Is the pandemic really over?

Almost every day, I read, hear or see someone talking about how the Pandemic is over and normal life is resuming. And almost every day I learn of entire families falling sick with COVID, appointments being cancelled because of sickness, or people not being well enough after COVID to resume anything resembling their normal lives. I hear that masks are no longer required at hospitals, which are filled with extremely ill and clinically vulnerable people. The cognitive dissonance can be overwhelming at times.

The other day, someone brightly said on the radio that we were in a Pandemic and now we’re in an Endemic instead. I have news for her. Endemic is an adjective, not a noun. An endemic disease is one that occurs at a stable rate in the susceptible population. We’re most likely not there with COVID, which is still going in waves, with rapid generation of variants—although we certainly do have a very high baseline of infection. But if COVID really does become endemic, that would not be cause for celebration, rather, it would be a major public health failure. Endemic diseases are the scourge of humanity. Malaria is endemic in many regions, but that doesn’t mean people will be throwing away their mosquito nets any time soon. Polio, an endemic disease, has left the world with 10-20 million disabled survivors. Smallpox was endemic until we eradicated it through vaccination. And in thousands of years, it never became any milder. TB is endemic and killed 1.5 million people in 2020 alone. If we are stuck with lifetimes of endemic COVID, causing mass disability and death and falling life expectancy rates, we will have wiped out generations of public health work in trying to overcome infectious diseases.

We tackled cholera with clean drinking water, and we need to tackle COVID with clean indoor air.  But most of all, we need to let this horrible disease teach us a little bit about compassion. Let’s have the compassion to meet outside, in small groups. Let’s have the compassion to wear a mask. Maybe you’re willing to play 1:10 Russian Roulette with Long COVID. But what about that child with cancer, that neighbour with diabetes, that friend with ME, that immunosuppressed colleague? What about all the people with Long COVID who want, more than anything else, not to get COVID again.  Are we so eager to get our lives back that we’re willing to rob others of theirs?

I turned seventy during the Pandemic, joining the cohort of the elderly and facing the challenge of Ageism. So, it hasn’t exactly been fun hearing about how ‘only’ old people are going to die of COVID (not true, by the way)—and that doesn’t matter because they’re going to die anyway and are a burden and not productive. In fact, all of us want to live long, which means, all of us want a chance to grow old.

What’s all this got to do with Ayurveda?

Hitahitam Sukham Duhkhamayustasya Hitahitam |
Mananca Tacca Yatroktamayurvedah Sa Ucyate

Ayurveda is that which deals with good, bad, happy and unhappy life, its promoters and non-promoters, measure and nature. Charak, Su, ch 1 v41

So in times of COVID, Ayurveda teaches us to wear a mask to promote healthy and happy life for ourselves and others.

Please join us at Alandi’s COVID-safe clinic to see compassion in action.

 Alakananda Ma M.B., B.S. (Lond.) is an Ayurvedic Doctor (NAMA) and graduate of a top London medical school. She is co-founder of Alandi Ayurveda Clinic and Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula in Boulder Colorado, as well as a spiritual mother, teacher, flower essence maker and storyteller. Alakananda is a well known and highly respected practitioner in the Ayurveda community both nationally and internationally.

Enliven your holistic health! Visit Alakananda Ma in Alandi Ashram’s ayurvedic clinic to support the overall rejuvenation of your body, mind, and spirit. In-person and virtual appointments available. Book now!