Lessons learned: The questions to ask after Covid-19

Though the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over, countries around the world are beginning to consider steps to ease their lockdown restrictions. With a return to some form of normality in sight, now may be the best time to look at the lessons we should have learned from this crisis.

Covid-19 has exposed our political leaders on grand stages, highlighting their aptitude, vulnerabilities, ineptitudes - not to mention idiocy - on many levels. In the UK at least, it has also exposed our societal weaknesses; our lack of good quality social care and a devaluing of the NHS which has lasted near to a decade. But lessons can be learned from this crisis, if we ask the right questions now.

Going forward, will we be able to anticipate health inequalities? And if so, will we consider how the marginalised, the elderly and young, or those in BAME communities might be most at risk? If so, will we adequately support those communities, through better social care, improved standards of living, and equal access to educational and economic opportunities?

Will we stop apportioning blame where it is not needed? Take the parallel of HIV and how blame was apportioned to the LGBT+ community, then compare it to the rise in racism towards those in Asian communities during Covid-19. Do we need to consider that if this was a Western born virus, political leaders in the UK and the US for instance, might have taken it more seriously from the start?

Will we look to the future and anticipate other health disasters? Another pandemic is a statistical probability, but the threat of antimicrobial resistance is ever looming, and right now, many health systems across the world may not have the capacity and resources to cope.

The life sciences industry can help, and collaboration across sectors has been something of a heartening sight during this pandemic, as companies small and large have announced plans to help tackle Covid-19. But a lack of manufacturing capacity for vaccines; a failure to procure enough testing kits; and a vital mismanagement of PPE, are all areas that require considerable action on the part of our governments.

Lastly, will we remove our nationalistic sensibilities and truly co-operate with other global political parties, in order to do the best for the health of our country’s citizens. The UK’s decision not to partake in the EU’s ventilator scheme screams out from the annals of Brexit discourse, playing into a nationalist fantasy that we can do this without the help of others. To some, such actions are noble. To most they are foolhardy and dangerous.

Now is the time to learn from our mistakes.