo as to the correctness or necessity of each decision. It always resulted in unprecedented fierce and emotional discussions. Not everyone wanted to accept the primacy of science when it came to containing the virus. Better information may offer a solution there, but the mistrust of politicians, scientists, administrators and the media is a broader problem, as is the spread of disinformation. In retrospect, it has rightly been established that even when combating a dangerous pandemic, attention must also be paid to the psychological and mental consequences that people experience from strict, restrictive measures. That recognition came too late, after unnecessarily long school closures and measures that pushed citizens into social isolation. Administrators and scientists paid insufficient attention to collateral damage.
Although the virus is far from gone and a resurgence is possible, it is wise to learn from the abuses that came to light during the darkest days. First of all, it remains unacceptable that the investigation into the origin of the pandemic, presumably in China, continues to be thwarted. That will probably not happen again, unfortunately, because such knowledge can be crucial in preventing a next pandemic.
Another lesson concerns the inequality that became visible when a number of highly effective vaccines were developed in the Western world in a short time, which could also be produced on a large scale. It was harrowing and embarrassing to see how many poorer countries, for example in Africa, had to wait longer than a year for the vaccine to become available to them.
The crisis also made it clear that the world was ill-prepared for a large-scale virus outbreak, despite several warnings. Pandemic preparedness will need to be significantly increased. Each country bears responsibility in this regard.
In Europe, and certainly in the Netherlands, the vulnerability came to light in the mad race for a simple and cheap means of protection such as the face mask. It also turned out that the care capacity is far from sufficient to combat a major virus outbreak. Now is the time to identify and strengthen weak links. This certainly also applies to the range of emergency legal measures that had to be put in place to combat the pandemic.
A version of this article also appeared in the May 13, 2023 newspaper.