Nicholas Christakis is a doctor and a sociologist who has studied the science of infectious diseases and how plagues of the past have altered societies. "Everywhere you see the spread of germs, for the last few thousand years, you see right behind it the spread of lies," he says. "Denial and lies ... [are] almost an intrinsic part of an epidemic." Christakis's book is Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live.
What struck me was the fact that even when the disease is gone, the impact of the coronavirus will live on. Some of our norms and traditions will be altered going forward. Certainly in my lifetime this will have been the single "external" event to alter my personal circumstances and how I live my life.
