While my friends and family tend to think I am a rational, scientific mind who is typically (harshly) realistic, I do tend to lean on the more positive and wishful side during times of crisis. With almost 1.5 million COVID-19 cases in the US, just about 90,000 related deaths, about 30 million Americans who are unemployed, political divisiveness, and what seems to be no end in sight to this pandemic, I understand it can be hard to look for a silver-lining. However, something I always say is that the sun is always shining behind the worst of storms, and this is no exception. There are some positive news shows, like Some Good News with John Krasinski, highlighting the good in the world which we desperately need right now. But there is so much more that could change for the better as a result of this pandemic.

The first upside to this pandemic is our absence from the natural world. Pollution was the first thing to dissipate over time as a result of the lockdown. Places with the highest concentration of smog and pollution (nitrogen dioxide [NO2]) like China, the UK, and NYC, had reductions in NO2 of up to 60% per NASA observations. LA, India, China, and Japan all had clear skies, free from smog with sights such as Mount Fuji and the Himalayan peaks which were once hidden, now clearly visible. Our absence from the natural world has proven our detrimental effects on the environment, such as climate change. Animals have started showing up in places where they haven’t been seen in decades, if not, centuries. The waters of the Venice canals are clear enough where dolphins and jellyfish are starting to swim. Leatherback turtle hatchlings are in the largest numbers seen in decades. Lebanese farmers have made notes of new bird species they’ve never seen before. Bioluminescence has become a common phenomenon at beaches around the world for the first time in decades. It’s clear our impact on the natural world has not been a good one as evidenced by these recent wonders. The earth is healing and showing what we can do to help it heal further. This may be the impetus we need as a society to really push for alternate, clean energy/fuel sources as well as modify our modes of transportation that are less impactful on the planet. Maybe climate change will be taken seriously from this point forward. A lesson to be learned.

Something we have greatly taken for granted is the time we spend with our family and friends. During this lockdown globally, we have had to isolate ourselves from those we love and care about most in this world. For some, households are full of families and friends however for others, like myself, it can be isolating and lonely when you live alone. Gone are the days of taking time spent with my family and friends for granted as I’m antsy to go for a Sunday family dinner or grab drinks with my closest friends and see their new babies. Life was always “too busy” and things felt rushed or as though life was flying by each us. I know for me personally, when the world starts to turn again, I will cherish every waking moment with those I love more than I already have in the past. I like to think of myself as someone who appreciates the simplest and little things in life. A walk through the city on a sunny day, birds chirping, a well made meal/cocktail, or just a good laugh with friends and family. I’ve always appreciated those things, truly, but now, I will savor every second of those moments from here on out. It is, and was, very commonplace before the pandemic for families to not eat together. This has been studied extensively and I firmly believe it is one of the most important things a family can do for mental health and social dynamics. As I said before, life was always “too busy.” No one slowed down to appreciate what was most important in life; the people and moments which birth the happiest of our memories. This lockdown has forced families under the same roof to spend time with one another, play games together, and spend time doing things they never had time to do. We finally were forced to stop, take a deep breath, and take note of the life we’re living, not letting it pass us by without notice.

Jobs, jobs, jobs. This is one of the most important concerns of this pandemic outside of public health. Unemployment is reaching Great Depression level numbers and this is worrying. Many people are now working from home and kids are being homeschooled. For those working at home, it has eliminated commutes and associated costs and stress, increased productivity for most people, and created a new dynamic for their job. Many companies have already decided not to open their physical offices (Facebook, Google, etc) until 2021 and some companies will permanently close a lot of their physical office spaces so that their employees can continue to work from home. This would help reduce a lot of stress, improve job satisfaction, increase productivity, and save companies millions of dollars to be used for other more purposeful spending and potentially translate to consumer savings. It’s unclear if this would eliminate more jobs or create new opportunities but I’d like to think positively. Companies such as Google can now hire people from remote areas which may never had had an opportunity to use their talents at such a high profile company. A talented coder or web designer could be hired from Kentucky, Zimbabwe, or Iceland. As a result of this, people won’t need to make life-disrupting decisions to move to large cities where the cost of living is astronomically limiting their quality of life. For those without training or degrees, simple data entry jobs or other tasks that don’t require formal training could be employed which could offer training to elevate that person’s education and provide new, exciting opportunities for them. Traffic which was on the rise and crippling for cities like LA, Atlanta, and Boston prior to the pandemic could see a dramatic decrease in cars on the road. Also, people will be able to spend more time with their families instead of commuting. Obviously these are broad generalizations and wishful thinking but a possible reality in the future as a result of this pandemic. Jobs we once thought were impossible to perform from home, are now possible. Work-life balance could actually occur for the first time in decades.

This brings me to my next point. This pandemic has shown who in society performs essential jobs to keep the world spinning even in the most dire of moments: healthcare workers, grocery store employees, municipal workers, first responders, scientists and researchers, mechanics, truck drivers, postal service workers, and the list goes on. Many of these are jobs underpaid, overworked, and under appreciated. While I can only speak for nursing, I can wholeheartedly support this notion. Sadly many people have made the comment to me that “it’s our job” as nurses and medical professionals and we “signed up for this.” Yes that is true, we are typically the first to sacrifice everything for others, however with little protection and limited support, we definitely did not sign up for that. Maybe this will be the nudge the government and associated employers will need to raise minimum wage and improve pay structures/benefits for those essential employees who have proven their worth during the pandemic.

Another upside to this pandemic which relates to me and my role is that the healthcare industry will need to change for the better. Our current system is set up so that we as providers get paid only when you come into the office to be seen. No we are not paid by “big Pharma” for writing prescriptions or ordering tests. As a result of this we need to see a lot of patients every day to make payroll, pay for office supplies, keep the lights on, and put food on our tables. This then translates for you, as the patient, having to come in for every little thing. Ever get frustrated to have to come back into the primary care office just to get your cholesterol results? Well that’s because our crooked healthcare system forces us to have to see you in the office for stuff like that. Also, because we get paid less, we have to see more people per hour than ever before; meaning, you only get 10-15 minute visits with your provider. Trust me, we hate this. We want to spend an hour with you, explaining your health, teaching you about your treatments, and discussing test results. It would result in better outcomes and presumably prevent a lot of diseases which are easily managed with diet and lifestyle that only require education that we don’t have time to provide. With the pandemic, the government and health insurance companies are now paying your primary care providers and specialists for Telehealth visits. This is unheard of in medicine. Every time we call you and spend time explaining things over the phone or talking with you, it is not recognized by insurance companies (until now to some degree). Because of the pandemic and lockdown, we are also seeing the importance of geriatricians, pediatricians, and primary care providers. In medicine, we are typically the lowest payed specialties compared to orthopedic surgeons, cardiologists, or others (by a LARGE amount) however we are able to manage most conditions that your specialists are unable to see you for while the pandemic has limited their ability to treat/evaluate you. I am certainly able to treat a patient’s emphysema or heart failure despite their cardiologist or their pulmonologist not able to see them (this is typically why I only refer if absolutely necessary to help lower healthcare costs and burden to my patients). In addition to primary care providers, behavioral health specialists such as licensed social workers or clinical psychologists are under appreciated and underpaid, now more than ever. As a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic, medicine is evolving and the priorities are becoming quite clear. We need to focus on mental health, comprehensive preventive care, and eliminating health disparities among certain socioeconomic and ethnic groups. It’s times like these that our society’s shortcomings get brought into light.

Last but not least, our awareness of infection control should change for the better. This is a hot button issue right now because many people see it as us overreacting to a measly “cold virus” (very untrue) or there are those which are hyper vigilant about this. I am talking about how shaking hands should be a thing of the past, covering our coughs and sneezes should be a given etiquette, and washing your hands frequently and keeping common surfaces disinfected should be a priority. This would cut down on the number of pneumonia, influenza, bronchitis, and common cold cases seen in millions of people across the globe each year just by doing these simple infection control measures. I’m not saying we all live in a bubble but take our current awareness towards infection and apply it to every day life. I am the type of person who rarely if ever gets sick, not even a sniffle. However I have had a patient cough or sneeze in my mouth while examining them and ended up contracting a viral bronchitis or common head cold. If people took the appropriate measures, things like that would not occur. And that’s just me, a healthy young adult with a perfectly normal immune system. This would cut down on hospitalizations and deaths of countless people who are more prone to these infections and their associated complications. Wash your hands, sneeze/cough into you inner elbow, and practice general infection control measures. Maybe people will actually listen to those in medicine and finally accept the science behind vaccines.

While these are not the only “upsides” to the current pandemic and the legacy it may leave behind, I wanted to bring a sense of positivity and wishful thinking. Things are hard right now for millions of people across the world, especially in the US. No one knows what the world will look like in the future as a result of this. We feel things will never be the same…and that may be true. What I always say is that everything in life is a choice. You may not be able to change or choose something that happens to you, however, you always have the choice in how you react to it. There are healthy people who hate the world and there are terminally ill individuals who have the most incredible and positive outlooks on life despite their bleak situation. So choose to be positive. Choose to see the upside. Choose kindness and compassion. Choose to believe science and evidenced based truth. I choose to continue pushing forward to see the light at the end of the tunnel which may not be the same but its a light nonetheless. Will you?