Blog # 13 – The COVID-19 Paradigm — Before, Now, and After

Apr 13 · 15 min read

It’s Easter Sunday 2020. I write this with a full stomach from a take out order from a local BBQ restaurant. Ribs, beans, mashed potatoes, and creamed corn. I skipped the biscuit with the pumpkin butter. I am blessed. Outside, it’s rainy, overcast, chilly and lonely. It’s the first Easter celebration where I didn’t attend church in person (we enjoyed a wonderful service on-line), nor enjoyed a family dinner. I, unlike many, still have a job to go to tomorrow. Many don’t, as unemployment claims hit nearly seventeen (17) million in the last three (3) weeks. Unprecedented! Wait till May!

Nonetheless, the Covid 19 pandemic has forced a change in our daily routines and behavior. For a month now, the pandemic has been “real”, and every week another round of restrictions in our lives has impacted us. First it was the fear of the virus, where businesses sent employees to work remotely. Then the “shelter in place” mandates, where only “essential businesses” were allowed to be open, and others forced to shutter. Being in the affordable housing business, my company was deemed to be essential. Protocols have been established, then reestablished as the pandemic has taken its journey through America. Locking employees in their offices, with only phone or email contact, to now wearing gloves and masks inside the office and when in public.

Somebody coined the term “Social distancing” (an oxymoron) to have folks stay 6 feet apart in hopes of, wait for it….”flattening the curve” of the impact of the virus on hospitals’ critical care units. All new phrases forever in our lexicon.

It’s interesting to watch the social impact currently in play and ponder the aftereffects, when the Chinese Corona Virus runs its course through our nation and world. This paradigm shift to our “new normal” will keep pundits, historians, psychologists, and sociologists with considerable material for college social studies courses for years to come.

This pandemic has caused our world to hit the “pause” button. People are realizing what was important in early March isn’t as important in early April. The hustle and bustle of life, family, work, business, and sports, has come to a screeching halt for many.

Below I share some musings and questions from reading, discussing, and observing our world the past month or so:

Connectivity Before: Who knew that while a mere month or so ago, everyone’s concern about screen time was how many hours kids and millennials spent staring at a screen. Phone, tablet or computer screen time was the pending downfall of our social structure. People were too immersed in themselves, their email, Instagram, internet, or favorite streaming show. Everyone was into their own thing. A recurring joke was how a teenage couple would be sitting on a sofa watching a TV show and would text each other instead of talking.

Connectivity Now: Skype and Zoom are all the rage. (Wish I’d bought Zoom stock in February). These internet video chat programs have been downloaded by millions of devices in the past month. This medium has allowed business to continue, remote employees to stay connected with the home office, and to conduct meetings with clients. Schools are teaching online courses. Kids are able to see and talk to their friends and classmates. Families are zooming and playing games online more frequently, especially those members out of town.

Connectivity After Covid: Will companies allow more employees to work remotely, thus reducing their real estate footprint? Will employers be more lenient with staff that isn’t feeling well and want to work from home, so as to not spread their cold or flu or other illness to everyone in the office? Will friends and families that are local gather together more than before? Will friends and families that are geographically distant zoom more consistently?

“Since the hair salons are closed, in another three (3) weeks we’ll know the true hair color of most women” — Heather S.

Relationships Before: Our family and friends were in a relationship groove. Certain ones we talk to regularly, others we call every few months, others are an email here or there throughout the year. Some get a Christmas card once a year. Still others are weekly coffee, monthly lunches, and the like. This is fine, as friendships and relationships find their proper place and zone for both parties.

Relationships Now: Interestingly, I have received quite a few calls, texts or emails out of the blue from friends or family that bear mentioning. Someone I talk to once a year reached out to see how I was doing. He was thinking about me. Another long-time friend had started working remotely, thus slowing down his life. He emailed me, telling me how I’m appreciated as a friend, how he’d reflected on our nearly thirty (30) years of friendship, and wanting to get together in person once the Covid pandemic is over. My soccer coach from the early 1980’s, in an attempt to bring some “happiness” to the dreary world we’re all in texted several of us with a team photo. His request was simple: How many can you identify? Everyone weighed in. Then the text thread started. Stories began, collegiate ribbing restarted between former teammates, and memories were shared. Connections were reestablished with people I hadn’t seen or talked to in over 30 years. It was a great idea and he was successful in his simple act. What prompted him to do so? What is making people focus on relationships, especially long-lost relationships?

Relationships After Covid: Zoom will still stay active as an app on everyone’s device. Will people zoom friends and family more instead of texting or calling? Will friendships be more disciplined to plan time together for that monthly lunch, or quarterly dinner or weekly call? Will family gatherings be more precious?

China Trust and Dependency Before: Americans love the cheap goods and “stuff” we get from China. We loved them buying our federal debt so we can continue our lifestyles, with our country living beyond its means with borrowed money. TV’s, DVR’s, cell phones, electronics, pharmaceuticals and numerous other household products allowed America to buy lots of stuff…cheaply.

When there was the scrap some months ago by an NBA basketball coach showing support for the Hong Kong protestors, all the big corporations and NBA elite quashed the coach’s comments of support for freedom. I believe most people knew the almighty dollar eclipsed human rights, and wanted to ignore the atrocities in China. A superstar NBA player that graduated high school with a 1.7 GPA and had no college, lectured everyone with his geopolitical expertise about how great China was and pushed to have the freedom-supporting coach fired since he’d offended China. He succeeded. And kept his millions of annual revenue coming. Can’t stop the gravy train in the huge basketball-loving Chinese market.

Many overlook the human rights abuses to the million Uighurs being “re-educated” in concentration camps in the Xinjiang province. Where is the international outrage or boycotts?

Reports have come out about the Chinese front line doctors that realized the severity of this virus back in December and January have conveniently “disappeared”. No doubt for declaring the truth, which would give the Chinese Communist party a “political black eye” in the world. The Chinese cultural bent on “face saving”, particularly the communist party’s propaganda about how great it is as a political and economic system can’t afford the truth to be told. So make any reporter or doctor that tells it like it is, and offers a warning, disappear. Are they in prison? Are they dead? Who knows, and who will ever know?

And the World Health Organization (WHO) has been complicit in the Chinese version of the virus and pandemic all along. I may be labeled a conspiracy theorist, but I remember in 1994 working in the Rwanda Genocide Refugee camps, reading articles and hearing from WHO workers about how they let the Hutus and Tustsis butcher each other to the tune of nearly 1 million people to reduce the world population, particularly the African population. I didn’t discount those reports then, and I don’t trust the WHO now. But that’s just me.

China Trust and Dependency Before: Companies and people are rethinking their supply chains and dependency on having most of their products produced in China. One international company owner I know had previously moved most production to Taiwan, Vietnam and other countries so as to not have “all their eggs in one basket”. They are realizing they can’t trust China on handling a pandemic that’s impacting the globe, but also realizing how much is at risk with having their supply chain all in one country, much less a communist one. Pharmaceuticals are produced en masse in China. Now, when other countries need them, we’re held hostage, literally and figuratively. Even something like face masks have become a political bargaining chip during the Covid 19 crisis. The President is questioning the head of the WHO, trying to understand its role in letting this pandemic get out of control. He’s questioning the politicization of the organization and what the United States gets from it. I say keep asking questions.

China Trust and Dependency Now: Companies will shift production and supply chains to include other countries, thus not being so dependent on one country. Will China lose foreign investment? Will corporations, like the NBA take a good hard look in the mirror and forsake the almighty dollar or actually stand up and “offend” China for human rights abuses in Hong Kong or with the Uighurs and other political dissenters? Will other countries punish China, or even sue China for the economic and societal devastation caused by letting Covid 19 become a pandemic? Will China’s already frail economy in 2019 get crushed so much so that they get set back 20 years in their quest of world domination?

News And Media Before: The media hasn’t been trusted too much these past years as most media isn’t objective news or journalism, but rather a biased opinion supporting a political agenda.

News and Media Now: Everything is Covid this and Covid that. Every day new stories about the apocalypse happening, fingers pointing at whose fault it is and modeling of the projected curve of acute hospital visits. Every update is analyzed, parsed, refuted and spun to fit an agenda or political position. Frankly, most people are sick of numbers, recalculated models and being bombarded with graphs and statistics and “what if’s”. Furthermore, China’s reported numbers have been deemed a total crock and untrustworthy. Nobody knows what to believe and most people I know just want to be done with hearing about it. So people are doing things to help bring happiness by starting Youtube shows like Good News Channel. We’re sick of the gloom and doom news.

News and Media After Covid: Unfortunately, this pandemic has touched the very fabric of who we are, even if they found the cure tomorrow and all cases were cured in a week, the media will continue to find fault, sensationalize the virus, and politicize it through November 3rd. There’s so much material it’ll last for a long time for cable and news shows to hash and rehash. Remember there’s a presidential election coming up so don’t think Corona virus “mud” won’t be thrown all summer and fall. And beyond. And beyond further.

Family Time Before: Mom and Dad had work. Kids had school, then soccer, baseball or guitar lessons. Monday through Friday had a routine. Saturday and Sunday were for chores, errands, parties, sports, sleep overs for the kids, church, and the like. Monday, it started all over again. Vacations and weekend trips were planned and looked forward to with expectation.

In response to the March “Shelter at Home” directive: “Wait till January. There’s gonna be a lot of babies born”. HP Moray.

Family Time Now: Kids and parents are cooped up together 24/7. Often the parents are trying to work remotely, while the kids are trying to do their schoolwork remotely. There is a sign up sheet for computer time. No baseball practice or guitar lessons for the kids to go to. No friends to hang out with due to social distancing. Now, kids are encouraged to call, text and zoom their friends to stay connected. So Dad is dusting off the bikes in the garage and pumping up the tires. Families are taking walks together. They’re riding bikes together. As an avid cyclist, both road and mountain biking, I can say that in my 13 years of serious riding, I’ve never seen more families walking or riding on the trails than this past month. Couples are rekindling love and improving their relationships. Or, marriages that have been in trouble are now having the issues brought to the forefront since the couple is stuck together 24/7 for weeks on end. Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with Elaine and Puddy on the plane returning from Europe where they broke up and got together again several times on the flight home. Tough deal for sure.

Family Time After Covid: Routines will eventually return to normal. Prior schedules will be returned to. But, many families will have a new perspective on the family unit. Parental-child bonds will be stronger due to the time spent during the quarantines. Maybe Dad will leave work early to help coach his kids’ team now. Will some marriages will stay stronger after this pandemic ends? Will others end in divorce?

Church Time Before: For regular attenders, Sunday morning meant church. It was a place to meet with friends, worship God, and connect. Often, there was a small group one attended mid-week with men or women or other couples. Many were every Sunday attenders, others 3 times a month and others were C/E/O attenders (Christmas & Easter Only). Church held a vital part of our identity, social relationships, and community.

Church Time Now: Due to the “no gatherings” mandate, churches have been forced to go “on-line” with their services. Technical challenges have been overcome to make the home-bound church attenders feel connected with their congregations. Incredibly creative means with worship bands playing together online and the use of powerpoint and the like to make the online viewers feel as close to the real thing as possible. Youth groups are still meeting via zoom to keep their friendships and focus on their program and keep them in the Word. Small groups are meeting via zoom to keep their weekly Bible Studies going. Attendees huddle around their computer screens every Sunday morning to see familiar faces, hear the sermon and sing along.

“With this Covid 19 crisis, all pastors are now televangelists, whether we like it or not. That is the reality”. Pastor Colleen H-B.

Church Time After Covid: A friend and I were discussing the impact of Covid to the church in general once we are through the crisis. Say a church had 300 average weekly attendees, will there be 250 after Covid, 300 after Covid, or will more people come to church after going through this crisis? How many part-time attenders realized the importance of their weekly congregating and will commit to weekly attendance? How many current non-attenders will seek God during this crisis and want to plug in to a church? How many will realize they can “do church” from the comfort of their home or bed, with coffee and pastry nearby and still be in their pajamas and thus skip the face-to-face meeting of the faithful?

The reality of the Covid 19 virus hit home last week for me. As previously noted, I’m still working every day, busier than ever due to the extra issues this virus is causing in my industry. My routine hasn’t changed much, only except for wearing a mask, washing my hands in the sink or with alcohol gel and limiting my time out and about.

One morning I got a text message. The area code was 243. Hmmmm. That’s D.R. Congo. I checked the message and it was from a friend of mine, Danu. He and I have been friends since the mid-1970’s and was one of my dad’s students in High School. He is a pastor now in Kinshasa, population 12 million, which is the capital of D.R. Congo. The text identified Danu and asked if the text had come through. I put off responding for a few minutes, expecting an email from him. Ten minutes later my cell phone rang. It was Danu. My first questions were “Why are you calling me? Do you have any idea the cost to call on a cell phone from Congo to California?. Why not email me?” He responded “I had to call you, as I need to hear your voice”. We exchanged the usual family greetings and pleasantries that usually commence a conversation with an old friend. I realized how great it was to converse in Lingala with a dear friend. Then he got to the reason for his call. He was in Gemena, up country, and had been attending a conference. He’d left his laptop at home. The conference had been cancelled early as the main speaker had to return to the U.S. for fear of being stranded in Congo with travel bans, etc. Furthermore, the commercial airline had suspended flights, so he had no way to get home to his wife and children, six hundred (600) miles away. He said food was abundant in Gemena, but in Kinshasa, food prices had quadrupled and food in general was scarce as the Covid 19 virus scare was just starting in Congo. His family was having trouble finding food, much less able to afford to buy it. “Can you help me?” was his request. Wow. How tough for a grown man to reach out half way around the world to a friend to ask for money so his family could buy food! So, after I hung up, I emailed a friend in Kinshasa, and made arrangements to get his wife some funds to be able to buy food.

I got some real perspective that morning. Danu’s plight sunk in. We have plenty of food, beverages, utilities, and yes, even toilet paper, and want for almost nothing here in the United States. We are stuck home with internet, Netflix, a big screen TV, a full pantry and zoom. My friend’s family can barely find food and can’t afford to buy it. And if Covid kicks in full gear in that city of twelve (12) million people, with lousy medical facilities, the results will be ugly.

So while we are quarantined, we have adapted and will get through it. Our 401 (k) statements that arrived for 1Q2020 don’t look good, but that’s OK. People, community and family are more important. Remember, Danu is stuck in Gemena alone and his wife hopefully can now buy food to eat.

So when Job heard his family and businesses were completely wiped out in Job 1, verses 20 & 21:

“At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

I’m a strong believer that there is a spiritual purpose behind everything that happens, whether that is what we perceive as being good or being bad, or to teach us a lesson. What is the Corona/ Covid-19 virus really doing to us?

Someone sent some thoughts about this crisis and with some edits, it sums up many of my reflections about this virus’ impact on our lives:

1) It is reminding us that we are all equal, regardless of our culture, religion, occupation, financial situation or how famous we are. This disease treats us all equally, perhaps we should too.

2) It is reminding us that we are all connected and something that affects one person has an effect on another. It is reminding us that the false borders that we have put up have little value as this virus does not need a passport. It is reminding us, by oppressing us for a short time, of those in this world whose whole life is spent in oppression.

3) It is reminding us of how precious our health is. And our freedom of mobility and association.

4) It is reminding us of the shortness of life and of what is most important for us to do, which is to help each other, especially those who are old or sick. Our purpose is not to buy toilet rolls.

5) It is reminding us of how materialistic our society has become and how, when in times of difficulty, we remember that it’s the essentials that we need (food, water, medicine) as opposed to the luxuries that we sometimes unnecessarily give value to.

6) It is reminding us of how important our family and home life is and how much we have neglected this. It is forcing us back into our houses so we can rebuild them into our home and to strengthen our family unit.

7) It is reminding us that our true work is not our job, that is what we do, not what we were created to do. Our true work is to look after each other, to protect each other and to be of benefit to one another.

8 ) It is reminding us to keep our egos in check. It is reminding us that no matter how great we think we are or how great others think we are, a virus can bring our world to a standstill. God is in control, not man.

9) It is reminding us that the power of freewill is in our hands. We can choose to cooperate and help each other, to share, to give, to help and to support each other or we can choose to be selfish, to hoard, to look after only ourselves. Indeed, it is difficulties that bring out our true colors.

10) It is reminding us that we can be patient, or we can panic. We can either understand that this type of situation has happened many times before in history and will pass, or we can panic and see it as the end of the world and, consequently, cause ourselves more harm than good.

11) It is reminding us that this can either be an end or a new beginning. This can be a time of reflection and understanding, or it can be the start of a cycle which will continue until we finally understand the perspectives we are meant to learn.

12) Whereas many see the Corona/ Covid-19 virus as a great disaster, I prefer to see it as a “great corrector”, creating a better perspective of our life’s purpose.

These points are to remind us of the important lessons that we seem to have forgotten and it is up to us if we take heed.

I will calendar next Easter Sunday, 2021 to write a sequel to these observations and questions, as they are being made in the moment of this pandemic. I didn’t want to prognosticate, but rather reflect on a few things, and throw out possibilities for consideration of what may play out. I’m looking forward to finding out the answers to the many questions posed and how our social constructs change by next Easter. Mean time — wash your hands, stay six feet away, be patient, help those that need help, and trust God to get us all through this. He is in control.

Congo Kid — Article # 13 — April, 2020

 

Copyright © 2020 by Jeffrey W. Eales. All rights reserved. No portions may be reproduced or transmitted in any format without the prior written permission of the author.