The sights you'll see on a neighborhood walk: A west-side homeowner dresses up a lawn ornament with protective gear.
The coronavirus is causing a lot of pain. As of this writing Wisconsin has had 5,911 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 272 deaths. If the shutdown goes on into the summer, one in three Wisconsin businesses could close permanently. The state estimates that more than one out of four workers has been thrown into unemployment and that doesn’t count all those taking pay cuts.
So, any talk of positive stuff coming out of all this has to be leavened with an acknowledgement that this whole thing is a disaster for the people directly affected by the disease, for the health care workers and first responders who have to treat it, and for all the workers and business owners who are losing their livelihoods. Even if everything could come roaring back tomorrow — and it won’t and shouldn’t — the impacts would reverberate for years to come.
Still, there are some good things happening that are worth noting. The most obvious were reported last week as part of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Because people are driving and flying much less, the air is much cleaner and greenhouse gas emissions are down. Wildlife is showing up in places you wouldn’t expect. It’s amazing to see how quickly nature moves back in when given a chance. It all gives a person hope that we can fix some of our most serious environmental challenges and, since millions of people are now experiencing a cleaner environment, it could well produce a big worldwide renaissance in support of stronger environmental policies.
There has also been a recognition of the important work done by occupations that tend to get taken for granted. First responders and health care workers are doing heroic deeds more than usual, but I’m thinking of people who work in grocery stores, deliver packages and clean buildings. There are plenty of prime time television shows about cops, firefighters and doctors, but shelf stockers, delivery people and janitors, not so much. It would be a good thing if the value of low-paid work was recognized more when all this is over and the pay was no longer so low.
In Steven Pinker’s excellent (if horribly titled) recent book, Enlightenment Now, he notes that major wars, disasters and pandemics have usually been followed by great levelings where we recognize the need to strengthen social safety nets. Even congressional Republicans didn’t blink at trillion-dollar aid packages in response to this pandemic. Let’s hope that trend continues.
In addition to the big trends that could come from all of this, there are a lot of small kindnesses going on. I’ve noticed neighbors bringing chairs to their front lawns just to catch conversations with people walking by, people are making an extra effort to buy local, people are checking in on neighbors to see if they need anything, and the neighborhood listservs are filled with ideas for activities for kids stuck at home.
COVID-19 has caused a lot of damage. Nobody would have wanted it to happen. But if all this results in a renewed concern for a clean environment, a movement for a stronger social safety net, and stronger neighborhoods and communities then there will have been at least some upside, even to plague.
