Lessons from the Pandemic by Angela Rieck

I made the mistake of going to the grocery store early in the pandemic. Normally, the supermarket would have been pretty empty, and I would have gotten in and out very quickly. But not that night. The lines reached out to the aisles and what were people buying? Toilet paper, antibiotic wipes and water. 

Okay, I got the purchase of wipes. This was the only store in the area with them, so every cart had the maximum of four. (Some tried to cheat the system by getting four of each scent, seriously. The pandemic did not bring out the best in some of us.) 

It appears that the first thing to be negatively impacted by the outbreak was the environment. Starting with bottled water. That night, each shopping cart had cases of bottled water. It made sense in a weather event, but not in a pandemic. Ninety nine percent of the US population has access to running water. When I asked why they were purchasing water, they looked at me like I was crazy. 

This virus did not impact the use of toilet paper, yet every cart contained it. Why? For starters, American’s use 50% more toilet paper than any other country. While all the shopping carts contained toilet paper, water and wipes, few contained food. If I had been quarantined at home for a week or so, I would have needed food before I needed water or toilet paper (which has, to my knowledge, no nutritional value). 

Science did save us. In a remarkable circumstance, a new technology was used to create vaccines in months rather than years. Despite some serious hiccups, a life saving vaccine was available to all within less than a year. Dedicated doctors and scientists worked tirelessly to develop an effective treatment for an alien virus. Health care professionals risked their lives to care for the sick and became the true heroes of the disease. They put their lives on the line everyday to care for the sick. Other heroes, our teachers found a way to teach in the most difficult of circumstances. Our hero industries were those that kept our infrastructure intact. These companies continued to operate to ensure that we had enough food and supplies to survive during our isolation. The workers who had to be there and risked exposure, were there for us.

We learned that we could adapt to a contactless world. New words are in our lexicon, like Zoom. Young people whose important events (graduation, college, marriage) were eliminated by the pandemic, came up with creative ways to celebrate and study. 

Where possible, work and life became virtual. This is a trend that continues to this day. Many workers are virtual now for some days in their workweek. I attend a regular virtual meeting that used to be in person. I am able to socialize with close friends every week virtually playing a game that became popular during the pandemic.

On the negative side we learned that social media can be deadly. During the swine flu and polio epidemics, people lined up to get their vaccines for the good the community and their selves. But false information from social media created doubt and suspicion about the new vaccine. People sold false cures, bogus medications, and some followers subjected themselves to dangerous treatments instead of medically tested ones. 

The ugly side of some people came out, as they hoarded medications and paper products; so there wasn’t enough for the community.

But we have we have recovered, a testament to human resilience…yet, things are a little different. I still wear a mask in airports and places where there are large groups of people. I enjoy my virtual connections with friends and colleagues. 

But the one thing that I have learned is that in a pandemic, we may lose our common sense and our sense of security, but we will not give up our toilet paper.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.