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What has changed most about the world since the pandemic began?

I think that the biggest change to come out of this pandemic is the exposure to the lack of preparedness in this countries health system along with showing how much disparity exists in the health field. Of the many historical things to come out of this pandemic, the one thing I will never be able to reconcile with is images of nurses having to wear trash bags to protect themselves, along with health care workers reusing masks and other vital equipment due to the fear of shortages. Americans are quick to think of our hospital systems as the most advanced in the world. While we may have expensive machines and fancy new wards popping up left and right, they are of no use if there physically aren't people to use them. A hospital without nurses, doctors, faculty, staff, therapists, social workers and coordinators is just an expensive building filled with expensive machinery. Through the COVID pandemic it has been made crystal clear that this country was not prepared to deal with something of this magnitude. While it may be fair to think that the government deserves some slack because they don't have a crystal ball and couldn't predict the future and this pandemic, they did in fact have a crystal ball. It's called science. Leading epidemiologists and virologists around the world had been saying that from analyzing past patterns of epidemics including the spanish flu and other outbreaks that it was just a matter of time before the next disease came. If people in positions of authority had put trust into the science, we could have had stockpiles of PPE ready or hospital workers. But no, instead while people sat at home and quarantined, nurses had to wear trash bags and ski goggles. This pandemic has highlighted the cracks in the foundation of how this society treats science as a whole. A world where thousands of people don't die from preventable illness is the same world where science is trusted and upheld above the opinions of those who have no idea what is happening.