We need to question our resilience and resolve to make the pandemic a time of learning

What is it about human nature that we refuse to face reality? Why is it, even when the evidence is screaming at us that we need to change or that danger is imminent, we refuse to act accordingly?

The reality of Covid’s existence and deathly potential is again dominating the headlines as if this is all something new, a big surprise. Many thought the drama was over. But infections are up, hospitalizations are up, and — thankfully, proportionally — ICU visits and deaths are down ... for now. We were warned that the vaccines are imperfect. They may be even more imperfect than we know now as the Covid vaccines’ biggest clinical trial on earth is, relatively speaking, still in its early phase. The unvaccinated were also warned that if they contracted Covid, the consequences could be dire.

Yet, we do not heed warnings. We live under the illusion that reality will not come knocking at our door. We forget that reality is indiscriminate and ignores any of our personal charms.

Thanks to the rapid creation of vaccines, we received a respite, an opportunity to reorient the world of Covid and the creation of a new normality. But that was not good enough. We want a return to the old normal, where we don’t wear masks, where we ignore the idea of social distancing, and where we engage frequently and at length with groups and crowds. We cannot wait to be back to busy nightclubs, restaurants and bars where both the vaccinated and unvaccinated commingle, breathing intimately over one another.

We justify our compulsions by saying humans are social animals. Isolation and lack of communal gatherings do us emotional and psychological harm. And we insist that our children are deeply disturbed when they are not socialized with others. But is that true? How do we explain the myriad people who suddenly revel in being at home, in isolation, away from all this gathering and grouping? And what about those who refuse to go back to their traditional workplaces, and who are ready to strike out alone? How did the children cope during the duration of the six years of the second World War, when for weeks on end they had to hide, were shipped off to the countryside, or spent days in air raid shelters?

This is the thing about new realities: They hold up the mirror. They magnify systemic weaknesses. And what we saw with Covid is that few countries, if any, were prepared, despite many warnings. Virologists have been predicting another pandemic since the turn of the century.

One outspoken virologist, Dr. Robert Webster at St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., has been sounding the alarm for nearly three decades. A consultant to the World Health Organization, Dr. Webster has stressed the importance of shutting down the Asian wet markets where birds of all kinds spread avian flu. He believes that the current pandemic has its roots in those markets.

He also stresses that this pandemic is not the big one. He fears that a really big one is on the way where possibly millions of people may lose their lives. The question for us is whether we are taking this warning seriously or whether, like with our current rather cavalier attitude to Covid-19, we are going to shrug this off and believe, or hope, it will not happen.

It is time to slow down and rethink our behaviors. If we all took this pandemic as seriously as we should, we would not rush back to creating the old normal. We would realize and act on the reality that we need to create a new normal, and that we need to do this judiciously, with the help of science and with a genuine concern of building a healthy community.

We need to question our own resilience and our own resolve to make the Covid experience a time of learning rather than one of denial or contest. This pandemic is not over, but our prudent actions can limit its negative effects and help us be prepared for that next big one — when it comes.

Annabel Beerel, author of “Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories” (2021), can be reached through annabelbeerel.com.