Pondering the Pandemic

So far, the COVID-19 pandemic has had little impact on my daily routine. I’ve worked from home for years, and my day job continues unchanged, as does my work as a freelance editor. I’m preparing a journal article for publication, and the journal contacted me three times in the past two weeks to remind me that the deadline for requested reference formattings had not changed.

Social media is full of suggestions for things I can do at home or online. I’m happy not to have the time to take advantage of these. I’ve had precarious employment often enough to be grateful for good work at any time, and especially now. I spend most of the day in my room, at my computer, as usual. The only thing I miss is almost daily trips to a food court or coffee shop for dedicated creative writing time, but I’d been trying to reduce that anyway (the going out, not the writing).

Movies about a disease sweeping through the population feature cinematic demises – people stricken and collapsing in the street. Science-fiction stories promise mass chaos and/or orgies. Instead, we have a disease that spreads silently, appears at first not much different than a cold, and results in people dying in hospitals. People are staying at home, largely following public health department guidelines when venturing out, and generally aware that mass activities of any kind are a bad idea. It’s easy to underestimate how serious this is.

It will be weeks or months before we know the full extent of this disease, but preventive steps are necessary now. Hopefully the steps taken and preparations are sufficient that governments are accused of over-reacting, though thousands have already died, and the numbers may be under-reporting. As for the long-term impact, some are predicting a return to business as usual, while others are suggesting we may see permanent changes in how governments and society operate. My guess is that this will be like the oil price hikes in the early 1970s. At first, there will be support for better public and social health, just as there was a interest in reducing energy use in the 1970s. And after a decade, people will have forgotten what they were concerned about, and vote for anyone who promises lowers taxes and fewer regulations.

Meanwhile, since current events have dated my contemporary romance work-in-progress, I may have to give a specific date setting of a few years ago, to make clear it describes life before COVID-19. How can I think of writing at a time like this? It’s not easy, but the world still needs positive stories – and writing gives me something do beside read the news and worry.