The Silver Lining of a Pandemic?

It is hard to overestimate the adverse effects that the current COVID 19 pandemic has produced in our lives. The most striking effect, of course, is the illness and death that the SARS CoV2 virus has caused. As I write this the toll has been enormous: over eleven million infected and nearly 250,000 dead in the United States alone. The economy has been devastated throughout the world, small businesses being among the hardest hit. In many cases the work and accomplishments of a lifetime have been lost. Children have not escaped the consequences of the pandemic; although an acute symptomatic illness is infrequent, the long-term effects of being COVID positive remain uncertain. Perhaps even more importantly, the aftermath of having their education disrupted, including aspects of social interaction, will likely not be clearly known for years to come. The shelter-at-home and societal lockdowns, along with masking and social distancing, have permeated virtually every facet of daily life.

It has also often been pointed out that a more subtle, but equally terrible, consequence of the COVID pandemic is the psychological burden that it imposes. I must confess that I have experienced an intangible psychological burden myself. This effect has been likened to a situation in which an assassin was commissioned to take someone’s life. The person would not know by whom, or where, or when they would be struck. But the sense of potential danger lurking at all times and in all places would pervade every waking minute and every activity that was undertaken. In addition, the economic worry caused by the pandemic has placed an additional stress on daily life. The net effect of this psychological burden has been a purported increase in the incidence of alcoholism, illicit drug use, and even suicide since the onset of the epidemic.

The foregoing adverse effects of COVID 19 are well known and have been experienced by almost everyone. They really don’t need repeating. However, in a slightly different vein, the pandemic has provided the substrate for a number of positive things. So with tongue firmly in cheek, I thought I would share some of the beneficial effects that COVID 19 has imposed upon me.

The onset of COVID 19 resulted in the termination of travel, which had occupied much of my time previously. In addition, to avoid transmission of the virus, the order went out to work at home whenever possible. This policy especially applied to me because I had all the risk factors identified for the “vulnerable population”, including age, lung disease etc. Therefore, as a result of COVID, I suddenly found myself at my home office with a hitherto unavailable amount of discretionary time. This was the basis of the silver lining of COVID.

As I suspect is true of many investigators, especially those who work with fellows and junior faculty, there were a number of manuscripts in a pile on my desk waiting to be finalized. Actually, there were two piles; one said “urgent” and the other said “used to be urgent”. There just never seemed to be enough time to get to them. With the advent of COVID, that time was now available. One by one I met with co-investigators and we hammered out the final version and submitted the papers. There was, of course, the satisfaction of completing work and (hopefully) making a contribution to the literature. Even more satisfying was the gratitude of my junior associates. At this stage of my career my happiest moments are those I share with younger colleagues upon receiving a letter of acceptance to publish one of their manuscripts. As the advertising slogan goes, it doesn’t get any better than that.

My wife and I have lived in the same house for over 28 years. Over that time we have accumulated an enormous amount of “stuff”, things that we don’t use and just create clutter. In fact, we have boxes that have remained unopened from our last home in Kentucky. The spectrum of stuff is extraordinarily broad. So I have taken the opportunity of the discretionary time to start to get rid of some of the stuff we never use. While the uncluttering and organization of the house was fulfilling in and of itself, an unexpected benefit was uncovering photos and paraphernalia from the past that provoked some really good reminiscing.

I would be remiss if I did not confess that one of the areas of our house that was most in need of cleaning and organizing was my office. For years I have put material of uncertain but possible value in drawers, under my desk, in the closet, and finally just in a pile or two on the floor. The time at home gave me the opportunity to finally get my office in order. I considered that this was part of working at home, since I would be much more productive with a neat desk and office. As was true of house cleaning, it took longer to do this than I expected since I would uncover items that triggered some (usually) pleasant memories.

Perhaps the greatest silver lining of the COVID epidemic has been a general increase in quality of life. For years my wife has chastised me for “not stopping to smell the roses”. Life was mostly going from one deadline to the other. Early to work and late to return home; pack for one trip having recently unpacked from another. When our hospital clinics and elective procedures were shut down, and shelter at home was ordered, I finally had time to smell the roses. I am home most afternoons for sunset, which is just spectacular from our deck. I have dinner with my wife almost every night, and we have really enjoyed spending leisurely time together. We sometimes have a glass of wine before dinner from some of the excellent bottles that I have been gifted over the years and placed in the cellar to drink at some other time. I talk to my children and grandchildren on the phone much more frequently and longer than in the past. In many respects my life during COVID 19 has thus far been much better than it was before.

There can be no denying that COVID is a scourge that is responsible for great pain and suffering. This has been repeatedly documented in the media, and certainly requires no additional comment. However, in dealing with this pandemic, a number of changes have occurred in my life which have had a favorable effect. Additionally, in talking to friends and colleagues they have told me of similar experiences. Clearly, no degree of benefit could outweigh the negative aspects of the disease. But the opportunities imposed have made these very difficult times more tolerable. As the saying goes, every dark cloud has a silver lining.