When Covid Ends
The trouble with writing a topical book is the rapid pace of fundamental change in science, technology, and cultural norms in our interconnected modern world. Such is the case with this thoughtful and important work on the coronavirus epidemic by sociologist Nicholas Christakis. First published in October, 2020, and updated in paperback a year later during the Delta variant outbreak, it has been prefaced twice and now needs a third update with the Omicron variant.
Yet, fortunately for Christakis, his book is more a study of mankind’s response to pandemics throughout recorded history, offering precedents to learn from and outcomes to anticipate. Because of our accumulated knowledge of contagious disease, he points out, “Not much has happened that was not expected. From the moment this virus escaped immediate control and started to spread in our species, we followed an inexorable biological trajectory, so typical of respiratory pandemics over the past few centuries.”
The good news is that the end of Covid and our recovery from its ravages will follow a script as well.