Delta, ironically, is the mathematical symbol for change – there’s a lesson in that

The fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, delta, is also used in mathematics to symbolise the change between two values or variables. And, in a twist of irony suited to these weird times, the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 symbolises the change in how we must frame, think about and move forward in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Change is good you say. I mean, it’s great that we’re adapting and changing our perspective, thinking and behaviour. That’s exactly what we should be doing in the middle of a global pandemic, you say.

But we are not so much changing as we are reacting. Of course, this is not exactly the kind of change that most of us would like to see. We are, it seems, consistently disoriented. Always back-pedaling. Like a martial artist deeply skilled in kuzushi, the Japanese term for ‘breaking balance’, this virus, which does many things well, is perhaps most dangerous because it torches our homeostasis. It literally keeps us off balance. We know more about this virus, to be sure, than we did 18 months ago, yet still we look dazed and confused when case counts rise because we’ve relaxed public health measures (what did we really expect?). We continue to muddle our way through exasperating and perplexing health communication blunders that leave people more confused than they were yesterday and twice as confused as the day before that. We come unglued at the reporting of breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated individuals (which is normal) and grossly disoriented at reports of waning antibody response in recipients nine months after getting two doses in a vaccine regimen (which is also normal).

Perhaps more than any other time since March 2020, we are faced with the stark reality that we must change our frame of reference and our mindset. It is no longer about altering the trajectory of COVID-19. Or bending the curve.

It is simply about mental health. And survival. It is about keeping a positive outlook as best as we can. It is about being realistic because anything less than that feels inauthentic and feeds those dark places where we have gone before. You know those places. The ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ and ‘that glimmer of hope’. If those were cities on a map, they were on a map from Ancient Times.

Eighteen months ago of course, we were, well, more naïve. The public health mandates around social distancing, hand hygiene and masking were suggestions based on incomplete information and an asymmetrical understanding of this novel virus. There was an urgency to do things, but not to change. The urgency was to act. There was, after all, optimism that collectively we could stop this thing. That was then. This is now.

The biggest change we need to make is realising that this virus is here to stay. It’s going endemic, folks. Which is to say that it’s going to be around for a while and it’s going to be a regular pain in our collective ass for years to come. This probably means masks for a while longer. This probably means annual (or bi-annual) booster shots. This means occasional travel restrictions, closure of businesses and yes, even some lockdowns. And to be brutally honest, it means a lot more morbidity and mortality.

Another change we need to make is to stop pretending that people who have had the access and opportunity to get vaccinated for ten months are going to miraculously get their shots (which is, parenthetically, the reason that we are forced to talk about the virus as endemic). I’m not talking about the group of people who haven’t been vaccinated because they can’t get time off work. Or who don’t have reliable transportation to get to a vaccination centre. Or who have low health literacy and have misunderstood the importance of this vaccine in this moment. Or who don’t have access to the technology required to make an appointment. Or the undocumented immigrants who fear deportation because their personal details are going to be recorded in the case of vaccination. I’m talking about the ‘other’ group. The anti-vaxxers. They’re not going to change their minds. Face it.

And although the Delta variant itself hasn’t forced this next change on us, it has reinforced an obvious change that emanated from those early days in March 2020 and that we simply need to accept: we are a divided society, but it wasn’t always this way. There are those of us who believe in science. And there are those of us who don’t. And that’s fine.

We are also divided along political and geographical lines. I don’t have to regurgitate the numbers for you. You know what percentage of Democrat voters in the Northeast or on the West Coast have been vaccinated and what percentage of Republican voters in the South or Central Appalachia haven’t been vaccinated.

So, change we must. And we can continue to change all the ‘other stuff’. Public health agencies can change mandates around indoor masking; schools can change their reopening plans; businesses can change the pace, cadence and timing of calling workers back to a physical office. And private businesses and government agencies can change their rules that require some or all employees to be fully vaccinated or suffer the indignities of regular testing and professional isolation. Or worse, outright dismissal. And we can change the vaccines from emergency use authorisation to fully approved. And we can change how we give these vaccines (mix ‘n match) to how often we give them (every four weeks or every 16 weeks).

But, in a time and era where the mental strain of lost income, inadequate education, loneliness, social isolation and perennial uncertainty about the future is, arguably, our greatest virus-related threat, it’s not all that ‘other stuff’ that we must change. It is that we must change our mindset.

Otherwise, we have no chance.