The great guru Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi once said, ‘difficult times are nothing but a useful lesson’ (not exactly in these words but this was the general idea). So, what lessons have we learnt from the Covid-19 saga?

Quite a lot, I hope. Early in the pandemic I was talking with my good friend Avi over the telephone. He always had a deep interest in human nature. He said this world will never be the same again. People will change their priorities in life. Now when people have been forced to stop the daily mad race, they will have a taste of the important things in life. The simple things that make you happy and relaxed, without the need to pay a lot of money for a fancy holiday or an expensive car. It will change them, he said with confidence. But will it? Obviously, I would like to agree with him. Surely we will have a better world if people are more relaxed and less materialistic. It is a big hope and a big claim. I suspect, however, that basic human urges, desires and old habits will gradually prevail again and, before we know it, we will be back to square one. Only time will tell. 

In any case, I hope some lessons will be learnt. If we cannot learn at least something from our experiences, then there is not really much hope for us.

I will look at a few aspects, most importantly the personal aspect but I will also touch on society, media, science, and statistics.

On a personal level:

The most central principle in Traditional Chinese Medicine and in most other Eastern philosophies is the idea of balance. Everything around us exists in a perfect balance. I have written about it many times before: most human problems arise not just because we have lost our balance but more importantly we have no awareness at what balance is or how to achieve it. Particularly in the West, we are so busy with achieving and accumulating things that we have no time or attention span for anything subtle. This current crisis has forced many people to slow down and I hope at least some of them use it to have a good look and reassess priorities. 

Isn’t it great to spend more time with family and friends! To walk the dog or to do something creative, to work in the garden or to read a book. All of these things do not cost much. It is the time or the lack of it that is usually stopping us from enjoying all these simple joys of life. What has running round like headless chickens given you so far? Headaches? High blood pressure? Irritability? Insomnia? Any other health problems that you are not aware of as yet but which will become apparent eventually? It is a no brainer for me: Stop wasting your life. Slow down a bit. Enjoy the simple and important things, you will live a happier and longer life!

Another aspect at the personal level is your health. It has become clear that people with poor health are at a much higher risk from the virus. This is not new. Modern Medicine has known for a while now that general health and fitness are important factors in the susceptibility to many diseases. Many people started exercising during the lockdown. Why not you? Find a form of exercise you can enjoy. Watch your diet. Visit your acupuncturists for acupuncture treatment from time to time. Look after yourself, stay healthy.

Society

A crisis tends to get the best out of society or at least British society. At the beginning of the crisis everyone was trying to help, it was beautiful. Even the politicians stopped arguing for a while. People volunteered to help fight the virus. Many helped their elderly or sick neighbours. Retired NHS doctors volunteered to go back to work, the government gave help packages to almost everyone. The army came to help with essential distributions. In short, one big performance of good will and helpfulness. As the pandemic progressed, cracks started to show. The initial patriotic enthusiasm started to be gradually replaced by a sense of boredom and anger. This is never a good combination. I wonder if the great people of this great country can summon up the spirit of the early days of the Covid crisis more often, achieving this height of spirit and level of positivity and helpfulness.

Media

Please do not start me on the media. I have a real problem with modern media. Most, if not all media outlets have forgotten a long time ago that their job is to report the news as it happened and not to try and create and manipulate stories. There is nothing surprising then in the highly dodgy way they cover the current story. But they did manage to achieve new lows. I used to listen to BBC radio 4. I used to tell everyone that radio 4 is an island of sanity in a sea of insanity. This used to be the truth. They used to bring the news to you in a beautifully clear and innocent way, always explaining all aspects of the issue, never taking sides, never trying to sensationalise or to manipulate information so it would be seen as more exciting than it really was. It was news at its very best, no wonder media outlets all over the world used to look up to the BBC. These glories days are all but gone now. Unfortunately, radio 4 decided they needed to catch up with others. Half truths, dodgy statistics, taking sentences out of context, everything is game to create some excitement. Obsessive determination to criticize each and every government decision. Clinging to only one aspect of a multi- aspect and complex issue in order to create controversy, and being extremely negative about almost everything. A classic example of this was when the Government said that all Primary schools have to be back and up and running by September. The media lined up people who criticised the Government for risking the Nation’s health. Later the Government changed the decision to allow schools who feel that they are not ready to open fully not to do so. Immediately another line of critics was formed, this time to claim that the Government was neglecting our children’s education. I wish someone would remind the media of their basic duties of reporting news and not creating it and please, please maybe be slightly more positive? It will be good for their business I’m sure because I, for one, have switched them off. 

We cannot talk about the media without mentioning social media. I won’t say much since I am not a part of it. However, whilst I accept it’s a great tool to communicate between friends, when it comes to news and particularly fake news it is becoming a major catalyst in dividing society. It’s a phenomenon which was pointed out to me a few years ago and unfortunately it is getting worse. The problem here is that in the internet era people can decide where they get their news and information from. Humans naturally gravitate towards sources that think the same as themselves. That creates separate bubbles of opinions. Inside your bubble you only hear certain opinions, often only one side of the coin. You gradually become more convinced and passionate about your opinions and angrier when hearing another opinion which of course by now doesn’t make sense at all to you. I think this situation can explain the amount of divisions and anger typifying recent events.

Science and Statistics:

Back to one of my favourite subjects, the science of modern medicine. As is the case in the other issues here, the Covid-19 crisis has exposed the very best and the very worst of modern medicine. Modern science has almost a godly status these days. It is expected to come up with explanations and solutions for every problem. People truly and deeply believe in science. The problem with modern medical science in this context is (I know it is true to many other types of science but I can only focus on medicine) that there is a massive gap between what it actually knows and can do , and what people think it knows and is capable of doing. Let’s look at the handling of the Covid-19 virus. On the one hand, giving patients oxygen when they need it or intubating them to help them breathe is amazing. This technology saves lives. Talking about positives in modern medicine , I must mention Epidemiology. This, one of my favourite branches of medicine, is playing an important part in understanding and fighting the virus-no medicines, no medical procedures, just sound analysis of data, statistics and observations. On the other hand, there is absolutely no medicine to fight the virus. By far the most important method (as we have been told repeatedly) to fight this is to stand 2 meters apart and to wash our hands. This is a sensible prevention but when the virus hits, no medicine can help. I am saying this with a heavy heart since, as an Acupuncturist and a Chinese Herbal Medicine Practitioner, I could supply people with treatment for the virus which could help many sufferers if only asked. Often, during this crisis, excited newspaper headlines appear declaring that there is new hope for an effective treatment with this or that medicine. Those of us who know medicine a bit (doctors) look at these stories in despair. It is always about some medicine that has been around for a while now but has been used for other conditions. Now it is going to be tried on poor coronavirus patients. Of course, it never works-and what about the side effects? Some of those meds are strong and can have some serious side effects. Trying them on coronavirus patients seems a bit random. I have to insert this little addition here. A day after writing this post the news came out that research showed that Dexamethasone, which is a commonly used steroid, can reduce the mortality rate from Covid-19 in a patient with very advanced infection (a patient on a ventilator or on oxygen). So, do I have to eat my words here? Well, a little bit yes. While it is not exactly a cure for the virus (it works by reducing an overly strong immune reaction of the body to the virus) it still saves lives and therefore is very welcome news.

As for statistics, or the misuse of them, this is not new of course. Abuse of statistics is rife in media, politics, advertising and even in science. It was, and is, a daily occurrence but has plunged to a new depth during the pandemic. When you introduce statistical data you sound very scientific and reliable. In reality, statistical data can be manipulated to prove almost anything someone has set their hearts on proving. The problem here is that the science of statistics is a bit complex and very few of us can understand it to a sufficient level that would allow us to spot the difference between good and bad statistics, or at least to see the limitations of certain statistical claims. Of course, we can’t expect everyone to understand the science of statistics but I hope that at least our politicians and mainly the journalists will learn it a bit better.

To sum up this slightly messy post. What have we learned? Firstly, the best things in life are free: we should all work a bit less and enjoy life a bit more. Bring more balance into our lives and look after our health. Secondly, society is great and can do great things, let’s try and keep this positive spirit going forward. Thirdly, modern media is terrible and damaging. I only hope that, as I am not the only one who thinks so, change will come. As to our understanding of the science of modern medicine and statistics I really hope that people will understand that, with all due respect, modern science does not know everything and certainly does not have all the answers. The good news is, when it comes to treatment, there are some very good alternatives out there.

Stay safe and healthy and happy, 

Dr Ilan Shahor