Welcome to a special presentation of Revival, a Stateside podcast about how the COVID-19 pandemic changed us. We looked at how life is different, more than five years after COVID came into our lives.
First, some perspective on what happens in medicine during mass outbreaks of infectious disease: one story involves a physician of the ancient world. The other, a sharp contrast, a nurse who tended to COVID patients in Marquette in 2020.
Our second segment is all about the economic sea changes that often accompany outbreaks of infectious disease. A professor of European Medieval history offers a case study of the Black Plague and the seismic changes it ushered in for Western society's economic structure. Also, one West Michigander's personal history of the complex professional and personal choices he faced trying to keep his small business open during stay-at-home orders.
In our third act, we think about about how COVID changed the ways we gather. Just as most people who lived through COVID have stories to tell about isolation, history is full of examples of pandemics changing social dynamics of their times. We'll hear one from Japan, and make a final stop is a cul-de-sac in Grand Rapids where neighbors found a way to be together, against all the odds of pandemic lockdown.
Visit the landing page for Revival: How COVID Changed Us for more stories
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GUESTS ON TODAY’S SHOW:
- Saeed Khan, associate professor in Near East and Asian Studies and Global Studies at Wayne State University
- Christina Hanson, cardiac nurse from the Upper Peninsula
- Robert Berkhofer, professor of medieval European history at Western Michigan University
- Jermale Eddie, former owner of Malamiah Juice Bar in Grand Rapids, now a business coach
- Erin Brightwell, professor of pre-modern Japanese literature at the University of Michigan
- Rae Bunce, Grand Rapids resident
