Over the course of human history, pandemics have repeatedly knocked civilization back on its heels. Many thought they were ancient history. Now we find ourselves amid a pandemic in our own time. Life everywhere has changed. After months of restrictions, countries and states have eased their stay-at-home orders, and we head into a more open but still dangerous and uncertain period. Will we see a gradual return to normalcy or phase two of the coronavirus pandemic?
While we deal with that, I find myself contemplating the long-term effects of the pandemic. I wonder: Will our newfound reliance on experts in biomedicine and public health usher in a new era of respect for science, in the way the end of World War II and then Sputnik initiated a new era of respect for physicists and engineers? Will virologists and infectious disease experts join health care workers as our new heroes? Will the welcome refrain, “We will be guided by the science” gain more than a temporary foothold in culture? There are hopeful signs. But there have been equal signs that we may revert back into the same old patterns of self-interest, tribalism, and partisanship that have divided us for far too long. We’ll watch all that with great interest.
One national columnist opined at length on how science isn’t the end-all be-all and how science can’t make policy. That’s true, but science can—and should — guide policy. What he failed to point out is the danger of pseudoscience and misinformation guiding policy. That is a real peril.