2020 - The year of the Pandemic.
Yesterday I saw an interesting news piece reporting that both Mirriam-Webster and Dictionary.com had proclaimed “Pandemic” as the word of the year¹. Mirriam-Webster estimated that searches for pandemic were 115,806% (=1,158.06) higher on March 11, 2020 compared to March 11, 2019. March 11th was the day the World Health Organization finally declared COVID-19 as a pandemic. As a statistician, I have to point out that the statistic 115,806% is just plain silly. I don’t think anyone cares whether the precise value was 1,158.06. I think we would have all been convinced with a simple statement like “searches for the word spiked more than 1,000-fold when the WHO declared that COVID-19 was a pandemic.”
None of us will forget 2020. COVID-19 disrupted nearly every facet of life for graduate students at Laurier (as it has for all of us). These past nine months have been hard. Incredibly hard. There is no way to sugarcoat that. Shelter-in-place, social isolation, and the stress of remote instruction and learning has taken a toll on students, faculty, and the staff that support us. 2020 will leave deep scars in all of us. And yet we have no choice but to continue pushing through the challenges.
Somehow, March 11th is seared in my mind like it was just yesterday and yet if feels like it occurred an eternity ago. Nine months later we know a great deal more about the virus, but the impacts continue to grow. Vaccines have been developed in record time and there is finally a reason to be hopeful. But there is a catch. The manufacturing and distribution of billions of vaccine doses will take months to years. In the meantime, we are heading into winter with explosive growth in cases across Canada, the US, and Europe. The timing couldn’t be worse. Being indoors during the cold winter months increases the potential for even more rapid spread of coronavirus. Over the next weeks and months, we face the prospect of more restrictive measures being imposed to flatten the curve and prevent overwhelming our medical system. Bottom line, 2020 may get even worse before things improve sometime in 2021.
I also think that we need to look for the silver lining in this enormous cloud. Collectively, we are making our way through the most significant and rapid change in higher education in my lifetime. We have learned to operate microphones and cameras on our phones, tablets, and computers. We have learned how to use Zoom (and thus experienced that “zoom fatigue” is a real thing). We are only three weeks from the holiday break. Even though this holiday break will not be like previous winter holidays, it is a break that all of us need.
As we enter this final push toward finals, I want to acknowledge the courage and effort that it took to get here. It has not been easy. I also want to remind you to try to be gentle and kind in your judgement of yourself and others. If you are like me, some days it is incredibly hard to get out of bed and face your daunting schedule and to-do list. I hope that you can lean into your own support system - whether that be friends, family, colleagues, or neighbors. Remember that Laurier has many programs and activities that are designed to support your mental health and wellness. Don’t be shy about using them. They exist for you.
As a final thought, I have tried to think of a way that we can come together to build community and support each other. For me, music has always been an important way that I embrace or escape my feelings. By the time this goes out, I should have posted links on social media to a 6-pack of songs that have been on repeat on my playlist. Although I am 30 years older than many of you, perhaps some of them will resonate with you. I also encourage you to post suggestions for songs that have special meaning for you. Challenge me and each other to branch out and listen to good music wherever it is found. If we do this, we will be building a collective playlist that will give us all new songs and old favorites to listen to as we close out the semester and head into the break.
Stay healthy, stay strong, and stay connected.
-Douglas
Douglas Deutschman, AVP and Dean of FGPS
End Note
Spotlight photo: Lean on Me - ArtistsCAN music video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=athd5_CW_z0