Disasters reveal the character of a society. In such moments there are heroes driven to do what is right, who exemplify the best of what humankind can be. Those stories are emphasized, elevated and highlighted because they are aspirational and they give us hope. But in fact, it is the darkness, the failures and the bad behavior that are the most revealing.
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 6 million people around the world. Public health experts predict that at least a million Americans will be killed by the disease, and the ripple effects have touched virtually everyone. An unknown number of people, probably many millions, will suffer from "long COVID" and require health care decades into the future.
