Could We Be Living Under Coronavirus Forever?

Global health expert and TED Talk speaker Alanna Shaikh thinks there’s light at the end of the tunnel

Karen Frances Eng
ZORA

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A testing tent at St. Barnabas Hospital on March 20, 2020 in New York City. Photo: Misha Friedman/Getty Images

AsAs humanity steps into the reality of life with Covid-19, we’re all searching for calm, expert voices to guide us in making sensible decisions for ourselves, our families, and our society. Global health expert Alanna Shaikh — who studies what happens to health systems when diseases move at scale — is one such voice.

On March 6, Shaikh flew from her home in Sri Lanka to Dallas to speak at TEDxSMU about Covid-19. She offered a realistic yet somehow reassuring big-picture perspective that has already garnered more than 5 million views. I’m well acquainted with Shaikh’s comforting pragmatism and thoughtful intelligence because she also happens to be a colleague, friend, and fellow mother.

On March 11, the day her talk posted, my 14-year-old daughter came down with symptoms here in the U.K., a couple of hours ahead of the WHO announcement of pandemic. I canceled everything, packed up my office…

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Karen Frances Eng
ZORA
Writer for

organic unidirectional time machine // writer + artist // aka oculardelusion // karenfranceseng.com