May 13, 2024 Post-Pandemic Reflections

Post-Pandemic Reflections

May 13, 2024

Greetings! If you are a regular reader of my Covid newsletter, then I trust you are fully vaccinated and safe. And if you thought twice about opening this letter - my first one in nearly three months - then I don’t blame you. Who wants to be reminded of the pain, fear and loss which accompanied the worst tragedy to afflict the planet since the end of World War II? I don’t want to do that to you.

Indeed, it is a testament to human resilience that we have put the global Covid pandemic behind us and moved on with our lives. According to official data, over 7 million people died from Covid during the pandemic and 17.4% of the confirmed deaths were residents of the United States (relevant fact alert: only 4% of the world’s population lives in the U.S.). Despite the horrifying death rate, it is important to keep in mind that more than 100 times that number have recovered from Covid throughout the world. We have the miraculous development and distribution of the mRNA vaccines to thank for avoiding a far greater catastrophe. 

One of the lasting legacies of the pandemic has been greater adoption of digital technologies. As the crisis recedes, it has become apparent that digitization, as measured by the share of workers using a computer connected to the internet, has been a silver lining across many economies. According to a study conducted by the International Monetary Fund, the “productivity gap” between less advanced and more advanced economies has narrowed since the end of the pandemic due to greater availability of digitization. The same is true when comparing smaller companies to larger ones due to more universal access to digitization.

We see this phenomenon at work in the recently booming U.S. economy. Economists have been surprised that the inflation rate has dropped to nearly 2% at the same time that the unemployment rate has enjoyed a record 27 months below 4%. Greater productivity resulting from improvements in technology, including artificial intelligence, have played an important role in the U.S. economy. This could be a residual after-effect of the pandemic.

Even the Earth’s climate has been transformed by the pandemic. According to NASA, the resulting limitations on travel and other economic sectors around the globe drastically decreased air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions within just a few weeks, giving scientists an unprecedented view of results that would have taken regulations years to achieve.

The Covid pandemic clearly has had a transformational effect on my own life. The opportunity to communicate with you, and to hear from you, has been a uniquely gratifying experience for me. When I retired from my law practice a few years ago, I had no idea that a global pandemic lay just around the corner. When I became frustrated with coverage of the pandemic in Alabama by traditional media sources, I said so. Then, I began to express my thoughts in more constructive ways based on limited data available to me. Before long, I realized I filled a vacuum that others felt. 

They say that attorneys never retire. They simply evolve. I suppose that has happened to me. When I was invited to speak to an organization of media professionals in late 2022, I reflected on what it meant to be a “citizen journalist” in the pandemic era and the text of my talk can be found here: 

I recently wrote about another lawyer-citizen journalist from a century ago. He spoke truth to power at a time and in a manner that also brought solace to others who heard his voice. His name was Charles J. Zukoski, Jr. He was a successful banker and the first mayor of my home town of Mountain Brook, Alabama from 1942 to 1955. A man of uncommon integrity and vision, Mayor Zukoski was way ahead of his times, especially on the issue of racial inequality. In later life he and his wife Bernadine were committed advocates for reproductive health and Planned Parenthood. A link to my article can be found here:  

In the future, I don’t expect to be writing much about Covid, especially since it is now so difficult to obtain timely data. I will, however, write about other matters of historical and contemporary significance that appeal to me. I hope you will join me on this journey of discovery. Stay well.