‘Dear Culture’ unpacks the coronavirus pandemic…is this our new normal?
This week on the Dear Culture podcast, we examine staying alive, flattening the curve and what our new normal looks like
As the US enters month five of lockdown, the nation has begun to adjust to new life under quarantine. There are times when being alone feels peaceful, while other days it can feel like “our walls are caving in.” Every U.S. state is handling the pandemic differently, with some states like Washington and New York instituting restrictions on social gatherings and mandating masks.
This week on the Dear Culture podcast, we look at the difference between staying alive, flattening the curve, and what our new normal looks like with hosts theGrio’s Senior Writer Blue Telusma and Senior Editor Mariel Turner. Joined by the Vice Dean of Health Practice and Community Engagement at John Hopkins University, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, we want to know: “Dear Culture, how can we best protect ourselves and our communities?”
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“All those things we took for granted, we’re now wondering if normal is a lot further away than we thought,” notes Telusma.
There’s a lot of misinformation out there about how to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Closing bars, restaurants, and other public locations, if necessary, is important to slowing the spread. It’s more than just waiting for the vaccine to appear with “crossed fingers and toes,” it’s about safety measures we can do at a community level.
“Some people think it’s a political statement not to wear a mask,” says Telusma.
Sharfstein reminds us that in other countries “mask wearing is not a political act, it’s what you do prevent” the spread of disease from one to another. He notes that wearing a mask becoming a political message is a result of fringe individuals who object to government guidance. President Donald Trump refusing to wear a mask has largely contributed to that stance, allowing many governors and mayors to forgo mask-wearing policies to flatten the curve.
“We saw so many governors rushing to open states, and now we have more coronavirus cases,” notes Turner.
When this all started, the public health community had consistent advice. The advice was to “make sure cases are coming down, reopen slowly, and after reopening make sure [states] have a strong public health response ready,” the hosts note.
Reopening should be a matter of prioritizing public health, not the economy or mixed messaging. Sharfstein reminds us to go back to such principles, so that when we have things under control, we don’t relapse.
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“The most glaring aspects of the pandemic is how it has revealed fundamental inequities that exist in our societies,” Sharfstein.
Sharfstein tells us Black and brown communities are in a vulnerable position regarding the pandemic for several reasons, including pre-existing health conditions, jobs where social distancing cannot happen, overcrowding in regards to housing, and lack of resources. To address those issues, our nation’s public health response must account for racialize inequities.
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