1. Universal health care matters, but it is not the panacea for failures within public health policies, social practices, and pre-existing historical and socioeconomic injustices (note Italy, the UK, and some other countries with universal health care that are not doing as well as one might have hoped).
2. Other than health care policy, the notion of a shared public common good–as opposed to libertarian individualism–is one of the central elements that will determine how we navigate pandemics and other tragedies. The United States is in the unfortunate position of having its federal government (and its supporters) rejecting this notion outright, and pretending that bullshit, bluster, intimidation, and magical thinking are what will help us through this. They are tragically wrong.
3. The economy matters–and it matters the most to those who are not its top beneficiaries. However, civilization does not equal economy, and the loss of human life cannot be weighed against economic collapse. Both matter, but one is not like the other.
4. Medical schools must drop the we-are-an-elite-guild approach, and allow more students to enroll. The COVID-19 pandemic will not only result in fewer medical professionals for the worst of reasons, but we will also lose medical professionals who leave medical practice due to psychological trauma. We will, of course, need the wisdom and expertise of the veterans, but we will also need a wave of medical professionals who have not been (as greatly or as directly) traumatized by the pandemic. We will need all those students who do not see themselves as the image of the medical professional to change their perspectives. And those of us who teach philosophy, medical ethics, and other related disciplines better work our asses off to try to change their minds.
5. Finally, speaking of trauma….We all might be traumatized now*. Differently, of course–and definitely some more than others. Be kind. Be kinder. To quote one of my very favorite philosophers, Tove Jansson: “We take everything too much for granted, including each other.”
*it certainly doesn’t seem reasonable to presume none of the people we encounter are traumatized, and should perhaps be a default that any person we encounter could be.