We can turn to popular culture for lessons about how to live with COVID-19 as endemic
In 2021, talks began as to whether the COVID-19 pandemic will or may even end. As a literary and cultural theorist, I have begun to look for shifts in stories about pandemics and contagion. It turns out several stories also question how and when a pandemic becomes endemic.
Read more: COVID will likely transition from pandemic to endemic – but what does that mean?
The movie 2020 peninsulaa sequel to the Korean zombie film, Train to Busan, ending with a group of survivors being rescued and transported to a zombie-free Hong Kong. In it, Jooni (played by Re Lee) spent her formative years living through the zombie epidemic. When rescued, she responds to the information that she is “going to a better place” by admitting that “that place wasn’t bad either.”
Jooni’s response points to the shift in contagion narratives that has occurred since the spread of COVID-19. This shift marks a rejection of the narratives of striving for survival in favor of something more indicative of endemicism.
found in it
Contagion follows a general cycle: outbreak, epidemic, pandemic, and endemic. The determinants of each phase are based on the rate of propagation within a given geographic region.
Etymologically, the word “endemic” has its origin in the Greek words in and demos, meaning “among the people.” So it refers to something that is regularly found within a population.
Infectious disease physician Stephen Parodi contends that endemic just means that a disease, while still prevalent in a population, no longer disrupts our daily lives.
Similarly, genomics and virus evolution researcher Aris Katzourakis argues that endemics emerge when infection rates are static — neither rising nor falling. Because this stasis occurs differently in each situation, there is no set threshold for a pandemic to become endemic.
Not all diseases reach endemic status. And when endemic status is reached, it doesn’t mean that the virus is gone, but that things have become “normal”.
survival stories
We are most likely familiar with contagion narratives. Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 film, after all infectionwas the most watched film on Canadian Netflix in March 2020. Conveniently, most Canadian provinces were in lockdown at this point in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In survival-based contagion narratives, characters often discuss methods of survival and generally refer to themselves as survivors. infection chronicles the transmission of a deadly virus being brought to the United States from Hong Kong. In response, the US Centers for Disease Control is tasked with tracking down its origins and finding a cure. The film follows Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon), who is immune as he tries to protect his daughter in crumbling Minneapolis.
Eventually, a vaccine is successfully synthesized, but only after millions have succumbed to the virus.
Like many science fiction and horror films that have an apocalyptic ending, infection focuses on the basic requirements for survival: shelter, food, water and medicine.
But it is also about the collapse of state systems and the violence that accompanies it.
A “new” normal
In contrast, contagion narratives that have become endemic occur many years after the initial outbreak. In these stories, the infected population is regularly present, but the remaining uninfected population is not regularly infected.
A spin-off to the zombie series the Walking Dead takes place a decade after the first eruption. In the two seasons of The Walking Dead: World Beyond (2020-2021) represent four young protagonists – Hope (Alexa Mansour), Iris (Aliyah Royale), Silas (Hal Cumpston) and Elton (Nicolas Cantu) – the first generation to come of age in the zombie-infested world.
The four youngsters spent their formative years in an infected world – much like Jooni in it peninsula. For these characters, zombies are part of their daily lives and their constant presence is normal.
Insertion beyond the world has electricity, helicopter and modern medicine. Characters in endemic tales have regular access to shelter, food, water, and medicine, so they don’t have to resort to violence over limited resources. And most importantly, they don’t often refer to themselves as survivors.
Endemic narratives acknowledge that being in an infected room alongside a virus is not necessarily a bad thing and that not all residents want to go in infected rooms. It is rare in endemic tales for a character to become infected.
Instead of going on zombie killing expeditions like the others often do Living Dead Stories the characters in beyond the world In general, leave the zombies alone. They mark the zombies with different colors of spray paint to record what they call “migration patterns.”
The zombies have thus become just another species for the characters to live alongside – something more endemic.
the Walking Dead, Fear the walking death (2015-), Z nation (2014-18) and many other survival-based stories seem to go back in time. In contrast, endemic narratives maintain a present and sometimes even future-oriented approach.
Learn from stories
According to film producer and media professor Mick Broderick, survival stories maintain the status quo. They are looking for a “nostalgically longed-for, less complex existence”. It is comforting to imagine an earlier, simpler time living through a pandemic.
However, the shift from surviving to endemic narratives of contagion presents us with many important opportunities. What I think is quite relevant right now is that it offers us a way of living with contagion. Finally, watching these characters survive a pandemic helps us imagine that we can too.