Thread by @juliettekayyem

If Covid and all its economic, social consequences was also a contributing factor for Tuesday’s results, it is not just a question of messaging. It is that this is an unprecedented recovery. Some thoughts from history of disasters 1/

nytimes.com/2021/11/03/us/…

We are in what might be called the undone phase. To call it a new normal is premature. I’ve called it a “now normal” or “adaptive recovery” given daily pivots, ups and downs. In this sense, as far as the history of disaster management goes, we are in unprecedented territory. 2/

For all other disasters, we move from response (search and rescue, for example) to recovery phase at pretty obvious moments. We pivot quickly to the recovery stage to get systems back up and running, bury the dead, demolish the dangerous structures, and try to avoid 3/

what the Haitians call “stupid deaths,” those that could be stopped if resources (water, food, medicine) get distributed. In all cases, in every single crisis, the immediate harm has ended: the terror has ceased, the hurricane passed, the tsunami receded. 4/

We are now in a recovery where the harm still exists, lessened in its impact but still here. We reduce the risk, but the recovery has to weave around it. It has no good name, no way to help the public understand that the path is not linear. 5/

Politics demand binary response: we’re done or we’re dead! So public health officials respond by being (too) cautious lest people think this is a normal recovery. It’s not the right approach but the tension is not because they don’t see a recovery but because 6/

The way we think about disaster management doesn’t align with the reality of what is happening, heading towards a finish line with the enemy still at large. The answer isn’t to ignore we are almost there, but it is historically unique. And we don’t have a good name for it. 7/7