The Coronavirus Pandemic: A Condition of History in Living Memory

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Lisa Saye
April 5, 2020

 StaySafe2020. Photo and Photo Title by Lisa Saye

The borderless and rapid spread of the world’s most recent viral menace has shifted the very ground we walk on. Schools are closed, businesses are emptied, parks are vacant, homes are shuttered, supplies are gone and hospitals are at capacity. Coronavirus (COVID-19) is everywhere and at last count it was in over 190 countries and territories. Media is saturated with reports, updates, opinions, theories and guesses. We are shielding indoors, social distancing and debating about the usual inequities in the system. Large metropolitan areas have become simultaneous epicenters of coronavirus and the many arguments over personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators places leadership in danger of losing everyone’s sympathy and support.

The national mood in the United States is a combination of anxiety, fear, confusion and hope. That mood is mirrored around the globe. Our minute-by-minute data on the virus comes directly from the front lines as nurses, doctors, mayors, governors, police, firemen and others encourage us to shelter-in-place. Some of us do, some of us don’t. In my December 2019 PA Times column entitled, Public Service – Our Immediate Vocation, I mentioned that public service as a vocation becomes real in a place where fragility is visual, structural and breathtaking. Because of this virus, that place of fragility has become the entire world and public servants are the critical infrastructure working to deliver good public service and solve the problems that no one has seen before.

Our civilization is changing right before our eyes. Each time we open our eyes, our traditional schedules are shredded.  New normals, new protocols and new life-skills are being built and older systems of family, consumerism and entertainment are being revisited. And, our hands have never been cleaner.

In my February 2, 2020 column for PA Times entitled, “Public Servants –Critical Infrastructure for the Journey Ahead,” I wrote that public servants are the Critical Infrastructure for public service delivery, irrespective of our government level or where we serve on the world map. And how significant have these words become in this crisis environment. As our lives have become reordered and new, public servants have been working longer, they have been working harder and they have been working unselfishly.

A Climate of History: Our Role in the Conclusion

Once upon a time, grocery stores had lots of hand-sanitizer and bleach, schools and universities were open, traffic was a nightmare, airplanes flew around the globe, the Dow Jones was near 30,000 and friends and family visited often. In those days, people went to work, ate at restaurants, walked their dog and jogged in the park. That was how it was in the good-old days or about three to four weeks ago. The COVID-19 virus has written, for all of us, a new chapter and verse on how to live as it erases the order of yesterday. It has introduced a notion of togetherness that technology had convinced us to abandon. We have never been closer as we struggle to stay apart. We now want what we currently cannot have – we want each other’s company.  

It has been left to our public servants to act as a wedge between us and us. They separate us in a line at the bank, the supermarket and when we pay our property taxes. COVID-19 wants us to be together because togetherness is the bridge that it uses to infect, to injure and to kill. Since learning the virus’ mode of transmission, we have come to understand our role in its conclusion. Everyone, the world over, must be diligent in maintaining distance when ill and in maintaining distance if you suspect you may become ill. We have got to stay inside, bored or not. We have got to wipe and wipe and wash and wash and keep our environments healthy. We have to remind each other when one of us forgets and we have to encourage each other to stay the course when days become weeks.

I don’t think that this situation is hopeless. I am encouraged when I read about the sacrifices made by our fearless first responders and when I hear the remarkable stories of patient recovery. On March 27, 2020, a 101-year old man in Rimini, Italy, who survived the 1918-1919 Flu Pandemic, was released from the hospital after surviving COVID-19. What he and others of the same age or a decade or so younger hold is a living memory of what the end of a pandemic looks like. We will see the end of this pandemic and our living memory will inspire us to change what we need to change, to thank those who pulled us through and to run full speed into our future.

StaySafe2020 Image.  Photo and Photo Title by Lisa Saye.

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Author: Lisa Saye teaches Applied Research Methods for the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at DePaul University. Saye served as Fulbright Specialist in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and as International Consultant for the United Nations Development Program in The Maldives. On July 9, 2019, Dr. Saye delivered the Pre-Departure Orientation Keynote Address at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois for Fulbrighters leaving for Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Saye earned her Master’s in Human Resource Management at Troy University and her Doctorate in Public Administration at The University of Alabama. She can be reached by email at [email protected].

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