The Cases Continue
As we launch this exhibit in the summer of 2020, the world is still in the grip of COVID-19. This disease is an omnipresent factor and is most assuredly an active influence in the events of the world today. COVID-19 is a grave threat with its ruthless attack on the respiratory system and its long incubation period it can spread rapidly and poses a massive risk to those with preexisting conditions.i These dangers have, for some of us, led to unprecedented closures of public life and changes to our daily routines.
The fear COVID-19 produces is palpable. But remember, this is a mystery story you have heard before. In each exhibit, we have seen that, while there were different characters, diseases, and treatments, the story still ended the same way. Communities were resilient and science prevailed. Sometimes that is enough of a good ending, and it is the one we have reached time and time again. With each ending our pursuit of science, the strength of our resolve and our ability to endure hardships improve. Centuries ago, we survived the Black Death. A hundred years ago, we survived the Spanish Flu. Forty years ago, we survived AIDS. Between all of those events were smaller diseases that tested us and still through every microscopic encounter we emerged battered but stronger by the last page. What the history of these terrible illnesses shows us is that no matter how bleak the circumstances became humanity was not only able to overcome but also able to grow and prosper. And once this story finally ends, we shall do so again.
Header: “Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. Accessed July 1, 2020. Online at Flickr.