A Century After COVID-19

The Global Health students at MUSC explored aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic through creative writing. Given essay prompts, the students imagined how the effects of the pandemic would resonate in generations to come. In today's COVID-19 Archive Blog post, "A Century After COVID-19," Kareem Heslop, an MUSC College of Graduate Studies student, explores the following prompt when "Mutton, a reporter for the school's newspaper interviews a survivor of COVID-19. She learns the crippling truth about a forgotten world."

"I am Kareem Heslop, and I hail from Jamaica. Merging art and science in creative ways is an enjoyable hobby of mine."

A Century After COVID-19

"'So, how does it feel?' Mutton, a young, student reporter grinned as she nervously pointed a Walcarte-grade voice recorder in the direction of Cayenne Curry. The now 126 year old survivor of the COVID-19 pandemic sighed, and proceeded to adjust himself in his chair until he sank into a cozy recline.

'You mean, how does it feel to be the world’s oldest grad student?' Cayenne responded.

Mutton smiled sheepishly, as Cayenne’s humor only served to elevate her anxiety in meeting such an astronomical figure. Cayenne’s wit had not left him, but his stony face and gravelly voice forged by father time kept you alert. He is the last remaining survivor of the 2020 global meltdown; a relic. He has remained silent about the events of the pandemic for more than a century; courtesy of a gag order imposed by the One World government. Ten virus-free individuals under the age of thirty were selected from each continent to bunker underground, after it was found that more than 95% of the population contracted an aggressive strain of the COVID-19 virus, a much deadlier, COVID strain. The global economy crashed, and chaos broke out as the virus ripped apart the human race. Underground, the One World government was formed; no longer would there be separate countries and citizenships. Cayenne and the others were forbidden to speak of the past; to make way for the future.

After fifty years of living in isolation, they rose to the surface to find a planet rich with vegetation and wildlife, but no humans. Oceans and lakes were free of pollution, species that were on the brink of extinction were now fully recovered, and the climate was cooler and fresher than it had been in centuries. Humankind had a chance to start over, and so they began to rebuild.

'You have been silent for so long! Tell us what it was like during COV-'

'COVID -19 was a terrible time, absolutely terrible!' interrupted Cayenne. He proceeded to detail the events of a time long forgotten. The world had not progressed in the linear way that economists and scientists had predicted more than a century ago. Instead, time stagnated.

Global superpowers were busy jostling for supremacy when the virus blindsided the world. First, it swept over China like the Black Death. With a taste for the most mature among us, it moved quickly through Asia. The Europeans were slow to react; their aging population was struck hard and fast. Within a matter of months, the East was in turmoil.

Word had it that the virus jumped species, likely from bats into humans. We never discovered the truth about the genesis of this creepy shadow that you could feel even in the darkest of nights. Some say it was engineered intentionally, a bioterrorist act designed to crumble empires. Others thought it was simply our due punishment for the wickedness, and bigotry that consumed the world.

The virus’s approach to the United States was eerie, but certain. The leaders were divided on the appropriate action to protect Americans. In the face of what was termed “the invisible enemy,” there was no clever retort. The first wave of infections had us gasping for air. Schools, airports, places of worship, restaurants and department stores shut down, and thousands lost their jobs. Countries closed their borders, and many were left stranded, never knowing when they might see their loved ones again. Life as we knew it came to a screeching halt.

'It was a tough time, ‘self quarantine... practice social distancing,’ they said. ‘Wear masks everywhere!’ It was strange, people hoarded the weirdest things...You could not get a roll of toilet paper to wipe your... Hahaha!' Cayenne’s delirious laughter sent shudders up Mutton’s spine as she tried to muster a smile. 'We flattened the curve at first, if only we had been more patient, we might have had a chance.'

Before COVID, the elders would say that the television was rotting our brains, and the smart phone destroying our ability to socialize at public gatherings. There is strength in numbers, but with the onslaught of COVID, separation would have been key. It is the great irony of our time, that in the era of the internet and the smart phone, we could not heed the warnings and be socially distant.

'I remember my friends saying, ‘lets party, this virus will pass soon...’ then it happened...

The whole world watched the US with bated breaths as he cried ‘I can’t breathe!’

'What’s the US? Was it a town?'

'No little miss, it was once the leading country for opportunity; a melting pot of cultures chasing what was ‘the American dream.’

'Wow, I have never heard of this ‘US,’ it sounds amazing,' Mutton responded with intrigue.

'As I was saying, the world gazed upon the US in shock. Despite humanity itself being threatened, we still made time to treat others as separate and unequal. As the living fighting against the non-living, we also fought against ourselves, distracted by race, we sabotaged humanity.' Cayenne sobbed quietly as Mutton searched hastily for a serviette in her purse. Race was not a charged word for her. In the new school system, it was explained simply as a phenotype driven by genetics and background; it did not dictate status in the world.

Cayenne explained that he was talking about the brutal killing of a man by the blue bloods of his society. This man was suffocated to death for eight minutes and forty-six seconds. Under the knee of a descendant of former colonizers, he pleaded for his life! He was not a porcelain saint, his skin was bronze and his hair like wool, but most importantly, his life mattered.

So gruesome was the murder that it sent shockwaves through the civilized world. For once, we all had to face the demons of inequality. Our perfect society was only humane for a privileged few. Others were gentrified, vilified and hunted. His killing marked a turning point in the middle of the pandemic. Riots broke out and businesses burned, as frustrations about racial injustice intensified. Tired and angry at a broken system, they took matters into their own hands. No longer would any blue-blooded angel draw chalk lines around entire neighbor 'hoods,' with a hand in the pocket and a knee in the neck of the accused. People marched for weeks, families mourned for months, and cities burned. All the while, the virus marched on like a well-trained assassin; silently and efficiently, eradicating us.

While the issue of racial injustice stood ready for inspection on the global stage, the masses seemed to support a reform. Statues of oppressors that loomed over grand cities were torn down, social media erupted in a volcano of tweets and memes that called for equality. It seemed a real change was on the horizon. However, the problem with trends is that they die, and people move on.

As governments ignored the warnings of record rates of infection, the economy opened up and the virus walked into boardrooms, hospitals, airports, daycares, hospices, and schools. People were so happy to get back to earning a living that they ignored the Grim Reaper’s scythe tugging at their masks as they struggled to breathe. Soon we thought the mask 'too uncomfortable,' and as we threw out the N-95s, COVID took the I-95, full throttle, it t-boned us hard. The curve that we worked so hard to flatten was now nine months pregnant and society was crowning. Yes, stillborn.

'We tried all sorts of things.' Cayenne sat up in his chair and leaned forward as if to share a secret. 'We tried contact-free delivery of food and meds so that people didn’t have to leave home.' Rocking back sharply in his seat, and throwing his arms up, 'but then the drivers got sick and spread it to the customers. Then we tried using drones, but then anarchists and xenophobes kept shooting the drones down out of paranoia that packages of viruses were being flown in from abroad by these things. Not everyone wanted life to get back to normal miss, miss...'

'Mutton... Surely, you must think we learned our lesson? Peace, love and unity reigns supreme in our world, its all I know.'

'Yes, we are a resilient species.' Cayenne looked searchingly over Muttons shoulder before focusing on a screen in the cafeteria. An advert big letters read, ‘INTERNET REBUILD ALMOST COMPLETE!’

'We thought we would have flying cars by now, robot maids, and advanced medicine. Instead, nature brought our faces to the sweltering asphalt and held us all there for a hot minute! We were forced to reflect on our wrongs, and realize human life is frail. We sobered to the reality that life suffered under our rule. Without us, the planet flourished. Be grateful that love is now a four credit course in your classrooms, and equality is natural and not a protest anymore...'

'Sorry, my battery is about to di...'"