8 Lessons We Can Learn From the COVID-19 Pandemic
BY KATHY KATELLA May 14, 2021
Note: Information in this article was accurate at the time of original publication. Because information about COVID-19 changes rapidly, we encourage you to visit the websites of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and your state and local government for the latest information.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed life as we know it—and it may have changed us individually as well, from our morning routines to our life goals and priorities. Many say the world has changed forever. But this coming year, if the vaccines drive down infections and variants are kept at bay, life could return to some form of normal. At that point, what will we glean from the past year? Are there silver linings or lessons learned?
“Humanity's memory is short, and what is not ever-present fades quickly,” says Manisha Juthani, MD, a Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist. The bubonic plague, for example, ravaged Europe in the Middle Ages—resurfacing again and again—but once it was under control, people started to forget about it, she says. “So, I would say one major lesson from a public health or infectious disease perspective is that it’s important to remember and recognize our history. This is a period we must remember.”
We asked our Yale Medicine experts to weigh in on what they think are lessons worth remembering, including those that might help us survive a future virus or nurture a resilience that could help with life in general.
Lesson 1: Masks are useful tools
What happened: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) relaxed its masking guidance for those who have been fully vaccinated. But when the pandemic began, it necessitated a global effort to ensure that everyone practiced behaviors to keep themselves healthy and safe—and keep others healthy as well. This included the widespread wearing of masks indoors and outside.
What we’ve learned: Not everyone practiced preventive measures such as mask wearing, maintaining a 6-foot distance, and washing hands frequently. But, Dr. Juthani says, “I do think many people have learned a whole lot about respiratory pathogens and viruses, and how they spread from one person to another, and that sort of old-school common sense—you know, if you don’t feel well—whether it’s COVID-19 or not—you don’t go to the party. You stay home.”
Masks are a case in point. They are a key COVID-19 prevention strategy because they provide a barrier that can keep respiratory droplets from spreading. Mask-wearing became more common across East Asia after the 2003 SARS outbreak in that part of the world. “There are many East Asian cultures where the practice is still that if you have a cold or a runny nose, you put on a mask,” Dr. Juthani says.
She hopes attitudes in the U.S. will shift in that direction after COVID-19. “I have heard from a number of people who are amazed that we've had no flu this year—and they know masks are one of the reasons,” she says. “They’ve told me, ‘When the winter comes around, if I'm going out to the grocery store, I may just put on a mask.’”
Lesson 2: Telehealth might become the new normal
What happened: Doctors and patients who have used telehealth (technology that allows them to conduct medical care remotely), found it can work well for certain appointments, ranging from cardiology check-ups to therapy for a mental health condition. Many patients who needed a medical test have also discovered it may be possible to substitute a home version.
What we’ve learned: While there are still problems for which you need to see a doctor in person, the pandemic introduced a new urgency to what had been a gradual switchover to platforms like Zoom for remote patient visits.
More doctors also encouraged patients to track their blood pressure at home , and to use at-home equipment for such purposes as diagnosing sleep apnea and even testing for colon cancer . Doctors also can fine-tune cochlear implants remotely .
“It happened very quickly,” says Sharon Stoll, DO, a neurologist. One group that has benefitted is patients who live far away, sometimes in other parts of the country—or even the world, she says. “I always like to see my patients at least twice a year. Now, we can see each other in person once a year, and if issues come up, we can schedule a telehealth visit in-between,” Dr. Stoll says. “This way I may hear about an issue before it becomes a problem, because my patients have easier access to me, and I have easier access to them.”
Meanwhile, insurers are becoming more likely to cover telehealth, Dr. Stoll adds. “That is a silver lining that will hopefully continue.”
Lesson 3: Vaccines are powerful tools
What happened: Given the recent positive results from vaccine trials, once again vaccines are proving to be powerful for preventing disease.
What we’ve learned: Vaccines really are worth getting, says Dr. Stoll, who had COVID-19 and experienced lingering symptoms, including chronic headaches . “I have lots of conversations—and sometimes arguments—with people about vaccines,” she says. Some don’t like the idea of side effects. “I had vaccine side effects and I’ve had COVID-19 side effects, and I say nothing compares to the actual illness. Unfortunately, I speak from experience.”
Dr. Juthani hopes the COVID-19 vaccine spotlight will motivate people to keep up with all of their vaccines, including childhood and adult vaccines for such diseases as measles , chicken pox, shingles , and other viruses. She says people have told her they got the flu vaccine this year after skipping it in previous years. (The CDC has reported distributing an exceptionally high number of doses this past season.)
But, she cautions that a vaccine is not a magic bullet—and points out that scientists can’t always produce one that works. “As advanced as science is, there have been multiple failed efforts to develop a vaccine against the HIV virus,” she says. “This time, we were lucky that we were able build on the strengths that we've learned from many other vaccine development strategies to develop multiple vaccines for COVID-19 .”
Lesson 4: Everyone is not treated equally, especially in a pandemic
What happened: COVID-19 magnified disparities that have long been an issue for a variety of people.
What we’ve learned: Racial and ethnic minority groups especially have had disproportionately higher rates of hospitalization for COVID-19 than non-Hispanic white people in every age group, and many other groups faced higher levels of risk or stress. These groups ranged from working mothers who also have primary responsibility for children, to people who have essential jobs, to those who live in rural areas where there is less access to health care.
“One thing that has been recognized is that when people were told to work from home, you needed to have a job that you could do in your house on a computer,” says Dr. Juthani. “Many people who were well off were able do that, but they still needed to have food, which requires grocery store workers and truck drivers. Nursing home residents still needed certified nursing assistants coming to work every day to care for them and to bathe them.”
As far as racial inequities, Dr. Juthani cites President Biden’s appointment of Yale Medicine’s Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS , as inaugural chair of a federal COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force. “Hopefully the new focus is a first step,” Dr. Juthani says.
Lesson 5: We need to take mental health seriously
What happened: There was a rise in reported mental health problems that have been described as “a second pandemic,” highlighting mental health as an issue that needs to be addressed.
What we’ve learned: Arman Fesharaki-Zadeh, MD, PhD , a behavioral neurologist and neuropsychiatrist, believes the number of mental health disorders that were on the rise before the pandemic is surging as people grapple with such matters as juggling work and childcare, job loss, isolation, and losing a loved one to COVID-19.
The CDC reports that the percentage of adults who reported symptoms of anxiety of depression in the past 7 days increased from 36.4 to 41.5 % from August 2020 to February 2021. Other reports show that having COVID-19 may contribute, too, with its lingering or long COVID symptoms, which can include “foggy mind,” anxiety , depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder .
“We’re seeing these problems in our clinical setting very, very often,” Dr. Fesharaki-Zadeh says. “By virtue of necessity, we can no longer ignore this. We're seeing these folks, and we have to take them seriously.”
Lesson 6: We have the capacity for resilience
What happened: While everyone’s situation is different (and some people have experienced tremendous difficulties), many have seen that it’s possible to be resilient in a crisis.
What we’ve learned: People have practiced self-care in a multitude of ways during the pandemic as they were forced to adjust to new work schedules, change their gym routines, and cut back on socializing. Many started seeking out new strategies to counter the stress.
“I absolutely believe in the concept of resilience, because we have this effective reservoir inherent in all of us—be it the product of evolution, or our ancestors going through catastrophes, including wars, famines, and plagues,” Dr. Fesharaki-Zadeh says. “I think inherently, we have the means to deal with crisis. The fact that you and I are speaking right now is the result of our ancestors surviving hardship. I think resilience is part of our psyche. It's part of our DNA, essentially.”
Dr. Fesharaki-Zadeh believes that even small changes are highly effective tools for creating resilience. The changes he suggests may sound like the same old advice: exercise more, eat healthy food, cut back on alcohol, start a meditation practice, keep up with friends and family. “But this is evidence-based advice—there has been research behind every one of these measures,” he says.
But we have to also be practical, he notes. “If you feel overwhelmed by doing too many things, you can set a modest goal with one new habit—it could be getting organized around your sleep. Once you’ve succeeded, move on to another one. Then you’re building momentum.”
Lesson 7: Community is essential—and technology is too
What happened: People who were part of a community during the pandemic realized the importance of human connection, and those who didn’t have that kind of support realized they need it.
What we’ve learned: Many of us have become aware of how much we need other people—many have managed to maintain their social connections, even if they had to use technology to keep in touch, Dr. Juthani says. “There's no doubt that it's not enough, but even that type of community has helped people.”
Even people who aren’t necessarily friends or family are important. Dr. Juthani recalled how she encouraged her mail carrier to sign up for the vaccine, soon learning that the woman’s mother and husband hadn’t gotten it either. “They are all vaccinated now,” Dr. Juthani says. “So, even by word of mouth, community is a way to make things happen.”
It’s important to note that some people are naturally introverted and may have enjoyed having more solitude when they were forced to stay at home—and they should feel comfortable with that, Dr. Fesharaki-Zadeh says. “I think one has to keep temperamental tendencies like this in mind.”
But loneliness has been found to suppress the immune system and be a precursor to some diseases, he adds. “Even for introverted folks, the smallest circle is preferable to no circle at all,” he says.
Lesson 8: Sometimes you need a dose of humility
What happened: Scientists and nonscientists alike learned that a virus can be more powerful than they are. This was evident in the way knowledge about the virus changed over time in the past year as scientific investigation of it evolved.
What we’ve learned: “As infectious disease doctors, we were resident experts at the beginning of the pandemic because we understand pathogens in general, and based on what we’ve seen in the past, we might say there are certain things that are likely to be true,” Dr. Juthani says. “But we’ve seen that we have to take these pathogens seriously. We know that COVID-19 is not the flu. All these strokes and clots, and the loss of smell and taste that have gone on for months are things that we could have never known or predicted. So, you have to have respect for the unknown and respect science, but also try to give scientists the benefit of the doubt,” she says.
“We have been doing the best we can with the knowledge we have, in the time that we have it,” Dr. Juthani says. “I think most of us have had to have the humility to sometimes say, ‘I don't know. We're learning as we go.’"
Information provided in Yale Medicine articles is for general informational purposes only. No content in the articles should ever be used as a substitute for medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. Always seek the individual advice of your health care provider with any questions you have regarding a medical condition.
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The 14 biggest lessons from the pandemic, according to leading experts
One year into the Covid-19 pandemic, the New York Times interviewed scientists, public health experts, and advocates to identify what they would have done differently to address the crisis—and how they're preparing for the next pandemic. Here are their 14 key takeaways.
Your top resources for Covid-19 readiness
1. Prepare for the unimaginable
Covid-19 took the United States by surprise, according to Lauren Ancel Meyers, an epidemiologist at the University of Texas-Austin, because "we'd spent decades planning for a pandemic that would resemble the viruses we already knew."
We failed to plan for the need for masks, mass testing, stay-at-home orders, and more. Going forward, Meyers said, "we need to prepare for a much broader range of threats."
2. Prioritize science
The "catastrophic failure" of how this pandemic unfolded was spurred in large part by "[i]naccurate information and indecisive action on the part of the U.S. government," said Akiko Iwasaki, professor of immunobiology at Yale University.
Iwasaki cited a number of problems, including former President Donald Trump's assertion the virus "will go away and that we need not take any precautions," the "mockery of masks and social distancing," the faulty primers distributed by CDC, and the agency's initial restriction on testing, among other issues.
"To prepare for the next pandemic, Iwasaki said, "the government must put science and data above all else."
3. Determine who receives priority treatment
Noting that CDC issued vaccine recommendations just days before the first vaccine was authorized in the United States, Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, said we must start developing plans on vaccine allocation and deployment as early as possible—and share them with states to implement immediately.
"During the lull before the next storm," we should prioritize two principles if and when shortages occur again: "[G]o after mortality and preserve the health system," Omer said.
4. Don’t depend on states alone
During a pandemic caused by a highly transmissible virus, "there are certain commonalities that you need, some collaboration, cooperation, and synergy between the federal government and the states," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden's administration.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, "[s]ome states just didn't pay any attention to the guidelines and just jumped right over them—to go wherever they wanted to go," he said. "That is not a recipe for success."
5. Create a focused message
Critiquing the "patchwork of different public health guidance" amid the coronavirus pandemic, Linsey Marr, an expert in the airborne movement of viruses at Virginia Tech, said the country needs a "strong, coordinated science-based federal response," as well as coordinated public health guidance for states, to send the right message.
"The virus doesn't preferentially choose people to infect based on their political party," Marr said. "We're all in this together."
6. Invest in public health
According to Anne Schuchat, deputy director at CDC, an "underinvestment in public health" was a "massive vulnerability" in the United States' response to Covid-19.
There was a need for accurate data to identify and establish the right interventions for success, Schuchat said. But she pointed out that while "[t]here are pretty sophisticated data systems for banking, media, etc.,…we haven't made those leaps in public health."
7. Get out of the fee-for-service model
The health systems that have been most resilient amid the pandemic are those "that actually understand how to keep people well and take risk—as opposed to being stuck in the fee-for-service environment," Marc Harrison, CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, said.
Health systems that can "accept complete responsibility clinically and financially for a population" can then make "all kinds of super interesting, nimble, innovative decisions" that volume-based systems aren't ready for.
8. Address social determinants of health
The Covid-19 pandemic has "really brought [social determinants of health] to the forefront," as racial and ethnic minorities have been disproportionately affected, said Pablo Rodriguez, a member of the government committee guiding Covid-19 vaccine distribution in Rhode Island.
According to Rodriguez, it's become clear that "the health of the country" depends on our ability to address social determinants of health, something that Zenei Triunfo-Cortez—president of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United—said requires a "robust public health system" that could "allow us to quickly implement the type of surveillance, tracing, tracking, and data collection that is critical in responding to a pandemic or any other emerging public health crisis."
9. Don't discriminate on age
From the start of the pandemic, it was fairly clear that older adults and those with certain comorbidities were at a higher risk of severe Covid-19, "yet we chose to ignore the fact that we could mitigate some of that risk by providing enough testing, staffing, and adequate personal protective equipment," Katie Smith Sloan, president of LeadingAge, said.
Instead, older Americans and their caregivers "weren't properly prioritized until very recently, when vaccines became available," Sloan said. "And what an amazing difference it has been."
10. Make sure communities are prepared
Communities shouldn't solely rely on the government and other institutions; rather, they should prepare themselves, according to Rev. Paul Abernathy, from the Neighborhood Resilience Project. "Our own community members have to be consistently incorporated into systemic responses to crises."
11. Stick with the treatments we know work
Early in the pandemic, there was a lot of uncertainty about what treatments were effective against Covid-19. But since then, "we've come to realize it's best to stick to the basics of critical care medicine, including ventilator settings, the amount of sedation and intravenous fluids," according to Gregory Martin, a critical care specialist at Emory University.
Looking ahead, instead of being "distracted" by "fringe or alternative interventions," Martin said health care providers should focus on "what we know as the foundation for patient care."
12. Don't put kids in social isolation
Social isolation is hard for everyone. But according to Marsha Levy-Warren, an adolescent psychologist and clinical associate professor at New York University, it's "especially challenging for teens and potentially interferes in their maturation."
We've since learned that teens who were able to see each other in safe social settings and were at minimum in a hybrid school setup "have done better than those who could not," Levy-Warren said.
13. Collaborate on a global scale
According to Angel Rasmussen, a virologist at Georgetown University, there need to be conversations about "working together as a global community for future outbreaks" and an elimination of the "nationalization of responses."
Mike Bowen, co-owner of Prestige Ameritech, added that the U.S. government should treat personal protective equipment (PPE) made overseas as a national security issue. "This was a fairly mild virus," he said. "Imagine if the death rate had been 20%, and China and Mexico had cut off their PPE supplies."
14. Take a moment for self-reflection
"Many people had an awakening to the people who keep society going forward, and whom we take largely for granted" because of the Covid-19 pandemic, noted Reed Tuckson, co-founder of the Black Coalition Against Covid-19. "But if you can discount the essential worker," he adds, "then think how easily you can discount any other human life," such as when people chose not to wear masks because they "couldn't give a darn."
"This pandemic has shown us who we are, at a level of clarity that is shocking to most people," Tuckson said. "It's hard to imagine there are that many people in our country who really don't care about others" ( New York Times , 3/15).
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Posted on March 19, 2021
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Our most valuable lessons from 2 pandemic years
Andee Tagle
It's been two years since the world as we knew it was forever changed by the coronavirus pandemic .
We know you probably don't need that reminder, and there are probably a lot of people out there who don't want one.
This essay first appeared in NPR's Life Kit newsletter. Subscribe to the newsletter so you don't miss the next one, plus weekly tips that can help make life a little easier.
But if you're reading this, it means you've been through a lot:
Through unemployment and essential work; lockdowns and empty grocery store shelves and social distancing or even isolation; Zoom rooms and tiger kings and sourdough starters and all the sweatpants ; mask mandates and police brutality; a presidential election and an insurrection ; vaccines and boosters and masks off and on and off and on again .
It's been a revolving door of fear and fatigue and anger and uncertainty and suffering and loss . But we've also experienced a surprising amount of joy , and kindness, and new discovery, and delight , even.
Mental Health
Feeling blah take a joy break.
All of this to say: it feels all but impossible to qualify two years of pandemic living in any one way, but one thing is certain: we're still here – and we're changed.
The Life Kit team looked back on some of the most valuable lessons from the last two years that can help you look forward. Here are moments that helped change our mindsets and kept us moving through the past two years:
How to let more joy into your life
Producer Janet W. Lee grew to appreciate the small things:
While recent years have made it harder for me to look at the world with a more positive outlook, poet Ross Gay taught me to let more joy into my life . Gay is the author of The Book of Delights , where he shares the practice of calling out the delights in his everyday. This practice of taking a second to say the smell of coffee is lovely or to smile at the sound of my cat purring has brightened up my life.
Laziness does not exist
Managing producer Meghan Keane thanks Dumptruck for finding worth beyond productivity:
Dumptruck the chinchilla Devon Price hide caption
Dumptruck the chinchilla
Before the pandemic, I was all about hustle culture: get to work early, leave late, ignore any signs that I might need to slow down. But then a chinchilla named Dumptruck changed everything. We interviewed social psychologist (and owner of Dumptruck) Devon Price about his book Laziness Does Not Exist . Price says he never questions Dumptruck's worth because he lies around all day, but we're extra hard on ourselves when we aren't being productive. He says what we often see as laziness is actually a signal from our bodies to rest – we all still have worth when we are simply breathing on the couch.
Time is the building block of life
Producer Clare Marie Schneider learned the value of time:
Four Thousand Weeks author Oliver Burkeman says he's in recovery from productivity. Now, he thinks of time as a precious resource – the building block of our lives. When we interviewed him, he said, "The sum total of all the things you paid attention to will have been your life." To me, this way of looking at time leaves a little more room to embrace taking out the trash, over and over again, and to move towards what feels most exciting in life.
Finding passion outside of work
Producer Audrey Nguyen shifted her energy to find what she loves outside of her work:
A Field Guide for Fledgling Birders
I've struggled with pouring too much of myself into my work, and not leaving enough gas in the tank for my life outside of the 9-to-5. One of the most useful lessons I learned came from our interview with sociology professor Erin Cech , author of The Trouble With Passion: How Searching For Fulfillment At Work Fosters Inequality . She recommends finding ways to "diversify your meaning-making portfolio." Taking a step back and figuring out how to make room for passion outside of work has been really helpful for my mental health. I've been birding , and I'm currently taking a pottery class with my partner at our local community college!
Find your "resilience circle"
Visual and digital editor Beck Harlan built community in a time of isolation:
The last two years have felt particularly uncertain. That makes it hard to plan, hard to dream and hard to cope. Author Elizabeth White faced some uncertainty of her own during the Great Recession, and she has a piece of advice: don't go it alone. White found support in a "resilience circle" – essentially, "a few people that I could tell the truth to." Having those folks who'll be a sounding board and a cheer squad in your corner, can get you through a lot. It doesn't matter how you connect — Whatsapp, Marco Polo, postcards, a weekly walk — just that you DO.
From all of us to you: we're grateful for the time you've spent with us today and throughout the pandemic. We're still here.
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